PancakeSwap closes record $310B year, up 179% driven by L2, DeFi growth

As a seasoned analyst with over two decades of experience in the financial markets, I must admit that I am quite impressed by PancakeSwap’s monumental achievement in closing a record year with a staggering $310 billion trading volume. Having witnessed the rise and fall of numerous exchanges and platforms throughout my career, this level of growth is truly remarkable.

2020 saw an all-time high for PancakeSwap’s cryptocurrency trading volume, mainly due to increased enthusiasm for decentralized exchanges and advancements within layer-2 blockchain technologies.

As a crypto investor, I found myself amazed at the phenomenal growth of Decentralized Exchange (DEX) PancakeSwap in 2024. In comparison to the $111 billion trading volume it recorded in 2023, the exchange saw an impressive year-over-year increase of approximately 179%, reaching a whopping $310 billion by year’s end.

2024 marked a record-breaking year primarily due to significant growth in the Layer 2 networks Arbitrum and Base. Specifically, Arbitrum experienced an impressive Year-over-Year (YoY) surge of 3,656%, resulting in a staggering $13.2 billion by the end of the year. On the other hand, crypto trading volume on Base witnessed a similar YoY spike of 3,539%, reaching $11.6 billion in 2024, as reported in a PancakeSwap analysis that was made public via CryptoMoon.

The PancakeSwap team mentioned that increased investor confidence and DeFi trading activities were among the factors leading to the impressive $310 billion milestone, as reported by CryptoMoon.

“PancakeSwap’s 179% YoY growth in trading volume reflects the positive market sentiment and increased activity in the DeFi and DEX sectors.”

At this moment, PancakeSwap ranks as the second largest Decentralized Exchange (DEX), with a daily trading volume of approximately $2.23 billion. This is slightly lower than Uniswap’s current 24-hour volume of around $3.11 billion, according to DefiLlama’s data.

Crosschain growth and UX feature upgrades pushed PancakeSwap past the $310B milestone

On various blockchain platforms such as Ethereum and BNB Chain, PancakeSwap experienced substantial year-over-year growth, with a 251% rise in transactions on Ethereum and a 155% surge on the BNB Chain, surpassing both Arbitrum and Base.

As a researcher, I’m thrilled to note that PancakeSwap has achieved its annual milestone, coinciding with an escalation in DeFi activity. This surge in activity has led to a substantial increase in the total value locked within DeFi. Specifically, it rose by an impressive 124% from $54 billion on January 1st, all the way up to over $121 billion as of December 24th, according to DefiLlama’s latest data.

Apart from the increasing fascination with Decentralized Finance (DeFi) systems and Decentralized Exchange (DEX) trading, it was also the user-focused upgrade of PancakeSwap that significantly played a role in reaching the $310 billion milestone, as reported by a representative of PancakeSwap to CryptoMoon.

“Additionally, our focus on enhancing key features — such as the revamped swap interface, PancakeSwapX, and tools like the Telegram Swap bot — has helped improve the user experience and drive greater engagement.”

On October 15th, a new platform called PancakeSwapX made its debut, offering commission-free trading and exchanges of assets without gas fees on both the Ethereum and Arbitrum blockchain networks. This innovation aims to enhance the overall experience for crypto users.

For novice DeFi users, it’s essential to have a native Ethereum wallet and own some Ether (ETH), which serves as gas for transactions on the blockchain, prior to engaging in any transactions using platforms like PancakeSwapX.

Such a complex onboarding process can be intimidating for mainstream users, driving most new crypto investors to centralized exchanges (CEXs).

According to DeFiLlama’s latest data, PancakeSwap ranks as the third most active Decentralized Exchange (DEX) in terms of monthly trading volume, having facilitated transactions worth more than $49 billion in cryptocurrencies over the past 30 days.

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2024-12-24 17:14