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Atomic Swap
A trustless exchange of assets across two different blockchains that either fully completes or fully fails.
An atomic swap lets two parties exchange assets directly across two different blockchains without needing a trusted third-party intermediary, structured so the entire exchange either fully completes for both parties or fully fails, with no partial or one-sided outcome.
This is achieved through specific cryptographic techniques (commonly hash time-locked contracts) that link the two separate on-chain transactions together.
Examples
- An atomic swap lets two parties trade assets across separate blockchains without a trusted intermediary.
- An atomic swap either completes fully for both parties or doesn't happen at all — never partially.