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Cytoswap Review 2026: A V3-Style DEX on HeLa With Tiny TVL

Cytoswap is a decentralized exchange on the HeLa chain built around V3-style contracts and a smart order router. Reported liquidity is close to zero, so it is a risky venue for anything beyond small experiments.

By the DappsAtlas editorial team · Updated

DappsAtlas score

3.5/10

Weak

Our verdict on cytoswap

3.5/10

Cytoswap suits developers and HeLa chain users who want to experiment with a V3-style DEX and its router, quoting and staking tooling. Its documentation is its main strength. The caveat is liquidity: about $67 in TVL, falling sharply, with no audits listed. Anyone swapping or providing liquidity should use small amounts and expect poor pricing on anything but tiny trades.

Score breakdown

How cytoswap scores

Security
3.0/10
Ease of use
6.0/10
Fees
n/a
Features
5.0/10

Scores run from 0 to 10 and are based only on facts we could verify. Where information was missing we mark the score n/a rather than guess.

What is cytoswap?

Cytoswap is a decentralized exchange on the HeLa chain. Its homepage pitches a cost-effective trading experience, citing lower gas fees than Ethereum for frequent traders. The protocol has been tracked since October 2024.

The documentation is more detailed than the homepage. It covers V3 smart contracts, a quoting and trading SDK, a smart order router and a staking contract repository, which suggests the project is aimed partly at developers building on its pools.

The main concern is liquidity. Reported TVL is about $67 and fell about 63% in the past week, so pools are extremely shallow. No audits are listed, no token is listed, and the homepage does not name a team.

How cytoswap works

Cytoswap is an automated market maker. Instead of matching buyers with sellers, it holds tokens in smart-contract pools and sets prices from the balance of assets in each pool. A swap trades one token for another against a pool, and liquidity providers who deposit tokens earn a share of trading fees.

The documentation describes a V3 version of the protocol with pool contracts, a periphery layer for managing positions, and a smart order router. The router can split a trade across several pools to get a better price than a single pool offers. Developer guides explain how to request a quote and then build and send the trade.

Price quality depends heavily on pool depth. Reported total value locked is only about $67, so pools hold very little. Larger swaps would move prices a lot, and the router has few pools to choose from.

6 features

Key features

01

HeLa chain DEX

Cytoswap is a non-custodial DEX on the HeLa chain where users swap token pairs through on-chain pools.

02

V3 smart contracts

The documentation covers a V3 version of the protocol, including core pool contracts and a periphery layer for minting and managing positions.

03

Smart order router

Docs describe a smart order router that computes optimal routes, so a swap can pass through more than one pool instead of a single pair.

04

Quoting and trading SDK

Developer guides explain how to fetch quotes for any token pair and use a quote to build and execute a trade.

05

Flash function

The V3 pool contract includes a flash function that withdraws amounts of both pool tokens to a recipient address within a single transaction.

06

V3 staking contract

A public repository holds the staking contract designed for Cytoswap V3, which can be used for incentive programs on liquidity positions.

Pros and cons

What we like

  • Non-custodial swaps directly from your wallet on the HeLa chain
  • Public documentation and code repositories for the V3 contracts, quoting, routing and staking
  • Smart order router can route a trade across multiple pools when liquidity exists
  • Lower gas costs than Ethereum, according to the project
  • No token to buy, so there is no token-price exposure from the project itself

Watch out for

  • Reported TVL is about $67, so pools are extremely shallow and large trades would suffer heavy price impact
  • TVL fell roughly 63% over the last seven days, which points to liquidity leaving
  • No audits are listed for the protocol
  • No native token, team details or roadmap are published on the homepage
  • HeLa chain is a small ecosystem with limited tooling, bridges and liquidity compared with major networks
  • Fee tiers and any liquidity incentives are not stated on the homepage

cytoswap fees

Cytoswap does not publish a fee schedule on its homepage. Pool-level swap fees, if any tiers exist, would be visible in the app or in the V3 documentation.

The homepage says gas costs on HeLa are lower than on Ethereum. Network gas is separate from swap fees, and low gas does not offset the price impact you can face in very thin pools.

Is cytoswap safe?

No audits are listed for Cytoswap, and the homepage does not publish team details, a bug bounty or an insurance arrangement. The staking contract repository is public and its notes mention a high-difficulty, never-exploited vulnerability in an early release, which shows the code has been examined but also that users should read release notes carefully.

As a DEX, it is non-custodial, so you keep your keys, but you carry smart-contract risk, and with near-zero liquidity, price-impact risk too. Providing liquidity can lead to impermanent loss, and a falling TVL suggests other providers are leaving. HeLa is a small network, so bridging and exit options may also be limited. Treat any deposit as high risk.

6 steps

How to get started with cytoswap

  1. 1

    Confirm that using a DeFi exchange is permitted where you live and that you understand the risks of small, unaudited protocols.

  2. 2

    Set up a wallet that supports the HeLa chain and add the network details from official sources.

  3. 3

    Fund the wallet with HeLa-compatible tokens and a small amount of the native gas token.

  4. 4

    Open the Cytoswap app and connect the wallet.

  5. 5

    Check the quoted price and price impact for your pair before confirming; with thin pools, start with a very small test swap.

  6. 6

    Review the documentation before supplying liquidity, and only commit amounts you can afford to lose.

Who cytoswap is for

Cytoswap is for HeLa chain users and developers who want to test a DEX with public contracts, an SDK and a router, and who accept high risk and negligible liquidity. It is a poor fit for anyone who needs reliable pricing, deep pools or an audited protocol.

cytoswap FAQs

What is Cytoswap?

Cytoswap is a decentralized exchange built on the HeLa chain. Users swap tokens directly from their wallets against on-chain liquidity pools instead of using an order book or a custodian.

Which blockchain does Cytoswap use?

Cytoswap runs on the HeLa chain. The homepage says its lower gas fees compared with Ethereum are meant to suit frequent traders.

Does Cytoswap have a token?

No. Cytoswap does not have a token listed, and no governance or reward token is mentioned on the homepage.

How much liquidity does Cytoswap have?

Reported total value locked is about $67, and it dropped about 63% in the past week. With so little liquidity, even small swaps can move the price sharply, and providers earn little in fees.

Has Cytoswap been audited?

No audits are listed for the protocol. The documentation and the staking contract repository are public, which lets developers review the code, but that is not a substitute for an independent audit.

Can developers build on Cytoswap?

Cytoswap's documentation describes a software development kit for getting quotes, routing swaps and executing trades on its V3 contracts. Developers can build on it, though the small liquidity base limits how useful it is today.

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How we checked

Sources

  1. 1.defillama.com/protocol/cytoswap
  2. 2.github.com/hela-cytoswap/cytoswap-v3-staker

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