• SushiSwap was launched in August 2020 by a developer with the pseudonym Chef Nomi
• Although a clone of Uniswap, the Automated Market Maker takes a more community-oriented approach towards governance
• In less than a year, the decentralized exchange has amassed a total of 1,146 trading pairs, is used by more than 150k people and is available on more than 20 wallets
• SushiSwap has unveiled BentoBox — a lending solution similar to Compound or Aave, as the future of the project

Since its debut more than a decade ago, blockchain technology has been applied in different industries for solving problems. As the industries develop, more innovative ideas are being applied to blockchain technology, one of which is SushiSwap.

What is SushiSwap?

SushiSwap is a popular decentralized exchange (DEX) but seeks to represent an activist mindset in the larger decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Running on the Ethereum blockchain, the project is incentivizing its ecosystem while allowing them to buy and sell crypto assets.

SushiSwap, an Automated Market Maker was forged by a developer with the pseudonym Chef Nomi. The project was built from the desire of the decentralized finance community to build a more community-centric version of Uniswap with more incentives for the platform’s liquidity providers.

The SushiSwap Ecosystem

SushiSwap takes on a more community-focused approach. The project is largely run by its community that relies on its native utility token, SUSHI, for governance and voting on major protocol developments.

Although it may seem that SushiSwap is a direct clone of Uniswap, it is clearly more community-oriented. SushiSwap is run majorly on forum discussions, official proposals, and community voting.

Through these community-oriented mediums, the community governs the protocol and makes major structural changes.

Market Performance and Recent Developments of SushiSwap

Since launching in August 2020, SushiSwap has grown to become one of the largest decentralized exchanges. In less than a year since its launch, the project has amassed over 150k+ Sushi holders with 25,000+ being Discord members.

The project now boasts $3.54b in total liquidity with support for 1,146 total pairs. SushiSwap also supports over 20 wallets, which gives the community a variety of options to choose from.

The growth of SUSHI, the governance token of ShushiSwap, like most cryptos, has been riddled with ups and downs. Launching in August 2020 at $3.40, the token fell to as low as $0.65 in October before closing the year at a high of $2.91.

SUSHI opened the year trading at $2.86, but now exchanges hands at $15.26, making it one of the best-performing assets of the year. A market cap of $1.9 billion makes it the 57th largest crypto.

On the Flipside

• SushiSwap is not without a dent in its blistering record
• On September 5th, 2020 Chef Nomi drained the development fund, swapping it for 37,400 Ether
• At the time, the fund was worth $14 million at the time. The move sent the price of SUSHI down by more than 70% in less than a day
• After community pressure he returned the funds and the project began its journey to where it is today

The Future of SushiSwap

While already an established decentralized exchange, the SushiSwap team has begun the development of BentoBox — a lending solution similar to Compound or Aave.

The future of SushiSwap will allow users to deposit digital assets as collateral and borrow other assets against them.

BentoBox will be unlike the traditional DeFi lending platforms where users can deposit different assets and borrow several different assets in return, the risk increasing with each additional asset involved in the loan.

Although SushiSwap’s BentoBox has yet to fully be developed, the project has the potential to introduce SushiSwap’s trademark customizability and community-driven nature to the DeFi sector and the entire crypto industry.