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PancakeSwap failed to surpass Uniswap in terms of TVL (or total locked-in value), partly due to the US SEC’s ban on BUSD.
PancakeSwap and the attempt to surpass Uniswap in TVL
According to DefiLama’s data, at the time of writing, PancakeSwap’s and Uniswap’s DEX reported $2.43 billion and $3.5 billion TVL, respectively.
A situation that was about to be reversed until the SEC banned BUSD, bringing PancakeSwap’s growth to a halt.
2/ PancakeSwap actually overtook Uniswap by TVL on Nov 29th (if accounting for staked $CAKE).
But its TVL has dropped by 12% just this month, while Uniswap lost less.
The ban of BUSD – a key asset on PCS – resulted in decreasing BUSD supply, slowing down growth on BNB Chain. pic.twitter.com/zat1qorVtW
— Ignas | DeFi Research (@DefiIgnas) March 10, 2023
As reported, PancakeSwap had managed to outperform Uniswap in terms of LTV last 29 November, but in this month alone its LTV fell by 12%.
The cause was attributed to the US SEC-defined decrease in BUSD supply, which led to a slowdown in the growth of the BNB Chain.
PancakeSwap and the blockchain integration of Aptos and Ethereum
Among the various strategies that raised the TVL of PancakeSwap was the integration of other blockchains to the DEX. And indeed, as early as last October, PancakeSwap supported both Ethereum and also the Aptos blockchain.
In general, the multi-blockchain approach gives DEX access to greater liquidity. So, of its $2.43 billion LTV, the majority is offered by the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), followed by the other two that contributed less.
Despite this, one can see from the graph that PancakeSwap’s TVL has declined substantially over the past three years, while its peak of around $7.8 billion was reached at the height of the bullish 2021.
Uniswap’s TVL is also declining with its current $3.5 billion, but it has to be said that its peak reached over $10 billion also in 2021.
Having a high TVL is crucial for DEX, as it guarantees lower slippage and better prices.
CAKE vs. UNI: the price performance of the two tokens
In addition to the competition in terms of TVL, it is possible to analyse how the two DEX tokens CAKE and UNI perform both in terms of transaction volume and price performance.
By analysing transaction volume, it is generally possible to identify which of the two DEX is attracting more users. So, PancakeSwap’s transaction volume on the BSC peaked at 9.67 million CAKE in the last seven days (the equivalent of $3.8 million). In contrast, Uniswap’s transaction volume peaked at 213,200 (the equivalent of $1.14 million) in the last seven days.
Looking at the price of CAKE and UNI, however, both have seen a 9-10% price pump in the last 24 hours, somewhat following the general trend of cryptocurrencies.
Specifically, CAKE is now worth $3.83 and is 66th in the crypto rankings by market capitalisation. UNI’s current price is $6.05 and it is 18th.
And in fact, while UNI’s total market cap is around $4.6 billion, CAKE’s is still below $1 billion, but above $700 million.