SparkSwap Crypto Exchange Review: What’s Still Active and What’s Dead in 2026

There are three different projects all called SparkSwap. And if you’re looking to trade crypto or earn yield, you need to know which one you’re dealing with - because two of them are gone, and the third is a high-risk gamble.

Sparkswap (the original) shut down in 2023 - it’s not coming back

The first Sparkswap was a decentralized exchange that tried to do something bold: let you buy Bitcoin with fiat using the Lightning Network, then swap it for other cryptos without handing over your keys. It was backed by Polychain Capital, had a clean interface, and partnered with AnchorUSD for deposits. Sounds great, right?

It died anyway.

On March 24, 2023, the team announced they were shutting down. Why? Not because of a hack. Not because of regulation. But because not enough people used it. Founder Trey Griffith said bluntly: "The style of self-custody we were espousing is too niche to make our business sustainable."

They had 12 verified Trustpilot reviews before shutting down. Users liked the Lightning integration but complained about slow support and slippage on trades over $500. Liquidity was too thin. Without volume, traders left. Without traders, liquidity vanished. It was a death spiral - the kind Delphi Digital warned about in early 2023. DEXs under $1 million daily volume rarely survive.

Today, the website is gone. The Lightning nodes are offline. Even their GitHub is archived. If someone tells you Sparkswap is live, they’re either mistaken or trying to scam you.

SparkSwap on Binance Smart Chain? Untracked. Unreliable.

Then there’s SparkSwap (srk.finance), a DEX on Binance Smart Chain built by SparkPoint Technologies in the Philippines. It launched in October 2021 and supports SRK, SFUEL, BNB, and other BEP-20 tokens. Sounds like a normal PancakeSwap clone?

It’s worse.

CoinMarketCap lists it as an "Untracked Listing" - meaning there’s no reliable volume data. No one’s trading it. No liquidity providers are sticking around. CryptoSlate has only seven reviews, all from 2022-2023. One user wrote: "Tried swapping 0.5 BNB to SRK three times. Failed twice. On the third try, slippage was 15%."

Gas fees on BSC are low - usually under $0.50 - but the interface is clunky. Transactions fail often during congestion. And the team? No GitHub updates since November 2022. Last website update? January 2023. That’s over a year of silence.

There’s no team announcement, no roadmap, no Twitter activity. If you’re thinking of staking SRK or farming here, you’re betting on a ghost project. No one’s maintaining it. No one’s adding new pairs. It’s a dead DEX pretending to be alive.

SparkSwap on PulseChain: High yield, high risk

This is the only version still active - and it’s the most dangerous one.

SparkSwap on PulseChain is a yield farming protocol run by the team behind EMP Money. It lets you farm stablecoins like USDC and DAI at up to 53% APR. That’s not a typo. And yes, they claim "no impermanent loss" because you’re only swapping stable-to-stable. That part is technically true - if both tokens are pegged to $1, price swings won’t hurt you.

But here’s what no one tells you:

• PulseChain itself has a total value locked (TVL) of just $142 million as of mid-2023. Ethereum has over $38 billion. That’s 1/268th the size.
• There are only 47 DeFi protocols on PulseChain. On Ethereum, there are 2,952.
• You need to bridge your assets from Ethereum or BSC to PulseChain first. That costs $5-$15 and takes 15-45 minutes.
• There’s a 2% withdrawal fee on rewards. If you’re compounding daily, that eats into your profits fast.
• SparkSwap’s GitHub shows 14 commits in July-August 2023 - but nothing since. The Discord is quiet. No updates on V2 with concentrated liquidity.

YouTube videos from June 2023 hype the 53% APR. But those videos are over a year old. No one’s posted a new performance update since. That’s a red flag.

And PulseChain? It’s controversial. Critics call it a rug-pull waiting to happen. The founder, Richard Heart, has a history of bold claims and sudden changes. The network has no real institutional backing. It’s a cult following with low fees and high risk.

If you’re here for yield, you’re not just farming crypto - you’re betting on the survival of an entire ecosystem that could vanish overnight.

Why naming collisions like this are deadly in crypto

Three different projects. Same name. Zero connection between them.

This isn’t an accident. It’s a pattern.

When a project dies - like the original Sparkswap - others copy the name hoping to ride the leftover brand recognition. It’s lazy. It’s deceptive. And it’s why so many new users get burned.

Finance Magnates analyst Ben Aronson put it well: "The failure of Sparkswap shows how hard it is to combine fiat on-ramps with decentralized models. But the real danger isn’t the original - it’s the imitators. "

There’s no official SparkSwap anymore. There’s no central authority. There’s no company you can email. There’s only three separate projects, two of which are dead, and the third hanging by a thread.

What should you do instead?

If you want a safe, working DEX:

• Use PancakeSwap on BSC - it has 1.8 million daily users and deep liquidity.
• Use Uniswap on Ethereum - it handles over half of all decentralized trading volume.
• Use Curve for stablecoin swaps - it’s the most trusted for low-slippage trades.

If you want yield:

• Try Aave or Compound on Ethereum - they’re battle-tested, audited, and regulated in spirit.
• Stay away from PulseChain farms unless you’re willing to lose your entire stake.

And if someone tells you "SparkSwap is the next big thing" - ask them which one. Then walk away.

Final verdict: Don’t touch any SparkSwap

The original Sparkswap is dead. The BSC version is abandoned. The PulseChain version is a high-stakes gamble on a dying ecosystem.

There is no safe SparkSwap in 2026.

Don’t waste your time. Don’t deposit your funds. Don’t fall for the name. The only thing this brand is good for is a warning story - and you just read it.