PancakeSwap veCAKE gets sliced in new proposal

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PancakeSwap’s new Tokenomics v3 proposal promises “true ownership, simplified governance and sustainable growth.” Central to this shift is the deprecation of veCAKE replaced with direct emissions management and a max one-year lock, aimed at boosting capital efficiency and simplifying participation.

However, critics warn the proposal sets a dangerous precedent. Some question its effect on governance integrity and emissions control. Curve founder Michael Egorov called it a “governance attack at its finest,” arguing that CAKE insiders effectively wipe out governance rights of existing veCAKE holders and could force-unlock their own tokens after the vote. “Upgradability is a bug,” Egorov cautioned on X. “Don’t make your veGovernance upgradable, especially the lock part.”

Others, like forum member Hubert, criticized the motivation behind the change: bribes from Magpie Finance and similar Convex-style forks that siphoned emissions with little benefit to PancakeSwap. The solution wasn’t killing veCAKE, “one of the best veModels” in the market, Hubert argued, but rather capping emissions to depegged mAsset pairs and restructuring incentives around fee generation.

Magpie mAssets are synthetic versions of real assets that users receive when depositing tokens into Magpie. They have a tendency to depeg due to low liquidity or limited redemption mechanisms.

Supporters of v3 counter that veCAKE has failed to curb CAKE sell pressure and now adds inefficiency and opacity. The new model aims to cut emissions by 43% and redirect incentives to high-volume, high-fee pools.

If there’s consensus or strong support, a discussion proposal is promoted to a formal vote through PancakeSwap’s own Governance Portal. In its first day, the topic has already accumulated about 150 comments from 50 users.

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