Atomic swaps and provider-routed swaps use different execution models. uSwap coordinates eligible provider routes and recovery without requiring the user to locate a counterparty. Depending on the route, funds may temporarily enter a provider-, automation-, or operator-controlled address during execution or recovery.
Swap BTC to XMR — No uSwap Account
Send BTC, receive XMR. No uSwap account required. The multi-provider engine compares eligible routes, with lock-rate available before you deposit.
Availability checked at quote timeEstimated settlement: 20–60 minMin ~$20Pay with BTC on-chain · BTC Lightning
Route, cost, and recovery details
For eligible standard crypto-to-crypto routes, uSwap’s platform fee is currently 0%. The amount received can still reflect provider pricing or spread, blockchain network costs, market movement, and any selected confidential, fast, fiat, or affiliate fee. The quote displays the modeled breakdown before funds are sent. Floating or expired quotes may be recalculated.
The standard uSwap crypto interface does not require users to create an account or submit identity documents directly to uSwap. Providers and counterparties may apply identity checks, transaction limits, sanctions controls, or geographic restrictions depending on the selected route.
uSwap does not provide users with a wallet account or an ongoing stored balance. Depending on the selected route, funds may be sent directly to a provider or may temporarily enter an address or balance controlled by a provider, uSwap automation, or an operator for execution, settlement, or recovery.
uSwap selects the best-scoring eligible route returned by the enabled providers for the selected assets and settings. This is not a guarantee of the best price across every market.
uSwap automates common underpayment, overpayment, late-deposit, re-quote, and refund cases. Some wrong-asset, wrong-network, provider-ambiguous, already-broadcast, or unsupported-token cases may require provider or operator review and may not be recoverable. Timing and deductions depend on the route, provider, and network.
What this route is
BTC → XMR is the most-requested cross-chain pair on uSwap by a wide margin. There are good reasons for that.
- BTC is the most liquid asset in crypto. It’s what most people are sitting on if they’ve been in crypto for any length of time.
- XMR has different on-chain visibility from Bitcoin. Users may choose it when the privacy properties of the destination asset matter to them.
- Execution can require more than one liquidity source. uSwap evaluates enabled providers and can compose a multistep route when no eligible direct quote covers the request.
How uSwap routes this pair
The engine requests quotes from enabled liquidity sources and selects the best-scoring eligible returned route for the chosen settings. You see one modeled output while the engine coordinates the provider steps. For eligible quotes, lock-rate is available for the displayed window before deposit.
What this means in practice:
- The engine ranks eligible returned routes at deposit time, or at lock time for a locked quote. This is not a guarantee of the best price across every market.
- If one liquidity source is unavailable, another eligible returned route may be selected. An outage can still delay execution or leave the deposit in a recovery state.
- When a direct route is unavailable, the engine may compose a multistep quote through an intermediate asset. The user still sees the modeled final output and transaction state on one page.
Fees
Eligible standard crypto-to-crypto routes currently carry a 0% uSwap platform fee. Provider pricing or spread remains part of the returned quote.
The costs you do pay:
- BTC network fee. Whatever the mempool says. At normal network conditions this is $1–$3; in a fee spike it can be higher. The bridge page surfaces the current estimate.
- The underlying liquidity provider’s internal spread. Every liquidity source takes a small spread on the quote — that’s how the source is profitable. uSwap surfaces the resulting net rate; what you see is what you get.
Provider pricing, network costs, market movement, and any selected route fees are shown in the modeled breakdown. Floating or expired quotes may be recalculated.
Lock-rate or market-rate
For this pair you have a choice:
- Lock the rate. Click “Lock rate” before depositing. The quote is held for ~5 minutes; if you don’t deposit in that window, the lock drops and the quote re-evaluates at the current rate.
- Take the market rate. Don’t click “Lock rate.” Send your BTC; the engine quotes against the current market at the moment the deposit confirms. This is the default and the better choice for most users — the price difference over a 5-minute window is usually small, and you’re not racing the lock timer.
Most users take market-rate. Lock-rate is for the case where you know exactly how much XMR you need to send to a specific destination and the precision matters more than rate optimization.
Privacy considerations
A few honest points about the privacy boundaries here:
- The BTC side is on-chain. Whoever’s tracing the BTC sees a deposit to an aggregator address. They don’t see the XMR leg — XMR is opaque on-chain by design.
- Providers and infrastructure can receive transaction metadata. Address, timing, amount, network, IP, or device data may be available to different parties in the route and may be correlatable with other records.
- uSwap retains operational transaction records. The standard crypto flow does not require a uSwap consumer account, but bridge, quote, event, recovery, and provider records may remain available for execution and support.
- The XMR you receive is XMR. It’s not “obfuscated BTC” or “wrapped” — it’s actual Monero, in your wallet, with all of Monero’s normal privacy properties.
For users who want stricter guarantees, an atomic swap (COMIT, etc.) eliminates even the mid-state view of the engine. uSwap is the convenience-leaning version; atomic swaps are the strict-privacy version. Both have their place.
What can go wrong
The honest failure modes:
- BTC fee underestimate, stuck transaction. Your wallet underpays the network fee; the deposit takes hours to confirm. Bridge page shows the wait; you can fee-bump from your wallet’s side.
- BTC arrives after the lock expires. Quote re-evaluates at market rate. Recovery panel offers market-replace / hold / refund.
- Market shifts during the quote window. Rare but happens. The locked quote you took is honored; the un-locked quote moves with the market.
- You undersent. Engine quotes the actual deposit. Recovery flow applies.
- You sent BCH or BTG to the BTC address. The engine attempts to detect and route; if the chain is recognizable from the address format and tx, the deposit can usually be handled. If not, the funds are unrecoverable — same as any wallet error.
Bookmark the bridge
The URL the page lands you on after deposit (uswap.net/bridge/<id>) is the artifact to bookmark. It’s your persistent reference for this specific swap and any future ones from this device — the engine reuses the same bridge for subsequent intents you create from this browser. If you swap BTC → XMR today and then come back next week to do USDT → XMR, the same bridge holds both intents.
(Persistence is per-device. If you clear browser storage or switch devices, the bridge URL itself still exists but you’ll need the URL bookmarked — there’s no recovery via email or password, because there’s no account.)