

Minswap
Decentralized Exchange on Cardano
Minswap is a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) on the Cardano blockchain, enabling permissionless trading of token pairs with a focus on community involvement and decentralization. Launched in 2021, Minswap stands out by ensuring fair distribution of its native $MIN token, with no private or venture capital funding involved. The platform allows anyone to provide liquidity, with trading fees distributed to Liquidity Providers (LPs), creating a decentralized profit-sharing model.

Client Requirements
Minswap’s core requirement was to develop a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Cardano blockchain that prioritized community involvement and decentralization. The project aimed to avoid private or venture capital funding, ensuring a fair distribution of its native $MIN token to the community. Minswap’s vision was to empower its users by allowing them to participate in governance, where $MIN token holders could vote on protocol changes and shape the platform’s future. A key focus was to create an accessible, permissionless DEX that allowed anyone to provide liquidity and participate in the ecosystem, decentralizing both control and profits.
Additionally, Minswap needed to address the technical challenges unique to the Cardano blockchain, particularly the concurrency issue caused by Cardano’s UTXO model. This required innovative solutions to ensure smooth transaction processing and scalability. Minswap also sought to support the broader Cardano ecosystem by actively promoting Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) through its Fair Initial Stake Offering (FISO) model, which allowed the community to earn $MIN tokens. The platform had to be secure, user-friendly, and community-driven, with a focus on supporting liquidity providers and fostering continuous growth in the DeFi space on Cardano.

Features
Minswap Decentralized Exchange
Community-Centric Token Distribution
Minswap ensures fair $MIN distribution by excluding VC/private investments. Active community members providing liquidity are rewarded, encouraging participation. Token holders influence governance, shaping the platform’s future through decentralized decision-making and strong user ownership.
Permissionless Token Listing
Minswap allows anyone to list tokens without centralized approval or KYC. This permissionless model supports innovation, eases market entry for new projects, and enriches Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem with diverse tokens and trading opportunities.
Fair Initial Stake Offering (FISO)
Minswap introduced FISO, letting users earn $MIN by staking ADA with specific pools. This fair, inclusive model rewards early contributors, avoids centralization, and strengthens Cardano’s network security through broad community staking participation.
Innovative Concurrency Solution (Laminar)
To resolve Cardano’s concurrency limits, Minswap developed Laminar, enabling multiple smart contract transactions in one block. This boosts scalability and ensures smooth, efficient trading as user activity and transaction volume increase.
Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL)
Minswap uses POL, meaning the protocol owns part of its liquidity. This stabilizes trading, ensures self-sustainability, reduces external dependence, and strengthens the treasury to support future growth, development, and community reward initiatives.
Yield Farming with Multi-Token Harvest
Minswap’s Yield Farming V2 lets liquidity providers earn multiple reward tokens. Powered by Plutus V2, it enhances user earnings, promotes yield diversity, and delivers a modern, competitive farming experience for DeFi participants.
Stake Pool Operators (SPO) Support
Minswap boosts SPOs via its FISO model and Laminar batching. It rewards their participation, promotes decentralization, and simplifies token management—solidifying support for Cardano’s infrastructure and strengthening ties with its staking community.
DAO Governance
Minswap operates as a DAO, empowering $MIN holders to vote on proposals. This democratic governance ensures transparency, community-led development, and alignment with user interests, reinforcing trust and commitment to decentralized operations.
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Consensus Mechanism
Fair Initial Stake Offering (FISO)
Minswap’s FISO lets users delegate ADA to stake pools and earn $MIN, avoiding private investors. This model supports decentralization, fairly distributes tokens, and aligns with Cardano’s Proof-of-Stake to reward real community participation.
Liquidity Provider Rewards
Liquidity providers earn rewards from trading fees, distributed via smart contracts. This transparent, decentralized mechanism incentivizes users to supply liquidity, ensuring Minswap remains active, sustainable, and profitable for those contributing to its ecosystem.
Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL)
Minswap Decentralized Exchnage, owns part of its liquidity pool, reducing reliance on external providers. This ensures long-term sustainability, enhances stability for traders, and strengthens protocol control while aligning incentives with the interests of its community.
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) Governance
Minswap’s DAO governance allows $MIN holders to vote on key decisions. This decentralized structure ensures transparency, community control, and that the platform evolves based on collective input rather than centralized authority or external pressure.
Liquidity Bootstrapping Event (LBE)
During the LBE, users contribute ADA for $MIN tokens. Half goes into ADA/$MIN liquidity pools, supporting the DAO treasury. This ensures fair token distribution and kickstarts decentralized liquidity for the Minswap protocol’s growth.
Multi-Token Yield Farming
Users providing liquidity can harvest multiple tokens as rewards. This smart contract-driven system ensures fair distribution, supports diversification, and attracts users seeking varied passive income from Minswap dynamic, yield farming opportunities.
Staking Rewards Distribution
Liquidity providers receive ADA staking rewards through Cardano’s PoS system. Distributed transparently by smart contracts, this mechanism incentivizes long-term participation and ensures contributors are fairly rewarded for supporting the platform’s decentralized liquidity.
Babel Fees Consensus
Minswap’s Babel Fees let users pay transaction costs with native tokens. Integrated with Cardano’s PoS, this system removes ADA dependency for fees, improving user experience and accessibility across the decentralized trading platform.
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Project Approach & Results
Project Approach Minswap’s project approach was centered around decentralization, innovation, and community engagement. From the beginning, the team aimed to create a decentralized exchange (DEX) that would truly serve the community, with a strong focus on fair token distribution and governance. The Fair Initial Stake Offering (FISO) model was a pivotal element in this approach. By allowing users to delegate their ADA to Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) and earn $MIN tokens in return, Minswap ensured that the tokens were distributed among a wide range of participants, avoiding centralized control by venture capitalists. This decentralized approach aligned with Cardano’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) system, making token distribution transparent and inclusive.
In parallel, Minswap placed a high emphasis on innovation. The team tackled some of Cardano’s technical challenges, particularly the concurrency issue that hindered the scalability of decentralized applications.
Project Results Minswap’s approach yielded significant results, both in terms of user adoption and platform growth. The Fair Initial Stake Offering (FISO) was a major success, attracting widespread participation from the Cardano community. This model ensured that $MIN tokens were distributed broadly, helping to build a strong and engaged user base. The involvement of Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) further decentralized the network, reinforcing Minswap’s commitment to creating a truly community-driven platform. The FISO model not only resulted in fair token distribution but also strengthened the ties between Minswap and the broader Cardano ecosystem, fostering collaboration and support from key network participants.
The Liquidity Bootstrapping Event (LBE) was another key achievement. By raising substantial funds, half of which went to the Minswap DAO Treasury, the platform was able to secure significant liquidity early on. This liquidity helped establish a strong trading environment on the exchange, attracting more users and transactions.


Challenges
Technical Scalability and Concurrency Issues
One of the primary challenges was addressing the scalability and concurrency limitations inherent in the Cardano blockchain. Cardano’s unique architecture, while robust, initially presented difficulties for executing multiple smart contracts simultaneously within a single block. This limitation could potentially lead to inefficiencies and delays in transaction processing on the Minswap platform.
Fair Token Distribution and Decentralization
Ensuring fair token distribution while maintaining decentralization presented a complex challenge. Minswap aimed to avoid the pitfalls of traditional Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), where tokens might be concentrated in the hands of a few investors. To address this, the team introduced the Fair Initial Stake Offering (FISO) model, which rewarded users based on their ADA delegation to Stake Pool Operators (SPOs).
Security and Platform Reliability
Security was a critical concern for Minswap, particularly given the high stakes involved in managing a decentralized financial platform. The team needed to ensure that the platform was secure from potential vulnerabilities and attacks. This challenge was compounded by the need to maintain reliability while integrating new features and innovations. To address these concerns, Minswap underwent a rigorous security audit by Tweag before launching on the mainnet.
Technology Stacks
Minswap offers decentralized token swaps, liquidity provision, yield farming, governance and fair token distribution on Cardano.










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