Pancakeswap

PancakeSwap has grown a lot since we first wrote about it back in 2021. It’s now multichain, has concentrated-liquidity pools, perpetual futures, one-click cross-chain swaps and a very different CAKE economy. Below we’ll walk through what changed, why it matters, and how you can still get started without pulling your hair out.

What is pancakeswap?

Pancakeswap is a decentralized exchange that allows you to trade tokens and cryptocurrencies without any middleman. It is built on smart contracts that have originally was deployed on the BSC. BSC or Binance Smart Chain which is a blockchain developed by the crypto exchange Binance. However now Pancakeswap is a multichain. Binance operates a centralized exchange, but it doesn’t control pancakeswap. Pancake swap was developed by a group of developers whos anonymous.

The exchange is a fork from Sushiswap which is a fork from Uniswap.


What has really changed with Pancakeswap since 2021?

PancakeSwap expanded from BNB Chain to Ethereum, Aptos, Arbitrum, Base, Linea, zkSync Era, opBNB and a few more roll-ups, after a 2022 community vote approved the first non-EVM launch on Aptos  .

V3 with concentrated liquidity & flexible fee tiers

Version 3 (April 2023) lets liquidity providers park funds inside a price range and pick a fee tier (0.01 %-1 %), boosting capital efficiency while giving traders tighter spreads  .

Cross-chain swaps in one click

Since June 2025 you can swap tokens between BNB Chain, Arbitrum and Base directly in the UI, powered by Across Protocol, no scary bridges needed  .

Perpetual trading (V1 order-book & V2 on-chain)

You can now long or short dozens of assets with up to 50× leverage on BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Base and even Solana through two different “perps” engines  .

New goodies: prediction 2.0, lottery relaunch, social-login

  • Lottery V2 burns CAKE each round and injects ~35 000 CAKE a week from the treasury  .
  • Social-login (Aug 2025) lets newcomers join with Google, Discord, etc., no browser wallet extensions  .

Tokenomics makeover – veCAKE in, veCAKE out

Jan 2024: max CAKE supply cut from 750 M → 450 M, pushing the “ultrasound CAKE” narrative  .

Nov 2023: vote-escrow veCAKE + Gauges arrive  .

Apr 2025: Tokenomics 3.0 proposes sun-setting veCAKE and unlocking all stakes on 23 Apr 2025, sparking hot governance debate  .

How to get started

Get a Wallet, you can choose between MetaMask, Rabby, Trust Wallet or simply Social-login. If you’re on iOS, Apple still blocks dApp browsers soyou need to open Safari surf into pancakeswap.finance and press “Connect”, select “WalletConnect” just like before or hit the new Social-login if you hate QR codes.

Old pancakeswap homepage in 2021

Get gas – Each chain needs its own coin (BNB, ETH, APT, etc.). Centralised ramps inside the site work, otherwise use Binance or MoonPay and bridge in.

Pick a chain, Fees on Base or opBNB are pennies while Ethereum still hurts during peak.

Swap or LP, On V3 choose a narrow range and a fee tier that matches volatility (stable pairs often sit at 0.01 %, meme coins at 1 %)  .

Optional farming, Stake the resulting NFT-LP in a Farm to earn CAKE or partner tokens. Governance gauges decide which pools get emissions nowadays.

How does it work?

Pancakeswap is built on an automated market maker system that relies on liquidity pools that are fueled by users. This enables fast crypto swaps rather than having an order book and find someone else who wants to swap the token for you.

Users can supply liquidity to either the classic V2 pools or the newer V3 “concentrated-liquidity” pools. After adding liquidity you receive an LP token (V2) or an LP-NFT (V3); stake that asset in a Farm to earn extra CAKE or partner tokens on top of normal trading-fee revenue. Returns can be attractive, but remember that impermanent loss is always possible when prices move a lot.

The platform offers two main staking options for the native CAKE token. In the CAKE Pool – Flexible you can deposit and withdraw anytime, collecting an auto-compounding APR that comes from protocol fees and scheduled burns. In the CAKE Pool – Fixed Term you lock your CAKE for up to 52 weeks and earn a higher, fixed APR plus a small boost in governance voting power.

Trading fees

• V2 swaps cost a flat 0.25 %. Roughly 0.17 % is paid straight to liquidity providers, 0.05 % funds the treasury, and 0.03 % is used to buy and burn CAKE.

• V3 lets traders choose a fee tier of 0.01 %, 0.05 %, 0.25 % or 1 %. About 84 % of each fee goes to LPs while the remaining 16 % is captured by the protocol; a portion of the protocol share is periodically burned in CAKE.

Because PancakeSwap is governed by token holders, these splits can be changed through future proposals.

CAKE token

CAKE is the fuel of the ecosystem. You stake it to earn yield, boost farming rewards, vote on gauge allocations and governance proposals, and pay reduced fees on certain products. The maximum supply was cut from 750 million to 450 million in January 2024, and weekly burns now make CAKE a mildly deflationary asset. New utility modules are scheduled to replace veCAKE incentives after the April 2025 unlock.