Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are bringing a revolution to the cryptocurrency house, which is presently nonetheless dominated by centralized platforms. By constructing straight on the blockchain, tasks try to beat a number of the greatest downfalls of centralized exchanges. When utilizing a centralized trade, it’s a must to primarily hand over your cash to them, and belief that they are going to retailer them competently and truthfully. Modifications are additionally susceptible to hacks or interventions from regulatory authorities, who can shut them down and make your funds unavailable.
Blockchains, however, perform 24/7 and their decentralized design makes them nearly inconceivable to close down; which primarily places to relaxation the questions, “Is Uniswap protected?” and “Can I belief DEXs with my cash?” There have been many various approaches to decentralized buying and selling, however it looks as if the profitable formulation was discovered by Uniswap, no less than for now.
Despite the fact that Uniswap remains to be an incredible place to commerce, there’s various Uniswap options that may carry out sure duties higher. On this article, we will likely be showcasing 12 Uniswap options that may take your decentralized buying and selling to the subsequent stage.
Uniswap is the usual for DEX buying and selling
When you’re in any respect acquainted with decentralized finance (DeFi), you’ve most likely already heard of Uniswap. This pioneering protocol was the primary to introduce the automated market maker (AMM) design, which has since turn into the usual for decentralized cryptocurrency buying and selling.
In AMMs, there isn’t any order e book like what you’d discover on a decentralized trade. As an alternative, liquidity suppliers (LPs), provide their tokens into liquidity swimming pools. For instance, if you wish to present liquidity to a USDC-ETH pool, you could provide ETH and USDC. If a dealer have been to faucet into this pool’s liquidity to trade USDC for ETH, the worth of ETH would enhance as a result of there would now be extra USDC within the pool and fewer ETH.
In AMM exchanges like Uniswap, the full worth of each kinds of tokens held by the pool must be equal. For instance, if there are 1,000 USDC and 10 ETH in a pool, the worth for buying ETH from the pool is 100 USDC (plus a transaction price).
In fact, that is only a surface-level clarification of how an AMM like Uniswap works. What’s necessary for the needs of this text is that Uniswap and related platforms mean you can commerce cryptocurrencies straight on the blockchain on a 24/7 foundation, wherever on the earth you’re.
Additionally, DEXs can facilitate the most cost effective ETH swaps and swap ERC20 tokens extra competitively than their centralized counterparts. What’s even higher is that you just don’t must deposit your crypto to a 3rd occasion – all of the trades are executed robotically by way of sensible contracts which are deployed on the blockchain.
On Uniswap and different AMMs, you may as well select to offer liquidity to a pool, and accumulate rewards from the transaction charges that customers pay to carry out token swaps.
Commerce on Uniswap
On the time of writing, Uniswap has a 24-hour quantity of $1.7 billion, and over $2 billion price of property in TVL (complete worth locked).
High 12 Uniswap Alternate options – Comparable On-chain Swap Platforms
Uniswap’s success has spawned quite a few rivals and copycats, however the competitors in the end drives builders so as to add progressive options to draw customers to their facet. On this article, we will likely be testing the highest 12 options to Uniswap that you should utilize in your decentralized crypto buying and selling wants. Most of them make use of an analogous AMM idea to Uniswap, however a few of them, like dYdX and Synthetix, supply their very own distinctive approaches.
- 1inch – Finest multichain various
- PancakeSwap – Finest various for BNB Chain BEP20 tokens
- SushiSwap – A number of chain various with extra options
- QuickSwap – Low price various deployed on Polygon
- dYdX – Derivatives and margin buying and selling various
- GMX – A extremely environment friendly decentralized derivatives platform
- Binance DEX – CEX-like various on BNB Chain
- Serum – Finest various constructed on Solana
- Kwenta – Low slippage and by-product tokens
- SunSwap – TRON-based decentralized buying and selling various
- CoW Swap – A DEX aggregator with MEV safety
- DODO DEX – Finest various for diminished impermanent loss threat
- Orca – The most well-liked DEX on Solana
- Osmosis – A feature-packed DEX for the Cosmos ecosystem
1. 1inch – Finest multichain various
1inch is a DeFi undertaking that’s lively throughout a number of blockchains – they’ve created options for Ethereum, Polygon and Binance Good Chain. 1inch have launched their very own AMM referred to as Mooniswap, however most customers know them for his or her DeFi aggregator protocol.
Let’s say that you just wish to swap a few of your ETH for DAI. 1inch will then scour by way of completely different DeFi protocols in an effort to discover probably the most environment friendly swap for you, and it even provides you the choice to both optimize for the very best return or the bottom fuel prices. 1inch splits orders throughout a number of decentralized exchanges, in an effort to decrease slippage and provide the most out of your crypto.
A really distinctive facet of 1inch is that it additionally helps restrict orders, that are a rarity within the DeFi house. You’ll be able to merely set the token you wish to spend and the token you wish to obtain, set a desired value and the length of the order. If the worth of the token strikes to the worth you specified, 1inch will robotically execute the commerce for you at the perfect charges obtainable in the marketplace.
1inch additionally options the 1INCH token, which serves each as a utility and governance token.
1inch abstract
- DeFi aggregator
- Helps Ethereum, Polygon and Binance Good Chain
- Mechanically finds probably the most environment friendly route for token swaps
- Helps restrict orders
Commerce on 1inch
2. PancakeSwap – Finest various for BNB Chain BEP20 tokens
PancakeSwap is the preferred decentralized trade on the Binance Good Chain blockchain. It capabilities very equally to Uniswap, however the undertaking has additionally launched some distinctive options to reward their customers.
PancakeSwap helps you to immediately swap between completely different BEP-20 tokens that function on the Binance Good Chain blockchain. The platform additionally has its personal token referred to as CAKE, which performs various capabilities within the PancakeSwap ecosystem. For instance, you may stake your CAKE tokens in “Syrup Swimming pools” to earn extra CAKE tokens, and even different kinds of tokens in some instances.
The PancakeSwap platform additionally has different options like yield farming, the place you may stake your LP Tokens to earn CAKE tokens. One other distinctive a part of PancakeSwap are preliminary farm choices or IFOs, the place customers have the chance to earn newly launched tokens from tasks. For all of the aforementioned causes, PancakeSwap is broadly thought to be among the best Uniswap options.
PancakeSwap abstract
- High decentralized trade on Binance Good Chain
- Has its personal token referred to as CAKE
- Swap between BEP-20 tokens or earn charges by offering liquidity
- Helps yield farming, Syrup Swimming pools, IFOs and different progressive options
Commerce on PancakeSwap
3. SushiSwap – A number of chain various with extra options
SushiSwap is likely one of the greatest Uniswap rivals on Ethereum, however the group has additionally expanded the protocol to different blockchain platforms like Polygon, Binance Good Chain, Fantom and others.
SushiSwap was launched in August of 2020 as a fork and direct competitor to Uniswap. Nevertheless, the group made one huge change to their product that Uniswap wasn’t providing on the time. By depositing Uniswap LP tokens to SushiSwap, customers might earn SUSHI tokens, which might then be staked to earn a portion of the full charges generated by SushiSwap. This technique proved to be immensely efficient, and SushiSwap was at one level an actual menace to overhaul Uniswap because the primary decentralized trade on the time.
Uniswap later defended itself from this “vampire assault” by launching their very own token referred to as UNI, which introduced the percentages again in its favor.
No matter how SushiSwap began, the undertaking has taken a lifetime of its personal and is supported by a really robust neighborhood of customers and builders. The SushiSwap protocol has been deployed to different blockchain platforms apart from Ethereum, and the broader Sushi ecosystem now presents a reasonably complete set of DeFi options like yield farming, lending and staking.
Whether or not you’re seeking to swap between token on-chain or interact with DeFi in another manner, SushiSwap and the Sushi ecosystem are undoubtedly an choice price contemplating.
SushiSwap abstract
- Decentralized trade on Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Good Chain, Fantom and different platforms
- Swap tokens or present liquidity
- Has its personal governance token referred to as SUSHI
- The Sushi ecosystem additionally presents yield farming, lending, staking and extra
Commerce on SushiSwap
4. QuickSwap – Low price various deployed on Polygon
QuickSwap is a fork of Uniswap that’s deployed on the Polygon blockchain. Polygon is a scalability resolution that provides decrease charges and sooner transactions than Ethereum. QuickSwap presents the usual AMM performance of swapping tokens and offering liquidity.
Nevertheless, QuickSwap does have some methods up its sleeve – it encompasses a liquidity mining program, the place customers can deposit their LP Tokens in an effort to earn the QUICK governance token. QuickSwap now additionally helps IDOs, or preliminary DEX choices. IDOs give customers an opportunity to buy tokens which are being launched by up-and-coming crypto tasks.
When you’re exploring the Polygon as a solution to minimize down in your transaction prices, QuickSwap is definitely a DEX that’s price testing.
QuickSwap abstract
- Decentralized trade on the Polygon blockchain
- Makes use of the AMM mannequin popularized by Uniswap
- Is usually a good choice if you wish to save on Ethereum transaction charges
- Has its personal governance token referred to as QUICK
Commerce on QuickSwap
5. dYdX – Derivatives and margin buying and selling various
dYdX is an Ethereum-based decentralized buying and selling platform that focuses on derivatives and margin buying and selling. As you most likely know, buying and selling in derivatives like futures contracts and choices is presently dominated by centralized exchanges like Binance Futures and Bybit. dYdX is trying to alter this by bringing derivatives on-chain, by way of Ethereum sensible contracts.
dYdX’s most unusual characteristic are its perpetual contracts, which you should utilize just like the perpetual contracts which are well-liked on centralized exchanges. They mean you can enter leveraged positions and speculate on the worth actions of varied cryptocurrencies, giving you a chance to go both lengthy or quick.
By way of a partnership with Starkware, dYdX has deployed its perpetual contracts on the StarkEx layer 2 Ethereum scalability resolution. StarkEx permits transactions to be processed less expensive than Ethereum’s layer 1, making dYdX a viable choice for lively merchants.
At present, the dYdX platform is within the strategy of launching its DYDX governance token, which can seemingly broaden the performance of the platform even additional.
dYdX abstract
- Decentralized leverage buying and selling platform
- Perpetual contracts on StarkEx layer 2, offering cheaper transactions
- Customers can speculate on the worth actions even for tokens that aren’t on Ethereum
- Additionally presents margin and spot buying and selling on Ethereum layer 1
Commerce on dYdX
6. GMX – A extremely environment friendly decentralized derivatives platform
GMX is a decentralized cryptocurrency trade specialised in derivatives, extra particularly perpetual futures contracts. The GMX trade is presently obtainable on the Arbitrum and Avalanche blockchain platforms.
The GMX ecosystem options two tokens: GMX and GLP. GMX is a utility and governance token which accrues 30% of the charges collected on the GMX trade. In the meantime, GLP is the platform’s liquidity supplier token, which accrues 70% of the charges collected on the trade.
GLP represents an index that presently consists of 8 completely different crypto property that are supported on the GMX trade for swaps and leverage buying and selling. Customers can mint GLP by supplying any of the supported property to the pool, or redeem GLP for property held by the pool.
The platform helps buying and selling with as much as 50x leverage, which is aggressive in comparison with most centralized crypto derivatives platforms. Just lately, the GMX group has launched a beta model of their v2 protocol, which presents extra property, helps a number of collateral varieties, and gives sooner commerce execution speeds.
GMX abstract
- Commerce perpetual contracts with leverage on chain
- Obtainable on Arbitrum and Avalanche
- Commerce prime cash comparable to ETH, BTC and LINK
- As much as 50x leverage
Commerce on GMX
7. Binance DEX – CEX-like various on BNB Chain
Binance DEX is a decentralized cryptocurrency trade initially developed by Binance. It was launched in April of 2019, and presents a buying and selling expertise that’s similar to buying and selling on centralized exchanges. Binance DEX is constructed on Binance Chain, a blockchain that Binance particularly designed for the decentralized buying and selling use case. Binance Chain makes use of BNB as its native asset and can also be interoperable with Binance Good Chain, which is presently way more well-liked.
Like different DEXes, Binance DEX is non-custodial, which signifies that you keep accountable for the personal keys to your cryptocurrency – you don’t must deposit it to another person and belief that they are going to take excellent care of it.
When you’re used to buying and selling on centralized exchanges however wish to give decentralized exchanges a attempt, Binance DEX could be a good place to start out. Nevertheless, decentralized exchanges utilizing the AMM mannequin have turned out to be extra well-liked amongst merchants.
Binance DEX abstract
- Decentralized trade created by Binance
- Provides an analogous interface and buying and selling expertise to centralized exchanges
- Features on Binance Chain
- Non-custodial design
Commerce on Binance DEX
8. Serum – Finest various constructed on Solana
Serum is a decentralized trade constructed on Solana, a blockchain platform that’s designed with a give attention to scalability. Solana customers can make the most of Wormhole, an answer for bridging ERC-20 tokens over to the Solana blockchain.
The purpose of the Serum undertaking is to ship a decentralized trade that rivals its centralized counterparts each when it comes to efficiency and consumer expertise.
Certainly, the Serum DEX interface appears extra like what you’d sometimes see on a centralized trade. There’s a value chart within the center, an orderbook, and a bit for submitting your orders. When buying and selling on Serum, you may submit restrict orders, which is a reasonably distinctive characteristic within the DeFi house.
The Serum undertaking has a utility and governance token referred to as SRM. The token is on the market on each Solana and Ethereum and gives advantages for holders when utilizing the Serum trade.
Notably, the Serum undertaking is backed by distinguished gamers from the cryptocurrency house, comparable to Alameda Analysis, Multicoin Capital, FTX, and others.
Serum abstract
- Decentralized trade constructed on the Solana blockchain
- Offers an analogous expertise to centralized exchanges
- Quick and low-cost transactions because of Solana’s scalability
- SRM governance and utility token
Commerce on Serum
9. Kwenta – Low slippage and by-product tokens various
Kwenta is a decentralized trade powered by Synthetix, a novel DeFi protocol that allows the creation of by-product tokens, or “Synths”. The concept behind Synths is that they’re tokens that observe the worth actions of different property, for instance, fiat currencies like USD and EUR, different crypto property like Bitcoin, and even shares and inventory market indices.
The Kwenta DEX makes use of a peer-to-contract (P2C) mannequin, the place trades are executed towards Synthetix sensible contracts. This combats a number of the greatest shortcomings of peer-to-peer fashions and gives higher liquidity and decrease slippage. One other attention-grabbing characteristic of Kwenta is that every one Synths supported by the Synthetix protocol may be traded towards one another – there’s no restricted set of buying and selling pairs that customers have to select from.
Kwenta is an attention-grabbing choice for customers who’re in search of a DEX however want to broaden their buying and selling past simply customary crypto tokens. Kwenta permits customers to realize publicity to real-world property and different cryptocurrencies in a non-custodial method whereas staying on the Ethereum blockchain.
Kwenta abstract
- Powered by the Synthetix protocol
- Customers can commerce Synths, that are tokens that observe different property
- Achieve publicity to equities, indices, foreign exchange, and different cryptocurrencies whereas staying on Ethereum
- Has a Layer 2 deployment on Optimistic Ethereum for higher scalability
Commerce on Kwenta
10. SunSwap – TRON-based decentralized buying and selling various
SunSwap is an AMM constructed on the TRON blockchain with very related performance to Uniswap – you should utilize it to both swap between completely different TRON-based tokens, or present liquidity to earn rewards. SunSwap additionally has a liquidity mining program the place customers can stake LP tokens to earn rewards within the type of TRX and different tokens.
SUN.io acquired JustSwap in October 2021 and renamed the DEX to SunSwap. As part of the change in possession, a local utility and governance SUN Token was launched to the platform. To place inflationary strain on the SUN Token, its circulating provide is regulated through the SUN Buyback & Burn program.
When you’re an avid consumer of the TRON blockchain, JustSwap is likely one of the primary choices for decentralized buying and selling that’s price contemplating. Due to TRON’s delegated-proof-of-stake design, buying and selling on JustSwap can also be low-cost and quick.
SunSwap abstract
- Decentralized trade on the TRON blockchain
- Based mostly on the AMM mannequin
- Swap between TRON-based tokens or present liquidity to earn charges
- Liquidity mining program
Commerce on SunSwap
11. CoW Swap – A DEX aggregator with MEV safety
CoW Swap is a novel decentralized trade aggregator that protects customers from varied types of MEV (maximal extractable worth) comparable to arbitrage, entrance working and sandwiching. The final word results of that is that customers on CoW Swap are prone to get a greater deal than in the event that they have been utilizing one other DEX or aggregator with no MEV safety.
Actually, CoW Swap is described as a “meta” decentralized trade aggregator, because it acts as an aggregator of aggregators. As such, it appears at decentralized exchanges straight, in addition to different aggregators to seek out the absolute best value for customers.
The title CoW Swap is derived from the financial idea of a “Coincidence of Needs”. CoW Swap implements batch auctions to facilitate direct settlements between merchants as a substitute of counting on market makers or exterior liquidity suppliers (the place attainable).
As an attention-grabbing apart, we must always point out that Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin used CoW Swap to promote his MKR token holdings.
CowSwap abstract
- Aggregator of aggregators
- Offers MEV safety to make sure the perfect offers
- Based mostly on the idea of Coincidence of Needs
Commerce on CoW Swap
12. DODO DEX – Finest various for diminished impermanent loss threat
DODO DEX is a decentralized trade that makes use of a Proactive Market Maker (PMM) design, which is a variant of the AMM design we’ve already mentioned on this article. In keeping with the DODO DEX group, the PMM design reduces the chance of impermanent loss confronted by liquidity suppliers. One other attention-grabbing characteristic of DODO DEX is that liquidity suppliers don’t must deposit two tokens to a pool, because the protocol helps single-token deposits.
From the dealer’s perspective, PMM helps scale back slippage, permitting for trades to be executed at extra predictable costs.
DODO DEX is dwell on each the Ethereum and Binance Good Chain blockchain platform, and in addition has some distinctive options like Crowdpooling, which provides cryptocurrency tasks a brand new manner of distributing tokens to customers.
The DODO token is used to facilitate governance, but in addition powers a fee-sharing mechanism and gives membership perks. For instance, DODO holders can entry buying and selling price reductions on DODO DEX and take part in preliminary DEX choices hosted by the platform.
DODO DEX abstract
- Decentralized trade on Ethereum and Binance Good Chain
- Makes use of the Proactive Market Maker design, which is a variant of the Automated Market Maker design
- DODO token permits governance and offers particular advantages to holders
- The platform additionally hosts preliminary DEX choices (IDOs)
Commerce on DODO DEX
13. Orca – The most well-liked DEX on Solana
Orca is a Solana-based decentralized trade that has obtained backing from distinguished crypto traders comparable to Polychain, Placeholder, Solana Ventures and Coinbase Ventures. On the time of writing, Orca is the main decentralized trade on the Solana blockchain, with almost $300 million in 24-hour buying and selling quantity.
Whereas Orca’s TVL and buying and selling quantity suffered following the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency trade, this DEX noticed a serious resurgence in 2023 in the course of the Solana bull run. With increasingly DeFi exercise occurring on Solana, Orca is a pure vacation spot for customers seeking to swap Solana-based tokens.
Orca sports activities stable liquidity and a very good consumer expertise, and a portion of the buying and selling charges collected by the platform goes in the direction of the Orca Local weather Fund, which invests in enterpreneurs who’re centered on sustainable applied sciences. In complete, the Orca Local weather Fund has raised over $1.6 million on this manner. The Orca DEX has a governance token referred to as ORCA, which permits customers to affect key choices associated to the protocol.
Orca abstract
- The go-to DEX for Solana token swaps
- Good liquidity and wonderful consumer expertise
- Portion of transaction charges is used to fund sustainable applied sciences
Commerce on Orca
14. Osmosis – A feature-packed DEX for the Cosmos ecosystem
Launched in June 2021, Osmosis is a decentralized trade (DEX) undertaking that makes use of the automated market maker strategy to find out costs of digital property, facilitate peer-to-peer (P2P) buying and selling, and run liquidity swimming pools. Constructed utilizing the Cosmos SDK, the Layer-1 Osmosis blockchain permits builders to deploy personalized AMMs by utilizing varied buying and selling modules and Osmosis’ Proof-of-Stake (PoS) enabled on-chain governance.
Osmosis is the main decentralized trade within the Cosmos ecosystem, and has a TVL of roughly $185 million with a each day buying and selling quantity of $60 million on the time of writing. The Osmosis protocol is ruled by holders of the OSMO governance token.
Apart from primary token swaps, the Osmosis ecosystem additionally contains a wide range of different buying and selling instruments together with staking, margin buying and selling and on-chain perpetual futures contracts.
Osmosis abstract
- Main decentralized trade within the Cosmos ecosystem
- Governance by way of the OSMO token
- Additionally powers options comparable to margin buying and selling and perpetuals
Commerce on Osmosis
Why do I want options to Uniswap?
The Uniswap group has developed an incredible protocol, which is prone to stand the take a look at of time as one of the profitable tasks in DeFi. Nevertheless, rivals are additionally making their case, and this competitors will in the end deliver higher merchandise for everybody to make use of. You may also wish to discover options to Uniswap in case your swaps on Uniswap are failing or if there’s inadequate liquidity on Uniswap.
When you’re utilizing a blockchain like Binance Good Chain or TRON the place there isn’t any Uniswap, it’s all the time good to know that there are appropriate options that you should utilize to commerce tokens. Even on Ethereum, the place Uniswap is presently dominating, different DEXes would possibly present distinctive perks or higher costs.
In the meantime, in the event you’re additionally interested by centralized exchanges, ensure that to take a look at our checklist of the perfect crypto exchanges in 2024.
