Curve Finance has publicly accused PancakeSwap of incorporating its StableSwap implementation without a proper license, singling out PancakeSwap Infinity’s stablecoin and tightly pegged-asset pools.
In a post on X, Curve urged PancakeSwap to contact the team to obtain a license and to collaborate so the feature can be used “without legal problems” and with Curve’s expertise to keep users safe. Curve stressed that safely integrating StableSwap-style mechanics requires deep, specialized knowledge, pointing to past incidents such as the 2022 Saddle Finance hack and a $116 million Balancer exploit in 2025 as examples of how swap code can be vulnerable if mishandled.
PancakeSwap said it would reach out to Curve to discuss the issue, and Curve responded that working together would be preferable. Cointelegraph reached out to both teams for comment but had not received replies by publication.
The dispute underscores both legal and cybersecurity risks in DeFi as projects iterate quickly and often build on existing codebases. Licensing and clear collaboration paths can reduce the chance of litigation and help prevent technical mistakes that expose user funds.
Background on PancakeSwap Infinity: the upgrade launched on Arbitrum and BNB Chain in April 2025 and introduced one-click cross-chain swaps that let users move assets between blockchains. It also added “hooks,” modular smart-contract plug-ins that let pool creators modify parameters—enabling dynamic fees, targeted rebates and on-chain limit orders that execute when preset conditions are met. PancakeSwap lowered pool-creation fees by as much as 99% to encourage a wider range of liquidity strategies.
In July 2025, PancakeSwap Infinity expanded to Base, an Ethereum layer-2 network, and promoted fee savings of up to 50% for trading Ether (ETH) versus ERC-20 tokens. (ERC-20 is the Ethereum token standard used by most tokens on Ethereum and many layer-2 projects.)
As DeFi projects continue to adapt and reuse code, this episode highlights the importance of clear licensing, security audits and responsible collaboration between teams. Public disputes over intellectual property and implementation safety can prompt faster coordination but also draw attention to potential weak points in newly deployed systems.
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