If you’re a crypto trader looking for a list of top decentralized exchanges, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, I list the best and most popular DEXs where you can not only trade but become a liquidity provider, which comes with many perks.
Unlike centralized exchanges like Coinbase and Binance, decentralized exchanges aren’t governed by a central authority, have no intermediary, and trading is done in a non-custodial way. They’re open source platforms that employ smart contracts to match buyers and sellers and complete transactions.
1. Uniswap
Uniswap earned the number one spot on our list of top decentralized exchanges. This is where the majority of trading happens, as Uniswap is the top DEX by trading volume.
According to its website, Uniswap’s trading volume is over 1 trillion US dollars and more than 100 million trades happened there. Because Uniswap is a decentralized exchange, it isn’t operated by a central authority and it’s an open-source platform. It also has its own native token (UNI) that works as a governance token, which means its holders govern the platform.
Uniswap allows you to swap tokens at the current market price by using smart contracts, which makes trading cheaper and more efficient. It is an Ethereum-based exchange, which means you can only trade Ethereum tokens.
This platform uses a trading model called automated liquidity protocol – it solves the liquidity problem for decentralized exchanges. Put simply, users are incentivized to trade on the platform and become liquidity providers so that every token has its own pool. That enables users to instantly trade their tokens, without having to wait for the other party to trade with. In other words, a seller doesn’t need to wait to match with a buyer.
This is how most decentralized exchanges operate. In fact, many on this list were created from Uniswap. In other words, they forked from Uniswap and became standalone platforms.
2. PancakeSwap
PancakeSwap is another one of the top decentralized exchanges similar to Uniswap. However, unlike Uniswap, it runs on the BNB Chain, which means users can swap BEP20 tokens. According to its website, the platform had 2.2 million users and 36 million trades in the past thirty days.
PancakeSwap’s native token is CAKE and it has many different uses. People can buy it, win it, farm it, spend it, stake it, and use it to vote.
An interesting PancakeSwap feature is on-chain games where players can buy lottery tickets, take part in trading competitions, or predict price trends for a chance to win valuable rewards. This gamification element makes trading more fun and incentivizes users to use the platform and trade more.
3. Curve
Curve is a powerful swap solution that allows users to trade stablecoins and other closing price assets with a tiny fee of just 0.04%. It is built on the Ethereum network and works similar to other top decentralized exchanges like Uniswap. However, the focus is on stablecoins like USDT, for example. Because of that, it’s popular with traders who want to minimize losses.
Users who provide liquidity for Curve get rewards in the form of CRV tokens, the platform’s native token, along with interests and fees. Furthermore, this token allows holders to participate in Curve’s governance system.
4. Sushi (formerly SushiSwap)
Sushi is another one of the top decentralized exchanges on the Ethereum network. It forked from Uniswap in 2020 with a strategy that’s called a vampire attack. The goal was to create a more user-friendly and community-based version of UniSwap.
Its users can quickly and easily trade tokens with one another and there’s no intermediary. Just like in most other top decentralized exchanges, users can be liquidity providers, meaning they get weekly rewards and transaction fees.
Furthermore, users who stake SUSHI, the platform’s native token, can vote on various proposals and influence its future. There are currently more than 150,000 SUSHI holders.
Sushi’s community is very active and its official Discord has over 25,000members. Because this platform is decentralized and doesn’t have traditional customer support, its Discord channel is a great place to ask questions and get help from the community.
5. DODO
Dodo is a rapidly growing decentralized exchange with more than 75 billion all-time trading volume, more than 14 million transactions, and more than 1.5 million users.
It is available on ETH, BSC, Polygon, Arbitrum, HECO, OKC, Aurora, Moonriver, and Boba, which makes it a multi-chain platform.
Its liquidity pool is powered by the Proactive Market Maker algorithm, which is based on Automated Market Makers but uses capital more efficiently. The platform’s website claims DODO has 63.27% capital efficiency. The PMM system imitates centralized exchanges and achieves a higher level of liquidity. Furthermore, there is no impermanent loss, which is great news for liquidity providers. Learn more about this system here.
Other features of the DODO platform include the ability to create custom tokens, earn rewards for staking assets, fractionalized your NFTs to boost their liquidity, and more.
6. QuickSwap
QuickSwap is another Uniswap fork developed by Nick Mudge and Sameep Singhania, which means it has the same liquidity pool model. It operates on the Polygon blockchain, but it’s compatible with Ethereum as well, which means users can also swap ERC-20 tokens.
According to its website, there are more than 100,000 transactions in a day on QuickSwap and a $24 million daily trading volume.
Quickswap’s native token is QUICK and people can use it for voting on proposals regarding the platform or stake it to receive rewards in the form of transaction fees. Liquidity providers earn a 0.25% trading fee proportional to their share of the pool.
7. KlaySwap
Just like many other top decentralized exchanges on this list, KlaySwap is another platform that uses the automated market-making system, and its users include both traders and liquidity providers. However, KlaySwap is not just a simple UniSwap fork, as it was built to go further.
Its token, KSP, is at the heart of KlaySwap and it has the role of a governance token. Even though the main focus of this network is Klaytn-based tokens, you can also trade Ethereum tokens in KlaySwap by using Orbit Bridge.
KlaySwap offers its users several different opportunities for earning if they choose to contribute to the protocol. According to its website, “anyone that has any KLAY or KCT-type token cryptocurrency to become a liquidity provider and earn income from transaction fee commissions.”
8. SpookySwap
SpookySwap is a decentralized exchange run on the Fantom Opera network with a built-in bridge for Fantom. According to its website, SpookySwap has more than $60 billion total trade volume and it was proclaimed as the number one Fantom protocol by CoinGecko.
On this versatile platform, you can swap, farm, trade, vote, stake, and even mint. It has a 0.2% swap fee. Users who decide to contribute to the SpookySwap ecosystem by becoming liquidity providers earn through trading fees. Furthermore, those who stake their liquidity tokens earn the platform’s native token BOO. This token also serves as a governance token. So far, the community has passed 50 proposals using this token.
Another cool thing about SpookySwap is that it has official NFT drops from the MAGICATS collection.
9. 1inch
1inch is a decentralized exchange aggregator that promises the best exchange rates and the lowest slippage across many networks including Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, and others.
Just like other top decentralized exchanges on this list, it incentivizes the community to provide assets to the liquidity pool and thus aggregates liquidity across platforms. Liquidity providers get a reward in the form of the 1inch token.
Its 1inch token serves both as a governance and a utility token. More specifically, you can use it to vote on proposals. However, everyone can join the discussions. According to its website, “governance decisions can range from allocating Treasury funds for a particular proposal, to deploying a new protocol on the 1inch Network, and everything in between.”
A cool feature this platform has is the ability to give back, which is the result of a partnership between 1inch and The Giving Block. Users can donate cryptocurrency to various charities including Ukraine Emergency Response Fund, LGBTQIA+ Impact Index Fund, Miami Impact Index Fund, and others.
10. KyberSwap
KyberSwap is a decentralized exchange protocol that allows users to trade crypto at the best rates, as well as earn tokens. It provides trades access to tens of thousands of tokens and gets high returns for liquidity providers.
It’s comparing token exchange rates on different DEXs. This is why KyperSwap is useful – with a single click it splits your trade and swaps tokens across multiple DEXs within the chain. That process guarantees the best rates for traders. It works with over sixty top decentralized exchanges and more than 20 thousand tokens.
Users can also transfer liquidity to any of the KyberSwap pools and stake their LP tokens into the farms, which gets them rewards.
According to the platform, KyberSwap has high capital efficiency and optimizes the use of capital. This means fewer tokens are required in pools to achieve good liquidity and rates.
Final Thoughts on Top Decentralized Exchanges
Have you traded on any of these top decentralized exchanges or provided liquidity? Which one is your favorite and why? Let me know in the comments!
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