The PancakeSwap Chefs, the developers of PancakeSwap, created a new ecosystem on top of the Binance Smart Chain. Despite the funny brand name, The PancakeSwap Chefs take the platform seriously. Constant improvements and updates to its DApp eventually made PancakeSwap one of the biggest decentralized exchanges on the market.
In 2020, the chefs released PancakeSwap to allow users to trade Binance Coin and other BEP-20 assets on the Binance Smart Chain. Much like other DEXs, PancakeSwap processes buy and sell orders through smart contracts. This removes the traditional need to trade using order books. Instead, the exchange taps into the liquidity pools contributed by liquidity providers.
One of the biggest selling points of the platform is its low transaction fees and fast confirmation times. Following its launch, the exchange gained more liquidity and added support for more assets. The DEX records an average trading volume of around $1.1 billion daily.
PancakeSwap moved from being only a DEX to an ecosystem offering other products such as yield farming, Syrup Pools, lotteries, prediction, an NFT market, an NFT profile system and initial farm offerings. It also provides analytics tools and voting — a way for the team to listen to community feedback. At the center of it all is PancakeSwap’s native CAKE token, which powers the DEX’s ecosystem. Apart from trading, the token can be used to earn tokens in pools and yield farms, create a pancake profile, mint NFTs and vote on proposals.
Nonfungible tokens became increasingly popular in 2021, and PancakeSwap did not miss out. In October, as the platform celebrated its first anniversary, the exchange created and launched its NFT Market, selling BSC-based NFTs. The platform also launched a feature called NFT profiles, which allows users to use the Bunny NFTs they have purchased as their profile picture. Through this, users can join teams to earn rewards.
One of the biggest changes within the platform came in April 2021 when the chefs rolled out PancakeSwap v2. This allowed the developers to have more freedom to improve the platform’s functions. The team realized that two smart contracts, namely PancakeSwap Router and PancakeSwap Factory, cannot be upgraded further and thus limit the potential of the platform.
With v2, the chefs can adjust the fee structure within the platform, add auto-compounding functionality to Syrup Pools, and overcome several limitations set by the first version.
Since its launch, PancakeSwap’s MasterChef smart contract was responsible for yield farming and staking CAKE. However, in 2022, the chefs are planning to implement new features and products that may be hindered by the old MasterChef’s limitations. As an example, the chefs mentioned that a feature called Fixed Term Staking could not be supported by the old MasterChef contract, hence the team decided to change its MasterChef contract during the first quarter of 2022.
After completing the required security checks, the team is expected to roll out MasterChef v2, an upgraded smart contract that will subdue the limitations set by its old counterpart. While the exchange didn’t go into specifics, the chefs wrote on the website that this move will allow PancakeSwap’s whole product line to evolve into its 2.0 era, shedding its prior limitations.
Apart from MasterChef v2, the chefs are expected to perform general enhancements and implement bug fixes in the background. In its roadmap for 2022, the PancakeSwap team also mentioned that it is planning to work on perpetuals trading, limit order, NFT utility, NFT-based gamification, a hackathon, more lotteries and an affiliate system.
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