What is PancakeSwap (CAKE)?
CAKE is the native BEP-20 token for the PancakeSwap platform. PancakeSwap is an automated market maker (AMM) – an autonomous protocol that’s utilized by decentralized exchange platforms (DEXs) to exchange various tokens by using liquidity pools. PancakeSwap also has the liquidity provider (LP) token known as FLIP. The CAKE price can be observed in the chart above.
PancakeSwap is based on the Binance Smart Chain and allows users to swap various BEP tokens. It’s known for its initial farm offerings (IFOs) – fundraisers where users exchange their liquidity provider tokens for the new project tokens. It’s the largest decentralized exchange on the BSC based on trading volume.
What Is the Story Behind PancakeSwap?
PancakeSwap was launched by a group of developers whose identities remain unknown. The platform was developed to enable trading for BEP-20 and other Binance tokens. It stands as a direct competitor to other AMM platforms such as Uniswap and SushiSwap.
The platform officially launched in September 2020, offering low fees and fast transaction speed. At the time of the release, the CAKE price was valued at around $1 with some fluctuations. The CAKE token supply was initially unlimited.
Since its launch, PancakeSwap has been a volatile asset. Although the asset remained relatively stable during the first few months post-launch, it experienced a sudden increase in market activity in early 2021. This wave reached a significant peak in April of that year when the PancakeSwap price exceeded $44.
What Features Does PancakeSwap Offer?
In May 2022, the CAKE crypto project introduced a hard cap on the token supply, limiting it to 750,000,000. This was done to ensure the asset’s deflation. The value of deflationary assets tends to increase as they become more scarce. Therefore, thanks to different deflationary mechanisms, the CAKE price is likely to rise in the future.
As an automated market maker, PancakeSwap relies on liquidity pools as one of its core mechanisms. As a Proof-of-Stake network, it offers considerably low transaction fees, particularly compared to Proof-of-Work blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
There are multiple ways for users to earn CAKE coins. The most common method is by injecting liquidity into one of the Syrup Pools. By becoming liquidity providers, users are eligible for rewards. Such rewards help incentivize further contributions to the network.
By injecting liquidity, users receive the liquidity provider token FLIP. CAKE and FLIP tokens are used as an asset to swap for other tokens. Users can swap their assets to acquire both fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). FLIP tokens are a core part of the initial farm offerings (IFOs).
An Initial farm offering is a type of token fundraising mechanism. Here, users can take their FLIP tokens and fund a project of their choice. In return, they receive the new tokens that the project teams are working on.
Users are also able to participate in PancakeSwap crypto lotteries. The platform offers lottery tickets that users can buy with their PancakeSwap coins to increase their earnings. Part of the lottery pool is burned to maintain deflation.
CAKE can also be used as the platform’s governance token. Users can submit their proposals regarding network changes and vote on them as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). This ensures network decentralization and transparency for all decisions and changes made.
The platform uses a manual burning system to adjust the PancakeSwap price and supply. Every day a specified amount of CAKE tokens is burned from transactions and the lottery. The burning process is done manually to ensure better accuracy of the process.
The goal of the platform’s token management mechanism is to have a higher deflation than the emission rate. The burning rate is kept relatively low to incentivize users to provide liquidity and guarantee their rewards. A stable emission-burning rate that maintains the platform’s viability can lead to the CAKE price being more acceptable to investors.
