Cybersecurity and licensing concerns intensify amid curve pancake dispute over StableSwap code

Ongoing innovation in decentralized finance is again under scrutiny as the curve pancake dispute over code reuse and cybersecurity risks surfaces between two major DEX platforms.

Curve Finance challenges PancakeSwap over StableSwap implementation

The Curve Finance team publicly accused PancakeSwap of copying its StableSwap code without going through the proper Curve Finance licensing process needed for collaboration. According to Curve, the contested code powers the StableSwap feature used to swap stablecoins and other “tightly-pegged” assets on PancakeSwap Infinity, the latest version of the PancakeSwap DEX.

However, Curve indicated that it remains open to a formal agreement. “If you want to enjoy using stableswap without legal problems and to borrow some of our expertise to keep users SAFU, you still can contact us for licensing and collaboration,” the team wrote on X. That statement underscored both legal exposure and user-protection concerns.

In a separate post, Curve stressed that “deep stableswap expertise” is required to safely integrate swap features. Moreover, the team cited the 2022 hack of the Saddle Finance DEX and the $116 million hack of DeFi protocol Balancer in 2025 as examples of swap-based code exploits when such expertise is lacking.

The PancakeSwap team responded that it would reach out to Curve Finance to address the issue directly. That said, Curve replied, “Indeed, better to be friends and build together,” signaling a willingness to resolve the conflict collaboratively despite the ongoing curve pancake dispute over code usage and implementation.

Cointelegraph contacted both teams for additional comment but had not received any replies by the time of publication. The lack of response leaves open questions about how quickly the two projects will formalize any licensing or technical review process.

The incident highlights growing cybersecurity and legal risks that arise in decentralized finance as protocols iterate on products and expand features. However, it also illustrates how public communication on social platforms now plays a central role in negotiating open-source licensing and security responsibilities.

PancakeSwap Infinity launch, cross-chain strategy and new features

PancakeSwap Infinity officially launched on the Arbitrum network and BNB Chain in April 2025. The rollout followed the integration of one-click cross chain swaps designed to let users move digital assets seamlessly between supported blockchain protocols, improving capital efficiency across networks.

The upgraded DEX also introduced “hooks,” a system of DEX smart contract plugins that enables developers and liquidity providers to customize parameters for liquidity pools. Moreover, these hooks support dynamic fee structuring, tailored rebates, and onchain limit orders that only execute when predefined conditions are met, offering more granular control over trading strategies.

According to PancakeSwap, the Infinity upgrade cut pool creation fees by up to 99%, significantly lowering the barrier to launching new liquidity pools. That said, the design was also built to support a range of liquidity approaches, from passive strategies to more actively managed positions that can adapt to changing market conditions.

In July 2025, PancakeSwap Infinity expanded further by launching on Base, an Ethereum layer-2 (L2) scaling network. The team promoted trading fees up to 50% cheaper when ETH ($1,980)—the native token of the Ethereum layer-1 blockchain—was traded against ERC-20 tokens via the platform and its new routing architecture.

The ERC-20 token standard underpins most assets minted on Ethereum, including the gas and governance tokens of Ethereum L2 networks, memecoins, and other projects issuing tokens on the chain. However, as more assets and protocols interconnect, swap feature vulnerabilities become more consequential, especially when complex routing spans several smart contracts and networks.

Overall, the dispute between Curve Finance and PancakeSwap places fresh attention on licensing, security best practices, and collaborative engineering in DeFi. As cross-chain trading and advanced liquidity tools proliferate, legal clarity and robust code review will likely become as important as new product features themselves.