Last update: Jun 28, 2022

PancakeSwap Review

PancakeSwap is a widely used decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX) with various crypto-earning channels and gamification features. The site currently boasts millions of users. Our PancakeSwap review explores the platform’s history, features, tokens, pricing structure, safety measures, and more.

  • PancakeSwap


    1. Operating Since 2020
    2. Cryptocurrencies Supported 30+
    3. Fees Varies
    4. Deposit Methods Cryptocurrencies, Connecting crypto wallet
    5. Fiat Currencies Doesn't support fiat
    6. Verification Methods email
    7. Margin Trading No
    8. Futures Trading Yes

PancakeSwap sports fast transactions aside from lower fees compared to other DeFi or Decentralized Financed projects that are built on the Ethereum blockchain or Ethereum network.

The native token of PancakeSwap Exchange is CAKE.

History and Overview

PancakeSwap debuted in September 2020 as the creation of anonymous developers. The DEX has grown to $4 billion in crypto market cap within the decentralized finance sector (DeFi).

DeFi is one of the hottest topics in the crypto space, with decentralized exchanges emerging on just about every blockchain network out there.

Built on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) (which leverages many Ethereum tools and DApps) , PancakeSwap offers faster transactions and lower fees than DEXs like UniSwap and SushiSwap, which were built on Ethereum (ETH). As a DEX, users do not need to register an account to start trading. PancakeSwap also does not require Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation.

DEXs like PancakeSwap differ from traditional centralized exchanges like Binance and Coinbase in meaningful ways. First, DEXs remove intermediaries between traders and replace them with smart contracts.

PancakeSwap also uses BEP-20 tokens obtained from the BSC. However, it does not restrict traders to only using BSC tokens. Rather, it employs the Binance Bridge, which enables users to wrap other tokens as BEP-20 tokens for trading.

In addition, the exchange sets up liquidity pools made of user-staked tokens and operated by the automated market maker (AMM) system. Liquidity pools are extensive fund collections governed by algorithms that complete trading orders between users. With sufficient liquidity, a buyer can trade on a ledger with a smart contract rather than having to find a seller to complete the order.

PancakeSwap did not have an Initial Coin Offering or ICO. On April 12, the exchange launched its Initial Farm Offering 2.0 under a new format. It is open to users who have an active PancakeSwap account.

Is Pancake Swap Safe and Legit?

There hasn’t been any critical security breach linked with PancakeSwap except for the DNS hijack at the start of its launching in 2022, which caused the temporary collapse of the DEX.

You must take personal care to safeguard yourself against virtual scams, which pop up most of the time in the form of free giveaways of 1000 CAKE tokens for instance.

Supported Countries and Cryptocurrencies

PancakeSwap accepts traders from most countries worldwide including the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. As of March 9th, 2022, the platform started geo-blocking users from Belarus, Crimea, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

Though PancakeSwap does not support any fiat currencies like Australian Dollar (AUD), you can purchase a broad range of cryptocurrencies and digital assets on PancakeSwap Exchange including but not limited to:

  • Bitcoin (BTC)
  • PancakeSwap Token (CAKE)
  • Binance Coin (BNB)
  • Binance USD (BUSD)
  • Ethereum (ETH)
  • Cardanao (ADA)
  • USD Coin (USDC)
  • Filecoin (FIL)
  • Tron (TRX)
  • Chainlink (LINK)
  • Tether (USDT)
  • Dogecoin (DOGE)
  • Elongate
  • Zilliqa
  • Zeppelin Dao
  • Zeppelin
  • Safemoon
  • Kabosu
  • Elongate

Users also can swap new tokens and transfer BUSD, USDT, ETH, and BTC from the ETH chain to the Binance Smart Chain through the deposit feature of the network.

Supported Crypto Wallets

The exchange supports a broad range of cryptocurrency wallets. The supported wallets include:

  • Trust Wallet
  • MetaMask Wallet
  • WalletConnect Wallets
  • TockenPocket
  • MathWallet
  • Club98
  • SafePal
  • Binance Chain Wallet

PancakeSwap Pros and Cons

As with any exchange, the PancakeSwap system has benefits and drawbacks. We’ve outlined below the major pros and cons of PancakeSwap.

Pros

  • Easy to get started; no registration required for exchanging or staking
  • Non-custodial; no one can steal the tokens when hacking the platform
  • Competitive fees compared to alternatives (e.g., SushiSwap and UniSwap)
  • More than 600 tokens, 90 farms, and 25 pools
  • Users can enter lotteries to win tokens
  • Users can win a variety of NFTs
  • Community governance, meaning CAKE holders can vote on proposals
  • Return on investment (ROI) calculator

Cons

  • Risk of slippage that reduces profits on large trading volumes
  • Potential for impermanent loss when staking
  • No customer contact or support besides social media
  • Does not support fiat currencies
  • DEXs like PancakeSwap usually have an order book with lower liquidity compared to their centralized counterparts.

Payment Methods

Trading on PancakeSwap requires connecting a digital wallet. You can connect your wallet by adding the PancakeSwap network or scanning their QR code visiting pancakeswap.finance. The exchange website offers guides for PC, iPad, iPhone, and Android on connecting your wallet or creating a new wallet.

Furthermore, PancakeSwap can connect to some of the most popular cryptocurrency wallets including MetaMask, Trust Wallet, MathWallet, WalletConnect, TokenPocket, and Wallet Connect. However, the platform does not accept deposits in fiat currencies such as USD, GBP, or EUR.

To trade on PancakeSwap, users have to own cryptocurrency beforehand. They can also buy it on an exchange that enables fiat currencies to purchase cryptocurrencies.

Once your digital wallet contains crypto, PancakeSwap recommends using Binance, Binance Bridge, or SafePal. These exchanges allow you to convert at least some of your currency to the BEP-20 token. However, you do not need to register for an account to convert funds or start trading.

Ways to Trade

PancakeSwap trading options include Exchanges, Liquidity Pools, Yield Farms, Syrup Pools, and Initial Farm Offerings.

Exchanges/Swaps

As the simplest trading method, an exchange (or swap) requires only a compatible digital wallet and BEP-20 tokens. You can visit the PancakeSwap exchange page and select the tokens you want to trade. You can also choose how many tokens to exchange and view the predicted price before finalizing your trade.

Before making a swap, you should double-check that you are using the platform’s latest exchange, PancakeSwap v2. On this version, you’ll find better pair prices and capital that is less likely to experience slippage than on PancakeSwap v1. (Slippage is a change in price point between when a user orders a trade and when the transaction goes through.)

Liquidity Pools

Liquidity pools are funds used in DEX systems and locked in a smart contract. They facilitate trading specific cryptocurrency assets. For instance, with liquidity pools, you do not need to involve another person to complete trades.

CAKE is a BEP-20 token originally launched on Binance Smart Chain. It incentivizes earning passive capital on PancakeSwap by staking tokens in liquidity pools.

Let’s say you deposit Wrapped BNB (WBNB) and CAKE in a liquidity pool. You’ll get CAKE-WBNB-LP tokens to represent your share of the pool. When other users carry out swaps using that liquidity pool, 0.17% of the 0.25% trading fee goes back to the pool in the form of a fee reward for liquidity providers..

This activity raises the value of LP tokens, which increases the value of your stake. You can redeem tokens in the pool at any time.

How to add liquidity to a farm on PancakeSwap?

To add liquidity to a farm on the PancakeSwap crypto exchange, you need to have two digital assets that are a valid liquidity pair like CAKE and USDT. Under the ‘trade’ section as ‘exchange’, you’ll see a ‘liquidity’ option. When you tap that and unlock your wallet, pick the two digital assets to give liquidity and then tap ‘supply.’ When you approve the transaction, you’ll receive LP tokens or Liquidity Pool tokens to your wallet. Next, go to ‘farms.’ look for the pair you have liquidity tokens for, and then add them to the pool so you can start receiving rewards.

Yield Farming

You can earn CAKE rewards by using the LP tokens received from liquidity pools. With two LP tokens, you can get a stake in a specific PancakeSwap yield farm.

For example, you can use two CAKE-WBNB LP tokens to buy a stake in the CAKE-WBNB farm. Each farm has a multiplier based on how much CAKE it receives per block produced. If the CAKE-WBNB farm has a 60x multiplier, it receives 60 CAKE for each block it produces.

Syrup Pools

PancakeSwap also has syrup pools that work like yield farms but require only one LP token. Syrup pools may offer lesser rewards than yield farms. However, unlike yield farms, syrup pools do not face the possibility of impermanent loss.

With impermanent loss, the value of a trader’s farm portion is less than the tokens would have grown in value if not farmed. Nonetheless, trading fee rebates usually offset impermanent losses enough to make yield farms profitable for users.

PancakeSwap has two types of syrup pools: Auto CAKE and Manual CAKE. Similar to a bot, Auto CAKE automatically gathers and reinvests any CAKE earned. Manual CAKE lets you choose when to gather your CAKE and what you want to do with it.

PancakeSwap has other syrup pools besides CAKE that let you earn tokens. All of them require first staking CAKE LP tokens.

Initial Farm Offerings

Users can launch tokens for distribution to yield farms via an initial farm offering (IFO). With an IFO, users can raise funds for a project by attracting stakes.

To participate in an IFO, you must have an active PancakeSwap profile, which costs 1.5 CAKE to create. You can also only bet with CAKE-BNB LP tokens. If you don’t have CAKE-BNB LP tokens, you will first have to buy PancakeSwap CAKE tokens and BNB, then stake them in a liquidity pool.

Alternatively, you can change contributor participation fees into CAKE and burn the CAKE afterward.

Trading Fees and Commissions

The PancakeSwap transaction fee is 0.25% with all but 0.08% going to liquidity stakeholders. You can use the rest to buy CAKE, which you then burn. Otherwise, the remaining amount reverts to the PancakeSwap Treasury.

PancakeSwap has no transfer or withdrawal fees. However, DEX traders pay high network fees (called “gas fees”) for processing exchanges and transactions. Fortunately, users can set limits on how much they pay out.

Leverage

PancakeSwap does not yet offer margin trading. However, they plan to introduce margin trading in the future.

Mobile Apps

PancakeSwap does not have its own mobile app. However, you can use various other IOS and Android apps to access PancakeSwap ecosystem on mobile. WalletConnect, Trust Wallet, and Ledger Nano are among the supported mobile apps.

Source Code

The exchange provides API, toolkit, and frontend info on its GitHub. You can access the GitHub through the website and use it to fork PancakeSwap. The router V2 address is also available on the PancakeSwap website.

Rewards and Promotions

NFTs

PancakeSwap offers a gamified exchange experience, creating more ways to earn rewards. For example, you can earn unique non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as noted earlier in this PancakeSwap review.

You can win NFTs through team-based trading games and periodic PancakeSwap airdrop events. You can keep NFTs in a digital wallet or trade them for their value in CAKE.

PancakeSwap Lottery

PancakeSwap has a lottery system in which traders can win substantial prizes in cryptocurrency. The lottery prices the tickets at the equivalent of about $5 USD each but you must buy them in CAKE. The platform’s lottery restarts every 12 hours.

Each lottery ticket includes six numbers between 0-9 (e.g., 1-9-2-5-3-7). Holders of a winning ticket receive 50% of the lottery pool. The other half of the lottery pool pays lesser amounts to holders of partial lottery matches.

In order to win the lottery jackpot, the four assigned digits should match with the four numbers in the winning ticket.

PancakeSwap does not have official customer support on their website. Instead, their website offers a troubleshooting page containing explanations and solutions for common errors. Yet, users cannot contact the exchange team through the website.

If you have a question unaddressed on PancakeSwap’s troubleshooting page, you have multiple ways to seek help. Your best bet is to contact the PancakeSwap social media channels on Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Telegram, and Medium. You can also find assistance on the Quora, 4Chan, and Discord channels along with PancakeSwap YouTube tutorials.

Safety & Security

PancakeSwap does not require Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation. However, it is a reliable and relatively safe exchange audited by CertiK, the cybersecurity firm.

Hacks are always a risk, and PancakeSwap experienced a DNS hijack in March 2021 that took the site down temporarily. Since they are a non-custodial DEX, PancakeSwap does not hold assets directly. As a result, they have nothing for successful hackers to steal.

Nonetheless, PancakeSwap users should be on the lookout for scamming attempts. In past incidents, scammers sent messages on the platform promoting an airdrop giveaway that did not exist.

Pancake Swap Review Australia

PancakeSwap was launched at the end of 2020 by a group of anonymous developers and achieved quick recognition in the fast-growing Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem, with a market cap of more than $4 billion only after a year of the exchange’s released.

PancakeSwap is built on top of Binance Smart Chain (BSC), which enables lower fees and faster transaction processing times in comparison to protocols built on the Ethereum blockchain like Uniswap (UNI).

As a classic decentralised Exchange representative, PancakeSwap doesn’t operate as a middleman between the buyer and seller but rather utilizes self-triggering smart contracts instead. PancakeSwap record and verify the transaction once all conditions are met.

The DEX supports BEP-20 tokens in the first place but it is also not impossible to leverage a a wider coin selection through Binance Bridge, which somehow converts the external crypto assets into BEP-20 tokens making ‘wrapped tokens.’

Overall, Pancake Swap has established one of the most engaging trading platforms you can find in the modern decentralised exchange ecosystem. It is surely worth the effort you’ll spend on demystifying the syrup pools and farm yield.

Furthermore, DEXs are growing at a rapid rate so it is a nice idea to go through the best ones available in Australia such as PancakeSwap.

For a list of Aussie-based exchanges, have a look at our comparison of the best crypto trading platforms to buy Bitcoin in Australia.

PancakeSwap Review Canada

PancakeSwap was released at the end of year 2020 by a group of unnamed developers and achieved immediate recognition in the fast-growing DeFi ecosystem. The DEX reached a market cap of more than $4 billion only after a year of the platform’s released.

PancakeSwap has faster transaction processing times and lower fees than protocols built on the Ethereum blockchain because it is built on top of Binance Smart Chain (BSC).

As a typical DEX, PancakeSwap doesn’t operate as a middleman between the crypto buyer and seller but instead leverages self-triggering smart contracts instead. The platform record and authenticate the transaction once all conditions are met.

PancakeSwap supports BEP-20 tokens in the first place but it’s also possible to utilize a broader coin selection through Binance Bridge, which somehow converts the external digital assets into BEP-20 tokens, ultimately making wrapped tokens.

All in all, PancakeSwap has established one of the most engaging trading platforms you can look for in modern decentralized exchanges. PancakeSwap is certainly worth the effort you will spend on easily understanding the syrup pools and farm yield.

Decentralized exchanges are growing at a very fast rate so it is a good idea to go through the best ones available in Canada, especially if you’re a Canadian who’s into crypto space.

For a list of Canadian-based exchanges, have a look at our comparison of the Best Canadian Crypto Exchanges.

PancakeSwap Review UK

Created by a group of anonymous developers, PancakeSwap was released at the end of year 2022 and immediately achieved wide recognition in the fast-growing DeFi space. PancakeSwap reached a market capitalization of over $4 billion only after a year of released.

The DEX offers faster transaction processing times and lower fees compared to protocols established on the Ethereum blockchain since it is made on top of Binance Smart Chain (BSC).

As your normal decentralized exchange, PancakeSwap doesn’t operate as a middleman between the seller and buyer but rather utilizes self-triggering smart contracts instead. The DEX record and verify the transactions once all conditions met.

PancakeSwap supports BEP-20 tokens but it is also possible to use a wide coin selection through Binance Bridge, which somehow converts the external crypto assets into BEP-20 tokens, making wrapped tokens.

So, if you wanna trade ERC-20 tokens on the platform, you must wrap them on the Binance Bridge to turn them into BEP-20 assets. To do this, just go over to the Binance Bridge, then link your wallet.

To sum it up, PancakeSwap has established on of the most appealing crypto trading platforms you can look for in modern DEXs. PancakeSwap is surely worth the effort and time you’ll spend on easily understanding the farm yield and syrup pools.

Here are the other best cryptocurrency exchanges that UK has to offer if don’t feel like PancakeSwap is not the right one for you.

Summing Up

To summarize our PancakeSwap review, it is an easy-to-use DEX with many benefits for traders. It has plenty of tokens, farms, and pools to use for earning capital. You can also earn or win various rewards on the platform.

Although PancakeSwap lacks website customer support, you can contact the exchange team through official social media channels. The platform is trustworthy and relatively secure.

 

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author Marco Vela

A crypto obssessed digital marketer passionate about making a difference in the world. When he's not behind the computer he can be found hiking, camping and relaxing with his dog.