PancakeSwap Smashes Q1 Records: $205B in Trading Volume—Because Apparently, Crypto Never Sleeps (Or Makes Sense)

PancakeSwap just flipped the script—again. The decentralized exchange’s Q1 2025 trading volume rocketed past $205 billion, leaving traditional finance bros clutching their spreadsheets. Here’s the breakdown: \n\n-
The Numbers Don’t Lie
: A 40% surge from Q4 2024, fueled by meme coin degenerates and yield farmers chasing that sweet, unsustainable APY. \n\n-
Why It Matters
: While Wall Street still argues about ETFs, DeFi keeps eating its lunch—no permission needed. \n\n-
The Cynic’s Take
: Sure, $205B sounds impressive… until you remember half of it was probably wash trading and leveraged bots. \n\nLove it or hate it, PancakeSwap’s latest milestone proves one thing: the crypto carnival isn’t packing up anytime soon.

PancakeSwap Sets New All-Time High in Trading Volume

BeInCrypto recently reported that PancakeSwap’s trading volume surged as high as $81.7 billion in February, marking the highest monthly trading volume since 2021. In January, the DEX achieved a trading volume of $78.4 billion. 

However, according to data from Dune Analytics, March saw a slight slowdown in growth, with the volume reaching $45.1 billion. Despite this, the impressive performance in Q1 2025 has brought the total trading volume to a staggering $1.3 trillion.

“With 2025 already off to an explosive start, the protocol is seeing record momentum in both user engagement and ecosystem activity,” the exchange told BeInCrypto.

Notably, the rise isn’t something new, but the momentum has been building steadily since 2023. In the last two years, PancakeSwap’s quarterly trading volume skyrocketed from $20.1 billion in Q1 2023 to a record $205.3 billion in Q1 2025, representing a remarkable 922% increase.

This surge in trading volume has been accompanied by significant gains in user engagement. The number of unique traders on the platform grew by 81%, rising from 3.2 million in Q1 2023 to 5.8 million in Q1 2025, the highest level since Q4 2021.

Similarly, transaction activity on the platform saw substantial growth. The transaction counts jumped from 44.1 million in Q1 2023 to 114.4 million in Q1 2025, a 159% increase. 

“These figures represent not only PancakeSwap’s best quarter to date, but also highlight a significant leap in adoption and usage across the board,” the exchange added.

The milestone comes as PancakeSwap enters a new phase with the official implementation of CAKE Tokenomics 3.0, which began on April 23. This involves several changes, including the discontinuation of CAKE staking, veCAKE, and related mechanisms.

In addition, the platform will shift to a burn mechanism, targeting an annual burn of approximately 5.3 million tokens. Additionally, daily CAKE emissions will be phased down from 29,000 to 20,000. The ultimate goal is to bring it as low as 14,500 tokens, signaling a shift toward greater sustainability.