Overview
PancakeSwap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on multiple blockchains. It is administered by Binance.
As of 2024, it is one of the major DEX on Binance Smart Chain and has more than $2.3B in total value locked.
5 sources for this section
- 1PancakeSwap — Wikipedia, revision 1344986783
- 2Stafford, Philip (October 21, 2021). "The FT crypto glossary". Financial Times.
- 3Berwick, Angus; Kowsmann, Patricia (August 12, 2025). "The Recipe Behind the Trump Family's Crypto Riches: PancakeSwap". WSJ.
- 4Di Maggio, Marco (2024). Blockchain, Crypto and DeFi: Bridging Finance and Technology. Wiley. pp. 375–376. ISBN 9781394275908. As the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) on BSC, PancakeSwap has carved a niche for itself, offering an attractive alternative to Ethereum-based protocols. Launched in September 2020, PancakeSwap quickly ascended to prom
- 5Tempesta, Stefano (2024). Application Architecture Patterns for Web 3.0. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781040263686.
History
PancakeSwap was founded in 2020 by anonymous developers. Its domain was registered in Shanghai, China. According to former Binance employees, it was created by Binance staff as an extension of its centralized exchange.
In June 2025, PancakeSwap formed a joint initiative with World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance protocol founded by Trump family, to promote its stablecoin, USD1. Hundreds of patriotic-sounding memecoins, such as Torch of Liberty and Eagles Landing, were created by users of Chinese origin to promote USD1. PancakeSwap also started a "Liquidity Drive" program, offering prizes of up to $1 million to increase trading of USD1 on its platform.
3 sources for this section
Protocol
PancakeSwap is a decentralized finance protocol that is used to exchange cryptocurrencies and tokens; it is provided on blockchain networks that run open-source software. It uses an automated market maker (AMM) model for trading BEP-20 tokens.
The native token of protocol is CAKE which is used for governance and to incentivize liquidity provision. CAKE token holders can participate in governance by voting on proposals that influence the platform's development.
4 sources for this section
- 1PancakeSwap — Wikipedia, revision 1344986783
- 4Di Maggio, Marco (2024). Blockchain, Crypto and DeFi: Bridging Finance and Technology. Wiley. pp. 375–376. ISBN 9781394275908. As the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) on BSC, PancakeSwap has carved a niche for itself, offering an attractive alternative to Ethereum-based protocols. Launched in September 2020, PancakeSwap quickly ascended to prom
- 7Stafford, Philip; Szalay, Eva (11 May 2021). "Billionaires Peter Thiel and Alan Howard back new $10bn crypto exchange". Financial Times.
- 8Alkhazi, Bader; Alipour, Amin (October 17, 2023). "Multi-objective test selection of smart contract and blockchain applications". PeerJ Computer Science. 9 e1587. doi:10.7717/peerj-cs.1587. PMC 10588722. PMID 37869450.
The source notesEvidence & further reading8 sources
- PancakeSwap — Wikipedia, revision 1344986783 Wikipedia contributors · Reference source · accessed 2026-09-22
- Stafford, Philip (October 21, 2021). "The FT crypto glossary". Financial Times. ft.com · Reference source · link imported 2026-09-22
- Berwick, Angus; Kowsmann, Patricia (August 12, 2025). "The Recipe Behind the Trump Family's Crypto Riches: PancakeSwap". WSJ. wsj.com · Reference source · link imported 2026-09-22
- Di Maggio, Marco (2024). Blockchain, Crypto and DeFi: Bridging Finance and Technology. Wiley. pp. 375–376. ISBN 9781394275908. As the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) on BSC, PancakeSwap has carved a niche for itself, offering an attractive alternative to Ethereum-based protocols. Launched in September 2020, PancakeSwap quickly ascended to prom books.google.com · Reference source · link imported 2026-09-22
- Tempesta, Stefano (2024). Application Architecture Patterns for Web 3.0. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781040263686. google.com · Reference source · link imported 2026-09-22
- Noah, Timothy (October 24, 2025). "Trump's Pardon of His Crypto Pal Is a New Height of Corruption". The New Republic. newrepublic.com · Reference source · link imported 2026-09-22
- Stafford, Philip; Szalay, Eva (11 May 2021). "Billionaires Peter Thiel and Alan Howard back new $10bn crypto exchange". Financial Times.