According to Chef Momo, the product manager of PancakeSwap, decentralized finance (DeFi) needs to focus on increasing capital efficiency in order to boost the market share of decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Chef Momo believes that initiatives that promote capital efficiency and composability will play a key role in expanding the market share of DEXs. PancakeSwap, a popular multichain DEX, recently launched concentrated liquidity automated market maker (CLAMM) options trading on Arbitrum, merging its platform with Stryke’s options trading protocol. Chef Momo explains that CLAMM options will introduce a new method for building on-chain liquidity in DeFi, based on supply and demand mechanics.
Chef Momo recognizes that the scarcity of options liquidity is a significant challenge in both DeFi and centralized finance (CeFi). DEXs serve as the primary liquidity infrastructure in DeFi, and leveraging this liquidity for option writing could greatly boost on-chain options liquidity. The new CLAMM options are now live for trading pairs such as ARB/USDC, ETH/USDC, and wBTC/USDC. These options aim to offer more advanced features for crypto investors and provide new opportunities for liquidity providers. Liquidity providers can utilize their existing liquidity in v3 pools on PancakeSwap to write options and earn premiums, thereby increasing their overall returns.
PancakeSwap currently holds the 10th position among decentralized exchanges, with a 3.37% market share on PancakeSwap V2 and a 2.92% market share on PancakeSwap v3, according to CoinMarketCap. To grow the market share of DEXs, Chef Momo emphasizes the importance of initiatives like CLAMM that promote greater capital efficiency and composability in DeFi. The options market, which dominates in traditional finance (TradFi), has minimal presence in the crypto space, leaving room for significant growth opportunities. Options can bring substantial value to DeFi by allowing for investment portfolio hedging and generating income.
Despite their potential, DEXs still lag behind their centralized counterparts in terms of trading volume and user activity. For instance, Binance, the largest centralized exchange (CEX) in the world, enjoys a daily trading volume of $26.4 billion, while Uniswap, the largest DEX, only boasts $1.44 billion in 24-hour trading volume, according to CoinMarketCap. Looking at individual traders, Binance attracts over 21 million weekly visits, whereas Uniswap, the leading DEX, had only 733,930 unique active wallets in the past week, as reported by DappRadar. Even Uniswap’s weekly volume of $25.5 billion falls short of Binance’s daily trading volume.
Capital efficiency is crucial for the growth of DEXs in DeFi. Initiatives like CLAMM that promote greater capital efficiency and composability can play a vital role in expanding the market share of DEXs. By offering advanced options trading features and opportunities for liquidity providers, DEXs can attract more users and increase on-chain options liquidity. DEXs still have a long way to go in terms of catching up with centralized exchanges in terms of trading volume and user activity.
Options trading in DeFi has immense potential for growth, just like in traditional finance. 📈 I love that DEXs like PancakeSwap are exploring this space and providing new opportunities for investors. 💼💰