Every Part of a Swap Has One Owner
Every part of a swap is handled by one of three parties: SimpleSwap, the blockchain or liquidity provider, or you. The matrix below is the short version; the sections after it explain each row.
Who Controls What?
Five parts of a swap, and who's actually responsible for each.
| Part of the swap | SimpleSwap | Blockchain / provider | User |
|---|---|---|---|
| Routing | Selects the provider | Fills the order | — |
| Network confirmation | — | Sets the timing | Waits it out |
| Receiving address | — | — | Entered and verified |
| Rate movement | Sets fixed-rate window | Drives floating-rate price | Chooses which type |
| Verification | Triggers the check | — | Responds via official channel |
How Each Part Actually Works
The same five rows from the matrix above, explained in plain terms.
- Self-custody / wallet-to-wallet
- There's no account balance sitting on SimpleSwap between transactions — crypto goes from a wallet you control straight to another wallet you control. That single design choice is what takes exchange-style custody risk off the table.
- CEX + DEX liquidity routing
- SimpleSwap doesn't keep its own reserves; it matches each swap to whichever of 20+ centralized and decentralized sources can fill it at that moment. Once a provider fills the order and the chain confirms it, the converted asset moves straight on to you — nothing sits in escrow in between.
- Fixed vs floating
- Locking in fixed pricing for 20 minutes costs a slightly wider spread — that's the price of certainty. Floating rate skips the lock and prices at the moment of execution instead, so the amount you actually receive can end up a touch above or below what you first saw.
- Verification, if triggered
- Buying crypto with fiat runs through a payment partner's own KYC, not SimpleSwap's. A crypto-to-crypto swap is different: most need nothing, but a specific transaction can still get pulled for a compliance look. Either way, the ask is for source-of-funds paperwork — never your wallet keys.
- Network conditions
- Whatever chain a swap runs on sets its own pace — SimpleSwap can't speed up a congested network any more than you can. A slow confirmation is a blockchain-traffic problem, not a sign the swap itself stalled.
What Actually Causes Losses
Rarely the swap mechanics above. Almost always a person, not code, being talked into something.
A promised fixed return. Nothing legitimate in swapping or investing can lock in a guaranteed profit; the promise itself is the tell.
Anyone asking for your seed phrase or private key. Not SimpleSwap, not any swap service — there's no scenario where either is actually needed.
A message that found you first. Support you never contacted, reaching out about a "problem" or a giveaway, isn't support.
Getting pushed off-platform. Away from where the swap actually ran and into a DM or a channel that keeps no record.
An upfront fee to "release" your own money. Funds that are genuinely yours don't come with a paywall attached.
The One Risk You Can Look Up Beforehand
Most entries on that list are mistakes made in the moment — a wrong chain, a mistyped string, a lookalike domain. One category behaves differently: who you are transacting with. That can be looked up in advance. Address Check, inside the Customer Account, screens a wallet address for ties to sanctioned entities and other risk categories, returning a risk level and the connections that drove it.
An unfamiliar buyer, a new OTC desk, a treasury wallet — on screen they are indistinguishable. Their transaction histories are not.
What the coins did before they reached you stays attached to them. Anything that crossed a sanctioned entity or a known exploit can surface at the next service in the chain.
Open it from the account menu, supply the address and its network, then read the level and the detail behind it. Pick the network the address genuinely belongs to — one string can exist across several EVM chains with entirely different pasts. Every check is stored and searchable, with a full report sent to the account email. Monthly volume depends on Loyalty tier:
| Loyalty level | Checks per month |
|---|---|
| Bronze | 5 checks |
| Silver | 10 checks |
| Gold | 15 checks |
| Platinum | 25 checks |
Bronze is the default on registration; the counter under the field tracks what is left and resets monthly.
Verify You're Actually on simpleswap.io
Every mechanic above assumes you're on the real site. That's worth its own check.
- Type it or bookmark it
- simpleswap.io, typed directly or opened from your own saved bookmark. A link forwarded in a message, ad or search result isn't automatically trustworthy just because the page looks right.
- Read the domain, not the logo
- A lookalike can copy every pixel of the design. What it can't copy is the exact domain string — extra words, swapped letters or a different ending all mean it isn't simpleswap.io.
- Support replies inside your own chat
- Genuine SimpleSwap support answers inside a conversation you opened on simpleswap.io or in the app. It doesn't message you first on a different platform.
See the live routing in action
Current pairs, rates and liquidity are on the official site.