PancakeSwap leads a BNB Chain revival, becoming the top DEX in 24hr volume

PancakeSwap is returning as the busiest DEX, reflecting the revival of BNB Chain. The exchange beat all other DEX in daily and weekly volumes. 

PancakeSwap led all other DEX in daily and weekly volumes. The exchange, which lagged due to slower trading of BNB Chain tokens, is starting a rapid recovery, reflecting the recent return of users to the BNB Smart Chain ecosystem. 

PancakeSwap came to the front after Solana’s top DEX decreased their volumes, losing the recent meme token hype. The exchange even surpassed Uniswap, despite launching its V4 liquidity pools and adding to overall volumes. 

PancakeSwap consistently surpassed Raydium and even Uniswap after an inflow of traders in the past few weeks. | Source: DeFi Llama

The success of PancakeSwap follows that of the main Binance exchange, which taps up to 53% of crypto trading activity. The DEX is also appearing more often in Google searches, with a notable surge of interest in YouTube searches.

The ecosystem success was also reflected in the native BNB token. For a short time, BNB was among the few assets in the green on February 12, unaffected by Bitcoin (BTC) dipping to $95,000. BNB rallied after the market started recovering, climbing close to the $700 level again.

BNB Smart Chain grows its traffic in January

The success of PancakeSwap followed a recent overall spike in BNB Smart Chain activity. The network is yet to return to its daily active addresses from the 2021 boom, but there are more signs of recovery. The success of PancakeSwap arrives as DEX still makes up over 16% of centralized exchange volumes. 

PancakeSwap itself achieved peak monthly volumes in January, with over $78B in trades. The DEX broke its monthly record from May 2021 and continued with above-average liquidity in February. The DEX produced over $6.72M in revenues for January, with $5.61M accrued in February to date. The exchange consistently grew its monthly fees and revenues. For January, PancakeSwap took over $29M in fees. 

PancakeSwap reached peak volumes in January, after a revival of the BNB Smart Chain ecosystem. | Source: Dune Analytics

PancakeSwap remains the top DEX on the BNB Smart Chain. Binance mostly relied on centralized traffic in 2024 but moved on to revive its decentralized ecosystem. BNB Smart Chain carried $5.4B in locked liquidity, establishing a baseline and doubling its value since the lows in 2023. The chain also brought in $6.43B in stablecoins, gaining from the recent trend of increasing liquidity.

Part of the recent success hinges on the native CAKE token trading activity. The token makes up over 27% of the exchange’s volumes. CAKE gains support from its regular token burns, recovering to a one-month high after the recent token burns. CAKE expanded rapidly to trade at $2.66. The token may be considered undervalued, as the DEX has already reached its activity from the previous bull market, but the native asset is far from its peak above $42. 

PancakeSwap also boosts activity with regular campaigns and competitions. The DEX encourages CAKE staking, distributing $1.9M in value for the whole of 2024.

Tests Token (TST) goes live on PancakeSwap

The recent success of PancakeSwap happened despite lacking a clear-cut meme token market. The DEX mostly hosted older blue-chip memes like Simon’s Cat (CAT) and provided activity from tokens from previous bull runs. 

PancakeSwap may now tap the activity of four.meme, the recently launched meme token launchpad by Binance. The DEX will add the Test Token (TST), the controversial asset that gained popularity through social media. The token, now a legitimate meme, rallied after receiving a mention from Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao. 

✅ $TST is now live on PancakeSwap Perpetual V2 (On-chain)!

📈 Trade with up to 75x leverage on BNB Chain: https://t.co/hgPaRepSlY pic.twitter.com/Y3nDsel2Co

— PancakeSwap (@PancakeSwap) February 12, 2025

Beyond TST, PancakeSwap is starting to receive its first tokens graduating from four.meme, similar to Raydium and Pump.fun tokens. The inflow of new memes may change the profile of PancakeSwap, which has so far relied on older altcoins and tokens from the Binance ecosystem. 

The growth of PancakeSwap shows there may still be an appetite for speculative trading and even memes. The DEX carries $1.81B in value locked, having sufficient liquidity for small-scale trades. Those features may help the chain compete for users with both Solana and Base. BNB Smart Chain offers 90% lower gas fees compared to Ethereum, making it one of the growth ecosystems for mass adoption.

BNB Smart Chain carries smaller-sized transactions compared to Ethereum and has shown its potential to be a fun venue for on-chain activity. Previously, BNB Smart Chain tapped the Web3 gaming trend and later served to support strong meme communities.