Buy SushiSwap

SushiSwap is a decentralised finance (DeFi) exchange that lets people trade cryptocurrency directly with one another across many blockchains, and SUSHI is the token used to help govern it. It is one of the longer-running decentralised exchanges in DeFi.

It helps to separate two things. SushiSwap, often just called Sushi, is the exchange protocol, while SUSHI is its governance token. Holding SUSHI is not the same as trading or providing liquidity on SushiSwap. The SUSHI token is mainly about taking part in decisions over how the protocol is run.

SushiSwap is part of decentralised finance (DeFi), a category of financial services built on blockchains rather than through traditional banks. It is a type of decentralised exchange known as an automated market maker, where trades happen automatically against pools of crypto rather than through a traditional order book. SushiSwap operates across many different blockchains rather than just one.

What is SushiSwap used for?

SushiSwap is mainly used as a platform for trading crypto and providing liquidity, while the SUSHI token is used for governance. SUSHI is the token used to help govern the SushiSwap protocol.

SUSHI is used to:

• vote on proposals about how the SushiSwap protocol is run
• take part in the governance of the Sushi community
• be held and traded as the protocol's governance token

It is worth being clear about the difference between using SushiSwap and holding SUSHI. People use the protocol to swap tokens or to provide liquidity to its pools. Holding the SUSHI token, on the other hand, is mainly about governance. It lets you take part in decisions about the protocol, but holding SUSHI is not the same as trading or providing liquidity, and it does not by itself earn a return.

SUSHI has a maximum supply of 250 million tokens. It is not mined, and its role is focused on governance rather than processing transactions on its own blockchain. Like other tokens, SUSHI can be volatile, and its value can be influenced by interest in DeFi, the use of the protocol, and wider market conditions.

The history of SushiSwap

SushiSwap launched in 2020 as a fork of Uniswap, meaning it was built using Uniswap's open-source code and then developed in its own direction. It was created by a pseudonymous developer and quickly drew attention with an approach sometimes called a "vampire attack", which encouraged liquidity providers to move across to the new protocol by rewarding them with SUSHI tokens.

Control of the protocol later passed to its community through the SUSHI governance token. Over time, SushiSwap expanded to work across many blockchains and added a range of DeFi features beyond simple trading. You can find out more on the official Sushi website.

Today, SushiSwap remains one of the better-known decentralised exchanges in DeFi. People buy SUSHI for many reasons, including taking part in governance or gaining exposure to DeFi.