What is SushiSwap?

SushiSwap (SUSHI) is an automated market maker (AMM) — a specific type of decentralized exchange (or DEX) that uses smart contracts to create markets for any given pair of tokens — built on the Ethereum network. More concretely, SushiSwap leverages smart contracts to provide liquidity pools that allow users to trade crypto assets directly — with no intermediary. SushiSwap was launched in September 2020 as a fork of Uniswap, a well-known AMM in the decentralized finance (DeFi) movement. On SushiSwap, users can become liquidity providers, supplying an equal-value pair of two cryptocurrencies in order to receive rewards whenever anyone utilizes that pool. SushiSwap is a decentralized finance (or DeFi) protocol that aims to diversify the AMM market and add features not previously present on Uniswap, such as increased rewards for network participants through its in-house token, SUSHI. SushiSwap's products are open-source and configured in a way that allows the entire platform to maintain decentralized governance of $SUSHI token holders.

How does SushiSwap work?

SushiSwap operates primarily as an AMM, setting up automated trading liquidity between any two cryptocurrency assets. Concretely, SushiSwap eliminates the need for order books, with the aim to avoid issues such as liquidity problems that can hamper traditional decentralized exchanges, making SushiSwap a potential alternative for DeFi traders and entities looking to capitalize on the boom in project tokens and create liquidity. To add liquidity, users send equal-value amounts of two cryptocurrencies to SushiSwap. In exchange, they receive Liquidity Provider (or LP) tokens and begin receiving rewards. Users can deposit their newly created LP tokens into yield farms to earn further Annual Percentage Yields (APY) rewards. This creates an extra incentive for users to keep lending their cryptocurrencies and remaining part of the liquidity pool over time. The platform takes a 0.3% cut from transactions in its liquidity pools, then compensates liquidity providers with portions of those fees in the form of SUSHI tokens, granting liquidity providers governance rights and the power to influence the platform's operations and future along the way. It's important to note that you can only use Sushiswap to trade one cryptocurrency for another directly — it can't be used to trade US dollars for example, or other government-issued currencies that are not backed by a commodity such as gold.

What are the potential use cases for SushiSwap?

SushiSwap strives to be an AMM that suits a large amount of decentralized finance (DeFi) needs. It has, among others, two main use cases. Firstly, it allows users to trade cryptocurrencies across numerous pairs and crypto networks without the need for a central operator or administrator using their preferred connected crypto wallet. Secondly, it allows users to receive compensation by yield farming, meaning providing liquidity to a DeFi protocol or exchange and making rewards through fees or additional tokens on the decentralized, community-driven platform.

What is the history of SushiSwap?

SushiSwap was founded by a pseudonymous entity known as "Chef Nomi", along with two other pseudonymous co-founders known as "sushiswap" and "0xMaki", who handle SushiSwap's code, product development, and business operations. SushiSwap launched in September 2020 as a fork of Uniswap, meaning by making a change to the Uniswap's protocol and basic set of rulesaiming, to diversify the AMM market and add additional features. The SUSHI token had no premine, meaning it couldn't be minted before the cryptocurrency was launched to the public — which can sometimes be the case for other cryptocurrencies — and was officially launched at Ethereum block number 10,750,000, starting with a supply of zero tokens. As of November 2023, SUSHI had a circulating supply of 231.87 M SUSHI.

What are the risks of using SushiSwap?

Users of Ethereum-based apps like SushiSwap have to pay transaction fees (also called gas) that can vary widely in price and can make it costly to use the network. Decentralized Exhanges (DEXs) have a range of risks, so do your research. For example, bugs in smart contracts can be exploited. Finally, since anyone can create a token, make sure to watch for "rug pulls" of unvetted tokens. "Rug pulls" occur when developers and/or bad actors create and list tokens on a decentralized exchange and request unsuspecting investors swap their ETH or other asset for the new token, only to liquidate the token after accruing a certain level of investments. This liquidation drives down the value of the token to 0.

Where do you buy SushiSwap?

You can buy SushiSwap through an exchange like Coinbase, in addition to using decentralized exchanges like Sushishwap itself (or Uniswap, a competing decentralized exchange).