Memecoins Boost Cardano’s DEX Volume to New Highs

Cardano, one of the leading smart contract platforms, has seen a surge in activity on its decentralized exchanges (DEXes) in May, driven by the launch of two new meme coins: SNEK and BANK.

Cardano and Its Projects Continue to be Popular Among Buyers

With its total value locked (TVL) more than doubling since the start of the year. According to data from Defillama, Cardano’s DeFi TVL stands at $137.2 million, ranking 16th among all blockchains. The main driver of this growth is Minswap, a multi-pool decentralized exchange (DEX) on Cardano that allows users to swap tokens with minimal cost and time. 

Memecoin trading has heavily increased DEX volume on Cardano. Volume on Minswap is up 82.28% for the week pic.twitter.com/cnIiPMCmjm

— DefiLlama.com (@DefiLlama) May 31, 2023

Minswap has seen its TVL surge by 12.28% in the past week and by 28.05% in the past month, reaching $64.95 million. Minswap is followed by other Cardano-based DEXes, such as Indigo, a synthetics protocol that enables on-chain exposure to real-world assets, and WingRiders, a DEX powered by Vacuumlabs. 

Indigo and WingRiders have TVLs of $33.99 million and $14.97 million, respectively. The increase in TVL reflects the growing interest and confidence in these DEXes, which leverage Cardano’s smart contract capabilities and network protocols.

SNEK is a meme coin inspired by the popular game Snake, with a twist: holders can earn rewards by playing the game on their smartphones. The coin has a total supply of 21 billion tokens, with 10% allocated to a community treasury.

BANK is a meme coin that claims to be the “world’s first decentralized bank.” The coin has a total supply of 100 million tokens, with 50% burned at launch and 10% allocated to a charity fund.

Both SNEK and BANK have seen impressive price performance since their launch, with SNEK reaching a market cap of $80 million and becoming the eighth-largest meme coin by market cap.

Memecoins Have Found Their Paradise on Cardano

The popularity of these meme coins reflects the growing demand for Cardano-based DEXes, which offer fast, cheap, and secure transactions. Cardano is one of the most advanced smart contract platforms, with a layered architecture that separates the settlement layer from the computation layer. This allows for greater scalability and interoperability, as well as support for multiple programming languages.

Cardano’s DEXes and meme coins are showing that the Ethereum-killer network is not only a serious contender for smart contract innovation, but also a vibrant and diverse ecosystem for crypto culture and community.