SundaeSwap Promises First Functional DEX on Cardano

Key Takeaways

• SundaeSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on Cardano, has launched as a public testnet.
• The SundaeSwap team claims it has developed solutions to address Cardano’s scaling issues, though bugs and congestion remain.
• As SundaeSwap is still in a testnet phase, the subsequent mainnet may launch in the coming weeks.

SundaeSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on Cardano, has launched as a public testnet. This is the first time a project has leveraged Cardano smart contracts to exchange tokens successfully on the public testnet.

Cardano DEX Goes Live on Testnet

SundaeSwap has reportedly become the first fully functional DEX on Cardano testnet. Matt Ho, the CTO of SundaeSwap, posted the link to the genesis transaction.

Smart contracts on Cardano hit a huge technical roadblock soon after being launched in September with the Alonzo hardfork. Then developers working on Cardano reported problems with achieving concurrency due to the blockchain’s adopted extended UTXO (e-UTXO) model. Concurrency is the ability for multiple parties to interact with the smart contract simultaneously.

In September of this year, one of the initial teams working on a DEX called MinSwap on Cardano testnet failed to achieve token swap functionality. Following this, Minswap as well other teams—including SundaeSwap—stated that Cardano dApps needed scaling solutions to mitigate concurrency problems.

After three months, SundaeSwap has seemingly deployed a working scaling solution, at least on the testnet. Its DEX leverages a transaction aggregation mechanism that makes it possible to exchange Cardano-native tokens with one another. Using smart contracts, the DEX also supports decentralized liquidity pools.

Users can connect a wallet service called Nami that is compatible with SundaeSwap testnet, then proceed with some test funds (tADA). They can then test the platform by either swapping tokens or adding liquidity. Adding test funds may take some time, depending on congestion.

This is looking Beautiful @SundaeSwap 🍨#SundaeSwap #testnet #Cardano pic.twitter.com/IzQcqjBwlR

— ADA Floppies 💾 | #CNFT (@ADAFloppies) December 6, 2021

As SundaeSwap is still in a testnet phase, the subsequent mainnet may launch in the coming weeks after the team fixes all reported bugs. However, a hard date for mainnet release has not been revealed.

The platform is still not free of bugs, though. While several users have reported successfully swapping tokens on the SundaeSwap testnet, others have complained about transaction delays of up to one hour and longer due to congestion.

Despite the congestion and bugs, the platform is considered a functional product. The development at SundaeSwap is a cause for excitement for the Cardano community and hints that DeFi on the network may be around the corner.  Other DEXs and on-chain trading protocols such as ErgoDEX, MinSwap, and Maladex are also readying for public testnet launch.

At the moment, most of Cardano’s DeFi projects are still under development and do not contribute to the on-chain activity.