How Curve Compares to Other AMMs
Curve's automated market makers (AMMs) solve a fundamental problem that other protocols struggle with: providing deep, concentrated liquidity without requiring constant user intervention. Here are Curve's benefits:
| Feature / Requirement | Curve Pools (Stableswap/Cryptoswap) | CLAMMs (e.g., Uniswap v3) |
|---|---|---|
| Passive Liquidity Provision | ✅ Anyone can earn, not just market makers | ❌ Requires constant monitoring/rebalancing |
| Liquidity is Always "In-Range" | ✅ Liquidity is governed by the algorithm automatically, there's always some liquidity in range | ❌ Capital cannot be used as soon as price moves out of range |
| Consistent Liquidity | ✅ Liquidity remains deep regardless of volatility | ❌ Liquidity gaps can form during rapid price movement |
| High TVL Retention | ✅ LPs don't abandon passive positions, passive liquidity is sticky | ❌ LPs frequently exit or move positions |
| ERC20 LP Tokens | ✅ A simple ERC20 token represents LP positions and has a defined $ value | ❌ LP positions are complex and based on ranges, requiring unique NFTs for representation |
While other AMMs force liquidity providers (LPs) to actively manage positions by constantly moving their liquidity to active price bands, Curve pools deliver concentrated liquidity benefits automatically. No need for setting ranges, constantly monitoring LP positions, or hustling for optimal liquidity concentration to earn fees.
For protocols, Curve offers lower maintenance requirements with no need to educate users on range management. It provides better user experience through consistent liquidity regardless of market conditions, higher TVL retention as LPs don't abandon positions during volatility, and proven reliability across multiple market cycles.
For a more technical comparison of Stableswap and Cryptoswap algorithms, see: Stableswap vs. Cryptoswap
5 months BDS (before DeFi summer)
The Passive Liquidity Advantage
Most AMMs require LPs to choose price ranges for their liquidity positions, monitor market movements, and manually rebalance when prices exit their range. This creates significant overhead and often results in capital sitting idle when markets move, making the AMM unreliable.
Curve pools provide the same concentrated liquidity benefits but with zero maintenance. All liquidity stays active at all prices, pools adapt to market movements automatically, and 100% of capital earns fees at all times. LPs can deposit once and earn continuously without any intervention.
This approach delivers 100% capital utilization with all deposited capital earning fees continuously. Unlike range-based systems where capital can sit unused, Curve pools self-adjust for maximum efficiency. During market stress events including stablecoin de-pegs, bridge outages, rapid repricings, and extreme volatility, Curve pools have maintained consistent liquidity while other AMMs showed gaps or became illiquid.
The LP experience is truly passive with no dashboards to monitor, predictable returns through consistent fee generation, transparent pricing without impermanent loss surprises, and professional-grade reliability suitable for institutional capital.
Stableswap: Concentrated Liquidity for Pegged Assets
For stablecoin pairs, liquid staking tokens, and other pegged assets, Stableswap automatically concentrates liquidity where it matters most – near the 1:1 peg.
The Stableswap invariant intelligently combines two AMM invariants: constant-sum (x+y=k) behavior near the peg for minimal slippage, and constant-product (x*y=k) behavior at wider spreads for continuous liquidity. A single amplification parameter (A) controls the concentration. Higher A values keep more liquidity near the peg, while lower A values spread it more evenly. The amplification factor can be changed at any time via a DAO vote to make the pool more or less concentrated depending on different conditions.
This approach delivers lower slippage for normal trading volumes, better capital efficiency than constant-product AMMs, and automatic adaptation to market conditions without any manual intervention required.
Learn more here: Understanding Stableswap
Cryptoswap: Intelligent Adaptive Liquidity
For volatile asset pairs like ETH/USDT or BTC/ETH, Cryptoswap represents a different approach to automated market making. Unlike other AMMs that require manual rebalancing or external oracles, Cryptoswap automatically tracks market prices and rebalances accordingly, protecting LP profitability in the process.
Cryptoswap uses an internal price oracle based on an Exponential Moving Average of recent trades to track market price. It only rebalances when the price moves beyond a minimum threshold and when trading fees exceed 50% of the rebalancing cost. This profit-aware approach ensures that rebalancing only occurs when it benefits LPs.
Compared to range-based AMMs like Uniswap v3, Cryptoswap eliminates liquidity gaps and provides automatic optimization without requiring manual position adjustments. Unlike oracle-based solutions, it has no external dependencies and prevents manipulation through internal price discovery. The controlled rebalancing minimizes impermanent loss while maintaining professional execution.
Cryptoswap uses two parameters to optimize liquidity distribution: A (amplification) controls liquidity concentration around the balanced price, while gamma controls the overall breadth of the liquidity curve. These can be tuned to balance capital efficiency with resilience to volatility.
Learn more here: Understanding Cryptoswap
Built-in Price Oracles
Every Curve pool comes with a built-in price oracle that provides reliable, fully on-chain price feeds without external or off-chain dependencies. Both Stableswap and Cryptoswap pools offer both spot prices (from the most recent trade) and EMA prices (exponential moving average of recent trades). These oracles are manipulation-resistant through economic design and are trusted by major DeFi protocols including crvUSD and Llamalend.
The Bottom Line
Curve delivers the benefits of concentrated liquidity without the complexity. While other AMMs require active management and constant attention, Curve pools work automatically to maximize capital efficiency and minimize slippage. The result is deeper liquidity, better trading experience, and truly passive yield generation.
For protocols looking to launch pools and LPs seeking professional-grade passive income, Curve offers the most efficient and reliable AMM experience in DeFi.