TLDR
- CAKE token has jumped 37-45% in 24 hours, reaching $2.49
- PancakeSwap leads DEX trading volume at $647 million (61% market share)
- Binance’s Tether delisting has pushed USDT trading to PancakeSwap
- BNB Chain meme coins are seeing a resurgence with 48% weekly growth
- Pascal Hardfork upgrade coming March 20 with gas fee improvements
PancakeSwap’s native token CAKE has experienced a major price surge, jumping between 37-45% in the past 24 hours. The token reached $2.49, marking a weekly increase of approximately 57-59%.
The decentralized exchange built on Binance Smart Chain (BNB Chain) has overtaken Ethereum-based competitor Uniswap in trading volume. PancakeSwap processed $647 million worth of trades in the past day.
This surge has made CAKE the 99th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization according to CoinGecko data. The token hit a daily high of $2.69 after recovering from recent lows of $1.38.
CAKE Price
PancakeSwap now controls nearly 61% of decentralized exchange (DEX) market share over this period. This places the BNB Chain DEX ecosystem at the top spot with a total trading volume of $1.64 billion in 24 hours.
Several factors are driving this impressive performance. One major catalyst is Binance’s announcement to delist Tether (USDT) and eight other stablecoins for users in the European Economic Area (EEA).
The delisting, scheduled for March 31, is due to compliance issues with the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations. Other affected tokens include FDUSD, TUSD, USDP, DAI, AEUR, UST, USTC and PAXG.
This regulatory move has prompted many Binance users to move their USDT to PancakeSwap. The DEX has processed more than $346 million in USDT trading volume over 24 hours, accounting for approximately 54% of its total volume.
Meme Coins Back?
Another key factor in CAKE’s rise is the resurgence of meme coins on the BNB Chain. Once a cultural hub for meme coins in 2021 due to its low gas fees, the network is seeing renewed interest.
The BNB Chain meme coin market capitalization has jumped 48% over the past week to $2.71 billion. This revival comes after the launch of SpringBoard, a token launchpad similar to Solana’s Pump.fun, at the end of last year.
A standout performer is Mubarak, a token referencing the Islamic term for celebrating the end of Ramadan. It has jumped 56-95% in a single day, nearly reaching a market cap of $150 million and accounting for over 12% of daily trading volume on PancakeSwap.
This activity has boosted the entire BNB ecosystem. Binance’s native BNB token is up 7%, outperforming other top 10 cryptocurrencies.
The BNB Chain processed $9.26 billion in decentralized app volume over the past week. This places it second only to Ethereum, which recorded $77.25 billion in weekly volume.
The network is also preparing for a major technical upgrade. The Pascal Hardfork, scheduled for March 20, will implement EIP-7702 on the mainnet.
This upgrade will allow Externally Owned Accounts to temporarily act as smart contracts within a single transaction. The change eliminates the need for BNB to pay for gas fees.
Under the new system, gas fees can be sponsored by a paymaster (another wallet or service). This removes a major barrier for new users who currently must hold BNB to pay transaction fees.
With its rising trading volume, token price, and upcoming technical improvements, PancakeSwap and the broader BNB Chain ecosystem appear to be entering a new phase of growth.
