The Polygon DEX Scene

Now the undisputed leader of the Ethereum scaling race, Polygon’s ascent as an ultra-efficient, low-cost Layer 2 solution has not only triggered a mass migration of EVM decentralized applications (dapps) to its ecosystem but the development of a breadth of native applications as well. Among the many projects and platforms that have made the move to Polygon, no sector in the digital asset space has benefited more from Polygon’s lost-cost environment than decentralized finance (Defi). And it’s no mystery why: Ethereum Defi applications have been bogged down by fees and network congestion more than any other sector, whose complex smart contract operations inevitably run up the gas meter.

Today, the lion’s share of Ethereum Defi transactions take place on Polygon, thanks to its 1.5-cent average transaction cost. Among Polygon-based Defi platforms, decentralized exchanges (DEXS) take up a significant portion of the action, where users can seamlessly swap between tokens without losing their lunch money.

Polygon DEXS: Big Players At a Glance

In 2022, Polygon’s aggregate DEX volume topped $50 billion. The scene was led by a diverse and growing scene of Ethereum power players, liquidity aggregators, and Polygonnative platforms. Here are the names that led the pack.

Uniswap

The Uniswap DEX played an indispensable and pioneering role in Ethereum Defi, introducing web3’s first Automated Market Maker (AMM) and its ultra-minimalist UI. Uniswap also became famous for triple-digit transaction fees in the 2020 summer Defi wave, which sent users scrambling to find low-cost alternatives for on-chain swaps.

Fortunately, Uniswap was able to stay ahead of the crowd, making its landing on Polygon the following year. To date, Uniswap has facilitated trades totaling upwards of $1 trillion, and is renowned throughout the web3 space as the leading

DEX for digital assets. Its token, UNI, remains Ethereum’s leading Defi token by market capitalization.

Sushiswap

Originally developed as a direct competitor to Uniswap, the Sushiswap DEX was launched as a Uniswap fork with one critical caveat: in addition to distributing transaction fees to LPS (liquidity providers), the protocol issued its native token, SUSHI, as well. Although controversial, Sushiswap’s arrival initiated open market competition amongst DEXS for users and capital.

Following in Uniswap’s footsteps, Sushiswap also

migrated to Polygon in 2021. The DEX has handled almost $300 billion in total transaction volume to date, Sushiswap has made efforts to innovate as well. The platform now enables automated streaming for DAO salaries, vesting schedules, and more via Furo.

Curve

Curve is yet another prominent DEX aggregator that deployed on Polygon to keep up with the demands of its users. Curve rose to popularity largely by sourcing data feeds and assets across existing DEXS on Ethereum to help users protect themselves from slippagerelated losses when swapping stablecoins.

Today, Curve connects blockchains and liquidity sources across the Polygon ecosystem, and supports a wide array of stable-valued and volatile digital assets. Curve plays a significant role in the Polygon ecosystem as not only a DEX, but a liquidity aggregator that helps to keep prices in check so users don’t get burned, while Polygon keeps the gas meter in check.

Firebird Finance is a multichain DEX aggregator based predominantly on Polygon. In addition to its DEX functionality, the platform offers users access to a yield farming aggregator and digital asset storage capabilities. Firebird is also notorious for its kickbacks, whereby users executing swaps on the platform receive cash-back in the platform’s native token, FBA. Like other prominent DEXS,

FBA confers governance powers to community members that choose to stake.

Quickswap

Quickswap is one of Polygon’s leading liquidity hubs. Quickswap was developed and designed specifically for Polygon, and has earned a reputation as the ecosystem’s go-to DEX platform for its unrivaled low fees.

Thanks to millions of dollars in daily volume, Quickswap’s trading fees – albeit the lowest in the industry – do add up. Quickswap distributes 13.33% of all trading fees earned by the platform right back to its community via the Dragon

Lair – aptly named after the platform’s logo and community members. Users may stake the platform’s native token, QUICK, to receive a weighted allocation of platform fees denominated in QUICK.

In addition to offering the lowest fees around and giving back to its community, Quickswap has remained at the forefront of the Polygon ecosystem as an early mover to deploy on the newly launched Polygon ZKEVM chain.

Polygon Defi is Here to Stay

The Ethereum Defi community has been the home of its most financially savvy and costconscious users, many of whom led the charge to Polygon in its early days. In 2023, Polygon’s robust and growing Defi scene is a testament not only to its efficiency and performance, but to its role as a mainstay in the decentralized economy well within the horizon.