Atomic Swap

What is an atomic swap?

An atomic swap is the exchange of one type of cryptocurrencyA cryptocurrency (or crypto currency) is a digital asset des... More for another—like bitcoinBitcoin is a digital currency (also called crypto-currency) ... More swapped for ethereum—without the supervision of a trusted third party. A relatively new notion, cross-chain atomic swapping looks to change the way users transact with one another. In order to prevent one user withholding their agreed upon amount of currency, atomic swaps use hash time-locked contracts (HTLC).

What is an HTLC?

HTLCs require the recipient of payment to acknowledge their reception of payment prior to a deadline by generating a cryptographic proof of payment. If they do not do this, they risk losing the rights to claim payment, which would return the payment back to the sender.