PancakeSwap Exchange Review

PancakeSwap Overview

• Oldest and leading DEXs on BSC
• Faster than Automated Market Makers on Ethereum
• Low flat-rate trading fees of 0.25%
• TVL of $5 Billion +
• Supports all BEP20 tokens
• Supports yield farming and staking
• Purely governed by community

Introducing PancakeSwap

Pancake Swap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) serving at least 2 million people. In other words, it allows users to swap and trade their digital coins without the input of a third party or intermediary. It’s native to Binance Smart Chain (BSC), a significant competitor of the Ethereum blockchain network. PancakeSwap is not only the first DEX on BSC, but with a total value locked (TVL) of more than $6 billion, it’s also the biggest automated market maker and yield farm on the network. The exchange focuses on the Binance token (BNB) and all other tokens produced according to Binance’s BEP20 standard. BEP20 tokens comply with specific functions that enable their compatibility with the broader Binance ecosystem, including wallets and dApps. As a non-custodial platform, Pancake Swap Exchange gives users complete control of their private keys and funds, unlike centralized exchanges such as KuCoin and Kraken. Crypto users familiar with Ethereum-built DEXs like UniSwap will feel at home navigating through PancakeSwap because they have a lot in common. Both are governed by their community and allow yield farming.

Company Overview

Team – Who founded PancakeSwap?

PancakeSwap is believed to be a creation of Binance, famous as the largest centralized crypto exchange globally, claims which they have not denied or verified. The specific team that developed it, however, remains anonymous. What we know from our research is that they were a team of at least 13 people with an undying love for pancakes. They referred to themselves as “chefs.” The team of engineers was led by two co-principles named Hops and Thumper. Pancake Swap’s native token CAKE is used for governance by members that hold it. It remains decentralized with zero control from any central authority.

PancakeSwap Market Share

Pancake Swap is doing pretty well for a new exchange barely two years old. The CoinMarketCap ranking as of writing this is #75 with a market cap of $551 million and a circulating supply of 143 million CAKE coins. The platform’s main competitors are Ethereum’s UniSwap and SushiSwap.

PancakeSwap Exchange License & Insurance

We established during this review that Pancake Swap holds the US Money Service Business (MSB) financial license for US clients and operates under the US treasury department. Non-US clients are not covered by these regulations, though. Outside the US, Pancake Swap and other DeFi protocols are purely governed by their community. They are 100% decentralized and operate widely without a central authority’s license or control. We didn’t find any evidence of insurance. It’s important to know that Pancake Swap is a new crypto product that still operates as an experimental work-in-progress project. The decentralized crypto exchange has, however, been audited by CertiK and certified as a reliable digital coin marketplace.

Pancake Swap Reputation and Security

PancakeSwap has a good reputation and has proven secure and dependable. It has never been hacked, unlike centralized exchanges like Binance.com and Coinbase.com. As a DeFi protocol, it’s exposed to risks of smart contract vulnerabilities such as bugs and errors that could result in asset loss. Of course, no known such incident has ever happened, but users are required to exercise caution and only invest their risk capital. Chainalysis reports that over 50% of crypto hackers are now targeting DeFi projects. Thankfully Pancake Swap never holds client assets directly. Users play a significant role in safeguarding their funds as they fully control their private keys. Always ensure you share your data with the right Pancake Swap site, and don’t fall for scam messages promising to give you free crypto and CAKE drops.

Security Features

PancakeSwap has several features that make it secure for users and improve its reputation as a safe and reliable decentralized crypto exchange in the crypto community. Let’s look at them:

• Non-custodial DEX: You will be dealing with a non-custodial DEX, hence doesn’t hold client funds in a hot wallet. Private keys are entirely in the user’s control, making it theoretically impossible for the exchange to lose client funds to hackers. Every user is fully responsible for the security of their private keys and consequently that of their digital coins.
• SSL Certificate: The website is SSL secured, meaning all data shared by clients on the platforms is encrypted and can’t be accessed by unauthorized parties, including hackers. Not even the company staff can read such data.
• Crypto to crypto payment: The platform only accepts crypto-to-crypto payments, eliminating the chances of a hacker stealing your card or bank details. Cryptocurrencies are inherently safe.
• Certik Audit: The exchange is audited by CertiK, one of the leading cyber-security firms. CertiK’s audit assures users that the platform is secure and can be trusted.

Complaints Received

PancakeSwap’s rating on TrustPilot stands at 2.1/5, which is pretty below average. Most complaints on TrustPilot are from new users who either lost their funds to scammers or had difficulty learning to use the platform. As indicated earlier, transacting on BSC might be complex for some people and isn’t friendly for beginners. Regarding loss of money, non-custodial exchanges like PancakeSwap give you the complete authority of your funds through private keys. So if you are careless with your keys, you’ll quickly lose your funds. Furthermore, sharing your wallet information and private keys with third-party sites not well-known could also get you hacked.

Pancake Swap Available Tokens

During this review, we counted at least 118 tokens on the PancakeSwap platform. They include BTCB, SBNB, TTC, USDT, USDC, SAFUU, USP, ODD, SUC, and more. One thing that came out is that the exchange continually updates its platform by adding new tokens. Among the recently listed tokens are Lucky Block (LBLOCK), Safemoon (SAFEMOON), and Mobox (MBOX).

Available Trading Pairs

Pancake users will be spoilt for choice when it comes to trading. The platform offers more than 5000 trading pairs, including but not limited to USDT/BNB, BNB/BUSD, CAKE/BNB, ETH/BNB, FGD/BNB, LITE/USDT, and USDT/USDC.

Pancake Swap Fees:

Trading fees are a big barrier to the uptake of DeFi projects. Pancake Swap exchange stands out not only as one of the fastest DeFi platforms but also affordable. Traders foot small transaction fees of 0.2%, and there are no additional charges. Unlike most crypto exchanges, the fee remains the same on this platform regardless of the amount and time of your transactions. 0.17% from the 0.2% fee is paid to liquidity providers, and the remainder goes to Pancake Swap coffers to support CAKE’s price stability.

PancakeSwap Payments

Deposits & Withdrawals Methods:

Users have limited options when it comes to deposits and withdrawals on PancakeSwap. The exchange only accepts crypto payments. You can buy CAKE from a third-party exchange and send it to your Pancake Swap account to get started. Withdrawals are sent directly to your crypto wallet too.

Limits:

We did not find any information regarding minimum limits or maximum ceiling amounts for transacting on PancakeSwap. We also found out that there was no minimum amount required to participate in staking. Of course, your return on investment will be determined by how much money you invest. On the other hand, the success of your transaction depends on the available liquidity at the time you are transacting. If liquidity is low, you can only make smaller payments whose prices can be filled.

How to use Pancake Swap-Step by Step

Using PancakeSwap isn’t tricky, although beginners may face some challenges without proper guidance. Regardless of the transaction you intend to perform, you will need BNB in your crypto wallet to pay gas fees. Here is a step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Connect your DeFi wallet to the PancakeSwap exchange.

On the top right side of the website, hit the “Connect Wallet” button to get started. You can’t access any other feature on this platform without completing this step. The exchange supports many wallets such as Coinbase and Trust wallet. As mentioned earlier, all Wallet Connect wallets are compatible with this exchange. So, select your wallet and follow the easy steps provided by the website.

Step 2: Click the “Trade” button.

Next, place your cursor on the “Trade” button at the top left corner of the site. A list of four trading features will drop down for you to select. Click on “Swap” if you want to exchange different tokens. “Limit” lets you choose a specific price at which you will buy your tokens, while the “Liquidity” option ushers you into the exchange’s liquidity pools. Finally, click the last option, “Perpetual,” if you’re interested in futures trading. For this review, we clicked on “Swap” and were led to the following page below.

Step 3: Start Swapping tokens

This is where actual trading takes place. First, adjust the slippage tolerance and any other settings from the main menu. Next, select the tokens you want to trade, specify the amount, and click on Swap. A pop-up will appear requiring you to confirm the transaction details. Hit the “Confirm Swap” button if the information is correct. You have to be quick before the price changes. Remember, cryptocurrencies are highly volatile assets.

Step 4: Confirm from your wallet.

Lastly, your wallet will also push out a pop-up with your transaction details. Click confirm to complete the payment.

Transaction will be completed in a few seconds, and you will get a message on your Pancake swap account confirming the same. Was that hard? You’re now a graduate in using the Pancake Swap exchange platform.

PancakeSwap User Experience

Desktop

PancakeSwap’s desktop version comes with a user-friendly and intuitive design. Using it is as direct as covered in the “How to Use PancakeSwap” section of this review. What’s more, it takes less than three minutes to get started as there are no complex procedures and requirements such as signing up and KYC verification. The exchange doesn’t hold user funds directly; all payments are made to your wallet. As discussed in this review, the DEX provides multiple functionalities, and beginners may get confused. However, once you acquire the essential skills for connecting your wallet and trading, it becomes easier to learn more complex features. Our favorite part of this review was the speed and costs of transactions. Pancake swap is super-fast and charges a flat fee of only 0.2% per transaction. We now understand why they say the moon is made of pancakes.

Mobile App

If you have been part of our community for a while, you know how we love transacting on the go. What beats the luxury of trading as you go on with your daily errands? Unfortunately, Pancake Swap doesn’t have an android or iOS app that you can download. We came across multiple third-party apps claiming to give users access to the Pancake Swap ecosystem, but we do not recommend them. Be careful if you must use any of these third-party apps, as most can’t be trusted. Better be safe than sorry.

PancakeSwap Customer Service

With all the tremendous futuristic features, most DEXs don’t give enough attention to customer support, and Pancake Swap is no different. In fact, the Pancake Swap Customer Support Page states clearly that there is no Customer Service. See the image below.Users are advised to use the troubleshooting feature on the Pancake Swap page to solve common errors. The troubleshooting page lists commonly experienced problems and their solutions. Some of the challenges discussed include:

• PancakeRouter Expired
• INSUFFICIENT_A_AMOUNT or INSUFFICIENT_B_AMOUNT
• INSUFFICIENT_OUTPUT_AMOUNT
• Pancake: K
• Pancake: TRANSFER_FAILED
• Transaction cannot succeed

We established that you could also find help from Quora or by watching different tutorials on YouTube.

PancakeSwap has gone ahead to create telegram channels for every region in an attempt to build an active user community of users. You can reach out to community members for solutions whenever you have problems. We found the following Pancake Swap community links during this Pancake Swap review.

PancakeSwap vs. Other Crypto Exchanges

PancakeSwap vs. UniSwap

UniSwap and PancakeSwap are DEXs running on different blockchain networks. The former exists on the Ethereum network and was mainly created to address the liquidity problems of its predecessors, such as EtherDelta. It supports all ERC20 tokens and infrastructure. The latter, on the other hand, is a native BSC platform for trading BEP20 tokens. Both of them are fully decentralized, meaning no one owns or runs them. While UniSwap stands out as the most popular automated market maker, it has relatively high costs of transactions compared to Pancake Swap. Pancake Swap only has a flat fee of 0.2%, whereas UniSwap fees keep rising. In terms of tokens listed, UniSwap takes the lead. Both platforms are safe and reliable. Pancake is, however, giving UniSwap a run for its money due to its low costs and high transaction speeds as crypto users seek more affordable DeFi platforms. Here is a quick comparison table of the two exchanges.

PancakeSwap vs. KuCoin

KuCoin is a centralized crypto exchange, unlike PancakeSwap, and comes with several unique features. First, users can access it via both desktop and mobile platforms. It has three times the number of cryptocurrencies listed on PancakeSwap and offers trading at low fees of 0.1%, which is 50% lower than the PancakeSwap exchange. Lovers of privacy may not find KuCoin accommodating as it requires users to provide KYC documents for verification. This, however, doesn’t make it more secure than Pancake Swap, as it was hacked in 2020, leaving hot wallet users with a total loss of $280 worth of crypto.

Is Pancake Swap Exchange Right for You?

After completing this PancakeSwap exchange review, we concluded that the exchange is a good fit for crypto enthusiasts looking for new ways to earn money with their coins. The platform offers multiple investments and gambling options, including lotteries, farms, and pools that can help you maximize returns on your crypto investments. Beginners may struggle to get their way around the entire process of BSC, but things become smooth as soon as you start getting the hang of it. So if you love crypto, why not give Pancake Swap a chance? Of course, you don’t have to love Pancakes to use Pancake Swap.

Final Verdict

Pancake Swap is a reliable, safe, and trustworthy crypto exchange. No wonder it serves more than 2 million clients globally. With statistics from sites like Chainaylsis indicating that DeFi platforms are currently the most targeted by hackers, security is at the forefront of the factors we look at while recommending a crypto exchange to our users. Pancake Swap has taken an extra step to get audited by leading cyber security experts, CertiK, and take up additional security features like DeepSEA, CertiK Shield, and Security Oracle. We hence find it safe and secure as an exchange for crypto users. Although it lacks customer support, the Pancake Swap exchange has ensured users have enough avenues to explore solutions to their challenges. So if you are wondering whether or not to give this platform a try, think no further; we recommend it.