Copy, Paste: PancakeSwap Forks Uniswap V3

PancakeSwap has upgraded to V3 on Ethereum and BNB chains by forking Uniswap V3. What can bring innovation to DeFi?

The decentralized exchange PancakeSwap upgraded to Version 3 by copy-pasting the code of its competitor Uniswap’s V3. The developers believe copying the code saves time, but Web3 needs more innovation.

Meanwhile, the community has also questioned the project’s user experience (UX). One user commented on the launch, by saying, “You’re impressed with the UX of this?”

Why DeFi Needs More Than Copy-Pasting?

The crypto industry’s rapid growth has brought an increased demand for user-friendly, intuitive interfaces and seamless user experiences (UI/UX). As more people become interested in crypto and blockchain technology, it is crucial to ensure that these platforms are accessible and easy to navigate for newcomers and experienced users alike.

However, despite the considerable advancements in the crypto space, there remains a concerning trend of developers “copy-pasting” each other’s work, which leads to a lack of true innovation and improvements in UI/UX.

Shikhar Pratap Verma, a blockchain developer and active contributor at LearnWeb3DAO, told BeInCrypto that frequent forking makes Decentralized Finance (DeFi) projects the same. He believes doing something different attracts more users and makes projects resilient and less prone to cyber-attacks.

This tendency to replicate existing designs and functionality, rather than pushing the boundaries of what is possible, ultimately stifles the progress of the industry. Verma says:

“Account abstraction is the future. If they somehow started making exchanges and wallet creation with email along with the control ability of accounts with web2 cliches like One Time Password (OTP), then I think people will start using them more.”

To harness blockchain technology’s power and foster widespread adoption, developers must prioritize UI/UX and strive for continuous innovation. By challenging conventional thinking and exploring new ideas, the crypto community can create more engaging, user-friendly platforms that cater to the diverse needs of its growing user base.

Still, Verma admits he is optimistic about DeFi in general. He believes that it will take some time, but as the space evolves, he expects changes to become more prevalent:

“Eventually we will be able to see the changes in code.”

PancakeSwap V3 Still Far Behind Uniswap V3

According to DefiLlama, the Total Value Locked (TVL) on PancakeSwap V3 is $82.56 million as of writing. However, Uniswap V3 has a TVL of $2.8 billion.

With the upgrade to V3, the project claims to offer 25X lower trading fees. Unlike PancakeSwap V2, which had just fixed trading fees of 0.25%, V3 brings in different tiers 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.25%, and 1%.

Source: DefiLlama

The upgrade also promises to enhance the platform’s capital efficiency by allowing liquidity providers to concentrate their capital on smaller price ranges. With this, the platform claims that the fee earnings will be much higher with the same deposit amount.

According to CoinGecko, the 24-hour trading volume on the V3 Ethereum chain is $743,918. At the same time, V2 has over 160 times more volume, with $121.3 million. A community member tweeted, “V2 is probably better than V3.”

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