{"id":11147,"date":"2023-05-27T03:52:56","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T03:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/?p=11147"},"modified":"2025-09-10T15:21:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:21:15","slug":"what-is-a-cross-chain-swap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-a-cross-chain-swap","title":{"rendered":"What is a cross-chain swap?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Alternar tabla de contenidos\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-a-cross-chain-swap\/#history_of_cross-chain_swaps\" >History of Cross-Chain Swaps<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-a-cross-chain-swap\/#how_does_a_cross-chain_swap_work\" >How does a Cross-chain swap work?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-a-cross-chain-swap\/#cross-chain_swaps_on_all_cryptocurrencies\" >Cross-chain swaps on all cryptocurrencies?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-a-cross-chain-swap\/#advantages_and_disadvantages_of_cross-chain_swaps\" >Advantages and disadvantages of Cross-chain Swaps<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-a-cross-chain-swap\/#advantages\" >Advantages<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-a-cross-chain-swap\/#disadvantages\" >Disadvantages<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span><p>If you are an expert in the world of cryptocurrencies you have probably heard about\u00a0<strong>Cross-chain Swaps<\/strong>. If you don\u2019t know what they are, don\u2019t worry. In this article we will tell you what they are and how they work.<\/p>\n<p>Cross-chain swaps are a type of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-a-peer-to-peer-network\/\">Peer-to-Peer<\/a>\u00a0exchange that offers users the opportunity to securely transform their cryptocurrencies without the intervention of intermediaries.<\/p>\n<p>These swaps take place between two different cryptocurrencies that are executed on their own blockchains. In less technical words, cross-chain swaps allow users to exchange cryptocurrencies\u00a0<strong>between two peers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"history_of_cross-chain_swaps\"><\/span><strong>History of Cross-Chain Swaps<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The first detailed explanation of what a cross-chain swap was was in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-an-atomic-swap\/\">Atomic Cross-Chain Swaps<\/a>\u00a0whitepaper published by\u00a0<strong>Maurice Herlihy<\/strong>, a member of\u00a0<strong>the Computer Science Department at Brown University Providence.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This paper was presented during the ACM Symposium\u00a0<strong>2018<\/strong>. In this paper we were explained in detail what is the functioning of an\u00a0<strong>atomic cross-chain swap<\/strong>. This paper also argued its possibilities and main challenges in the creation of this tool.<\/p>\n<p>According to their whitepaper, what a cross-chain swap does is to bring in money from both parties and place it under a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-a-smart-contract\/\">smart contract<\/a>\u00a0that ensures that the transaction is only finalized if both parties are satisfied. In addition, the smart contract ensures that if one of the two parties tries to act in bad faith, it does not have control of the funds.<\/p>\n<div id=\"image_532018937\" class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\">\n<div class=\"img-inner dark\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-large size-large ls-is-cached lazyloaded smush-detected-img smush-image-2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap1.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap1-300x205.jpg 300w\" alt=\"Cross-chain-swap\" width=\"768\" height=\"526\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap1-300x205.jpg 300w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap1.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_does_a_cross-chain_swap_work\"><\/span><strong>How does a Cross-chain swap work?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To better understand how this mechanism works, let\u2019s put an<strong>\u00a0example<\/strong>\u00a0into practice. Let\u2019s imagine that a user (A) wants\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-ethereum-eth-and-how-does-it-work\/\">Ethereum<\/a>\u00a0(ETH) but has Bitcoin (BTC) and wants to exchange them. On the other side of the world is user (B) who has ETH and wants BTC. Both users want to\u00a0<strong>exchange<\/strong>\u00a0the currency they have for the currency the other user has, but how could they do that?<\/p>\n<p>Given this unknown, user (A) and user (B) decide to start a process to<strong>\u00a0exchange their cryptocurrencies<\/strong>\u00a0through a\u00a0<strong>wallet<\/strong>\u00a0capable of doing so. User (A) takes the first step by creating a transaction with a certain OP CODE and locks the exact amount of BTC that user (B) wants.\u00a0<strong>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-bitcoin-script\/\">script<\/a>\u00a0code<\/strong>\u00a0used by user (A) can only be unlocked when user (B) fulfills the necessary\u00a0<strong>conditions<\/strong>\u00a0for the exchange. These conditions are based on issuing a similar transaction with\u00a0<strong>ETH<\/strong>\u00a0coins. If something goes wrong with any transaction, the initial transaction has a certain\u00a0<strong>security<\/strong>\u00a0measure that will allow the user to recover his coins through the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-an-op_code-quick-guide-for-your-blockchain\/\">OP_CODE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If both transactions are issued we reach the point where both users have issued a transaction, but no one has the payment. This is the point where the conditions are\u00a0<strong>checked<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>to effectively<\/strong>\u00a0unlock the money and perform the exchange. Both users must reveal the code of the transactions and will be able to use them to<strong>\u00a0unlock<\/strong>\u00a0the script that holds the payments.<\/p>\n<p>If one of the two users has acted\u00a0<strong>maliciously<\/strong>, the other user can employ the security measures implicit in the transactions. These\u00a0<strong>measures<\/strong>\u00a0are time locks whose function is to\u00a0<strong>ensure<\/strong>\u00a0that transaction funds remain inaccessible to both parties involved for a certain period of time. When this\u00a0<strong>time<\/strong>\u00a0has elapsed, if one of the two parties still does not comply with the agreed\u00a0<strong>conditions<\/strong>, the other party can withdraw its money from the\u00a0<strong>exchange<\/strong>\u00a0and everything will be as it was at the beginning.<\/p>\n<div id=\"image_133832844\" class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\">\n<div class=\"img-inner dark\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-large size-large lazyloaded smush-detected-img smush-image-3\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap-300x205.jpg 300w\" alt=\"Cross-chain-swap\" width=\"768\" height=\"526\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap-300x205.jpg 300w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cross-chain-swap.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"cross-chain_swaps_on_all_cryptocurrencies\"><\/span><strong>Cross-chain swaps on all cryptocurrencies?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Although we have seen an example with Bitcoin and Ethereum, it does not mean that the rest of cryptocurrencies cannot perform cross-chain swaps, in fact, cryptocurrencies such as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-monero\/\">Monero<\/a>\u00a0are developing protocols that allow adding these\u00a0<strong>functionalities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>All cryptocurrencies have the ability to\u00a0<strong>cross-chain swaps<\/strong>\u00a0as long as they meet two requirements. These are to allow blocking at the script level and to allow blocking at the time level.<\/p>\n<p>As we have seen in the previous example, both\u00a0<strong>blockchains<\/strong>\u00a0are used to add greater security to transactions achieving much safer exchanges. The only limitation present in this system is the one that\u00a0<strong>developers<\/strong>\u00a0can establish by not supporting certain\u00a0<strong>functions and equivalences i<\/strong>n the blockchain and in the cryptocurrency itself.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"advantages_and_disadvantages_of_cross-chain_swaps\"><\/span><strong>Advantages and disadvantages of Cross-chain Swaps<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Like all mechanisms, cross-chain swaps have their own\u00a0<strong>advantages and disadvantages<\/strong>\u00a0that differentiate them from other mechanisms. Below we will see the most important ones:<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"advantages\"><\/span>Advantages<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Among the advantages of using cross-chain swaps are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Enable new decentralized functionality.\u00a0<\/b>In addition, they allow a much more secure and private functionality to perform cryptocurrency exchanges without relying on centralized or decentralized exchanges.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>It generates a greater dynamic of cryptocurrency use.\u00a0<\/b>This system allows us to increase the use of coins. This is due to the fact that the exchange of cryptocurrencies offers us the possibility of increasing our use of coins at any time and in a totally easy and safe way. Let\u2019s imagine that we have to exchange our BTC for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/bitnovo-and-dash-text-united-for-venezuela\/\">DASH<\/a>, since a certain establishment only accepts the second cryptocurrency. With this mechanism we could achieve this in a matter of minutes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"disadvantages\"><\/span>Disadvantages<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Among the disadvantages that can be found in this system are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Risk of losing our money.\u00a0<\/b>If we trust wallets that have a poor implementation of this kind of protocols we run the risk of losing our money. This is due to the fact that the security of this system is mainly based on the programming of precise and secure conditions that offer us protection at all times.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Complexity.\u00a0<\/b>Cross-chain swaps can be somewhat complex to manage, especially for users who are just starting out in the world of cryptocurrencies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As an alternative to cross-chain swaps, there is another exchange system known as\u00a0<strong>Succint Atomic Swaps<\/strong>. The operation of this system also allows cryptocurrencies to be exchanged between different blockchains. It is only seen as an alternative, as it is a system that is still in practice, but it could be the beginning of a great\u00a0<strong>replacement.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span>If you are an expert in the world of cryptocurrencies you have probably heard about\u00a0Cross-chain Swaps. If you don\u2019t know what they are, don\u2019t worry. In this article we will tell you what they are and how they work. Cross-chain swaps are a type of\u00a0Peer-to-Peer\u00a0exchange that offers users the opportunity to securely transform their cryptocurrencies [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[185],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blockchain-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11147"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24580,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11147\/revisions\/24580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}