Best DEX's on the Fantom network

Introduction

Fantom is an EVM (Ethereum Virtual machine) compatible, DAG-based network celebrated for its fast transaction times: finality, of the absolute flavor, is in the range of 1 to 2 seconds, and while this is already a tremendous technological achievement, this range can be lowered further with the help of Fantom’s TxFlow, a middleware protocol that is custom designed for applications that require instant confirmations.  

This being said, it comes as no surprise that Decentralized Exchanges (DEX’s) are popping up on Fantom, as its zippy transaction times provide a great user experience. There is at the time of writing 695 million US Dollars locked up in the Fantom Network, and this figure is expected to grow tremendously as the ecosystem matures.

In addition to fast transaction times, transaction fees are orders of magnitude lower than what they are right now on the Ethereum Main Chain.

For some obscure reason (perhaps a lack of journalistic interest despite the fact that Fantom seems to be at the bleeding edge of Blockchain Technology), there has been very little coverage about Decentralized Exchanges on Fantom. How to explain this absolute dearth of information? We do believe that the public would greatly benefit from more readily available information, and this is the reason why we decided to write this article, which will focus on native Decentralized Exchanges for which there is a sufficient amount of information available.

We sincerely hope this article will become a reference for those who happen to be curious about Fantom’s growing ecosystem and capabilities.

Without further ado, let’s begin.

1. Spirit Swap

While we will not comment on whether or not good branding decisions have been made in certain parts of the Fantom ecosystem (“Spirit” Swap, “Spooky” Swap, “BOO” and “Soul” tokens), there is no doubt in our minds that the technology underlying Decentralized Exchanges on Fantom is rock-solid and is worthy of a close examination.

Take Spirit Swap, for example.

Spirit Swap is a Constant Product Automated Market Maker (AMM) which allows users to become Liquidity Providers and deposit pairs of tokens. Literally no one wishes to provide liquidity for free and out of the kindness of their heart, and Spirit Swap Liquidity Providers are not an exception to that rule. For their Liquidity Provision services, they receive the SPIRIT Liquidity provider tokens and a portion of the trading fees collected on the platform.

In addition to swapping, Spirit Swap also offers staking and farming. Going through the documentation for this project, we see that a host of other features are in the works. The most interesting of these new features is SpiritZap: this feature allows users to “ZAP”, or perhaps we should write “transport”, SPIRIT, FTM and USDC into the 15 most common Liquidity Pools, at the click of a button, saving users time and most importantly fees.

Spirit Swap allows users to borrow against their own position. In return for doing so, they are given “Soul” tokens. These Soul tokens can be transferred and used within other applications. In other words, Spirit Swap allows Liquidity provider positions to become liquid.

In addition to swapping, staking and farming, users can lend and borrow assets on the platform. This fairly new function was launched at the end of August 2021. Six assets are available for borrowing and lending: wBTC, USDC, SPIRIT, wETH, wBNB and FTM. The financial incentive for depositing and ending assets comes in the form of SPIRIT tokens.

Those SPIRIT tokens can be locked for a specific amount of time (from 1 week to 4 years). Locking SPIRIT tokens grants the holder inSPIRIT tokens. The longer the tokens are locked, the more inSPIRIT tokens are generated.

2. Spooky Swap

The Decentralized Exchange known as Spooky Swap has all the features we have come to expect today from an Automated Market Maker, such as swapping, liquidity provision, staking and farming.

At the time of writing, 329 million US Dollars were locked in Spooky Swap, which undoubtedly makes it the largest DEX on the Fantom Platform. With 5 160 250 circulating “BOO” tokens (the platform’s liquidity provider token), Spooky Swap’s market capitalization is now sitting at 82 Million US Dollars.

What distinguishes Spooky Swap from other Fantom Dex’s is the sheer amount of well-thought out, innovative features which are being worked on:

• Partnered Staking: this is a rather wild feature, which will allow two tokens to be earned concurrently. Staking on the platform will earn users xBOO and a Partner token.
• Band Protocol Integration.
• Anyswap V3 implementation.
• A Zapping feature similar to SpiritSwap’s SpiritZap feature.
• Deployment of the BOO Token to Ethereum.
• Implementation of Secret Network technology into the DEX platform for untraceable, private transactions.
• And finally, Spooky Swap even plans to build its own NFT platform, and this would be the first time that on Fantom that an NFT platform is fully integrated with a DEX. Users should get excited at the perspective of User to Contract NFT swaps.

The above features certainly provide a sense of the sheer size of Spooky Swap’s ambition in the Fantom space.

Spooky Swap’s Single Stake Pool allows users to stake BOO tokens in order to earn more BOO. The BOO rewards come from a pool which comprises 4% of the maximum supply of BOOs – so exactly 546 640 BOO tokens. More single stake Pools will become available in the future.

The Spooky Swap bridge allows users to go from Ethereum or Binance Smart Chain to Fantom, or vice-versa. Transferring assets to Fantom is completely free. Currently it is possible to transfer these tokens from Ethereum: FTM, USDC, wETH, AAVE, BADGER, BAND, COVER, CREAM, CRV, DAI, FRAX, USDT, FXS, GTON, ICE, LINK, MM, SNX, SUSHI, wBTC, WOOFY, YFI. BNB and BIFI are the only tokens right now which can be transferred from Binance Smart Chain.

3. SnowSwap

SnowSwap defines itself as a multi-chain DEX that aims to provide aggregate fragmented liquidity from various Automated Market Makers.

What distinguishes the platform from its peers is its native token, SNO.

SNO token holders, along with Liquidity providers, earn transaction fees from the platform. A rather generous 60% of the collected fees are given out as rewards. The platform’s selling fee of 5% encourages users to hold the token in order to generate a sustainable passive income. The SNO token is subject to deflationary mechanics, meaning a percentage of tokens is burned with every transaction, decreasing the supply and increasing the token’s value.

4. Curve

In July of 2021, Curve, a non-custodial exchange for Stablecoins with cross-chain capabilities, was deployed on the Fantom Network. Curve is a household name in Decentralized Finance and this section of the article will focus very briefly on the Fantom Network’s iteration of Curve Finance.

Curve is known to provide superb incentives to traders and liquidity providers. On Fantom, one of those incentives is the dual reward system designed for Liquidity providers. When fUSDT-2CRV, DAI-USDC or renBTC-wBTC is deposited on the platform, two tokens are given as rewards.

From a strategic point of view, users will be relieved to learn that the strategies that worked on the Ethereum main chain work here as well. It is highly recommended to deposit tokens which are in short supply, in order to obtain a higher yield on one’s investment, and to withdraw tokens which are plentiful on the platform.

Curve, which was the beneficiary of the Fantom Foundation’s incentive program, is a noteworthy addition to the Fantom Ecosystem and one that will certainly contribute to attract and most importantly retain users.