DeFi Spotlight: Minswap

In DeFi Spotlight, short for Decentralized Finance Spotlight, we’ll be highlighting promising projects within Cardanos Defi Ecosystem. In the first and inaugural edition, we’ll be highlighting Cardanos leading Decentralized Exchange; Minswap. This article will dive into the DEX, its features, upcoming Minswap V2 launch, and more.

Cardano’s Leading Decentralized Exchange

Since overtaking Sundaeswap as the leading exchange on the Cardano blockchain, Minswap has established a market dominance not only in TVL, but also unique wallets trading, TVL, and fees generated. Minswap offered cheaper fees at the time of launch and attractive yield farming, which helped it quickly cement its position in the Decentralized Finance space on Cardano.

In terms of volume, the Minswap DEX has a market dominance of 73.14% over the last 30 days and a lifetime market dominance of 69.07%. Minswap’s native token, MIN, is also leading Cardano’s DEX tokens by market cap and is currently at a 68.7M market cap. Notably, this is 3x the market cap of the next DEX token, which is Sundaeswap’s native token, Sundae, with a market cap of 20.34 million ADA.

DEX Features

We’ll now delve into the various features that are available on the Minswap Decentralized Exchange.

Token Swaps

Ecosystem participants can trade ADA and Cardano Native Tokens by placing market and limited orders on the Minswap DEX. Market orders are executed immediately at the current market price, while limit orders are executed only at a specified price, allowing for a variety of different trade strategies.

LP & Farming

Liquidity providers can either add LP the traditional way or use the Zap in feature which will sell 1/2 of deposited ADA to create a liquidity position. These LP tokens can then be deposited into a yield farming position to earn yield. Farming on Minswap includes single farms, double farms, and triple farms where yield farmers earn min, a project’s token, as well as ADA from the liquidity they’ve deposited.

StableSwaps

The Minswap StableSwap is a special type of AMM Liquidity Pool on the Minswap DEX which is tailored to the price stability and low slippage required for efficient stablecoin trading. This allows users to swap between two different stablecoins assets such as swapping from Djed to USDC or vice versa.

Min Staking

MIN holders can stake their tokens for various time frames to earn ADA as well as other Cardano native tokens. The staking system is liquid so token deposits can be withdrawn at any time, however, withdrawing your rewards prematurely will cause accrued rewards to be forfeited. The ADA rewards generated are from the revenue generated by the Minswap protocol.

Governance

MIN token holders and liquidity providers can partake in Decentralized Governance to decide the future of the protocol. The voting power of governance participants is decided by the number of MIN tokens held, in LP or farming, as well as staked MIN. Currently, there is an active proposal regarding Minswap LP voting in Project Catalyst.

Launchbowl

The Minswap Launchbowl is a launchpad on the Minswap Decentralized Exchange, designed to help projects bootstrap new token launches with liquidity through community participation. It allows ecosystem participants to get involved in projects early. Liquidity Bootstrapping, where users participate in price discovery and yield farming for new tokens, and Collective Zap-in (CZI), which increases liquidity for existing tokens through community ADA deposits, are key features. Participants in both services receive LP tokens and booster NFTs, enhancing their yield farming incentives. Projects that have used the launchpad include FluidTokens, SmartPlaces, Mocossi, and Indigo.

Upcoming V2 Upgrade

Minswap’s upcoming V2 upgrade is set to significantly enhance the user experience on the platform. Written in the Aiken smart contract language, the upgrade promises increased throughput, enabling trades to occur up to five times faster than before. This version will introduce a Pro Mode tailored for advanced users, featuring an enhanced user interface, deeper analytics, and lower trading fees. Additional features include auto-routing for optimized trade execution, various advanced order types for better trade control, and a new MinWallet for managing multiple wallets efficiently. Users can also expect advanced technical analysis tools, real-time alerts, and a completely redesigned interface, ensuring a more streamlined and sophisticated trading experience on the Cardano blockchain. Minswaps V2 upgrade will be launching later this summer after recently passing two Smart Contract security audits.

You can find out more about Minswap V2 here.

Sign up for Beta Testing Minswap V2 is now open until June 1st at the following link: Minswap V2 Beta form

Conclusion

Cardano’s leading Decentralized Exchange, Minswap, continues to innovate and dominate Cardano’s DeFi landscape with its diverse range of features and upcoming V2 upgrade. From offering attractive yield farming opportunities to introducing advanced trading tools and a revamped user interface, Minswap is setting new standards for decentralized exchanges on Cardano. It will be interesting to watch Minswap and the rest of the Cardano ecosystem develop and evolve over the coming months and years.

You can learn more about Minswap here: Learn more.