Crypto swap glossary

Address reuse

Address reuse is receiving multiple payments at the same transparent-chain address, which links all of them to one owner for any observer.

Mixer (tumbler)

A mixer pools coins from many users and returns different coins of equal value, obscuring the trail; it is legally risky and often sanctioned.

Monero (XMR)

Monero is a cryptocurrency with privacy by default: ring signatures, stealth addresses and confidential amounts hide sender, receiver and value.

Multi-hop routing

Multi-hop routing splits a swap into several successive conversions across assets or venues instead of one direct trade.

No-KYC exchange

A no-KYC exchange lets you swap crypto without creating an account or uploading identity documents before the trade.

Private Swap

Private Swap is Swap.bz’s optional 1% mode that routes a swap through additional hops — often via Monero — to break the direct on-chain link between the deposit and the receive wallet.

Stealth address

A stealth address is a one-time destination derived from the recipient’s public key so that payments to the same person are not visibly linked on-chain.

Unlinkability

Unlinkability means an observer cannot connect two on-chain events — for example your deposit and your payout — to the same person.

Fixed rate

A fixed-rate swap locks the receive amount for a set window (often 10–30 minutes) regardless of market moves.

Floating rate

A floating-rate swap is executed at the market rate at the moment your deposit is confirmed, so the receive amount can move up or down while you wait.

Gas

Gas is the unit that measures computation on Ethereum-style chains; the fee equals gas used × gas price.

In-rate fee

An in-rate fee is a service margin embedded in the displayed exchange rate rather than shown as a separate percentage.

Mid-market rate

The mid-market rate is the midpoint between the best bid and best ask on major exchanges — the reference price before any spread or fee.

Minimum amount

The minimum amount is the smallest deposit an exchange accepts for a pair, set so that network fees do not consume the whole swap.

Network fee

The network fee is what the blockchain charges to include a transaction — paid to miners or validators, not to the exchange.

Service fee

The service fee is the percentage an exchange keeps for executing the swap, separate from blockchain network fees.

Slippage

Slippage is the difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which it actually executes.

Spread

The spread is the gap between the market mid-price and the rate you are actually offered; it is where hidden fees live.

Block explorer

A block explorer is a website that displays blockchain data — addresses, transactions, confirmations — in readable form.

Block time

Block time is the average interval between blocks: ~10 min on Bitcoin, ~2 min on Monero, ~12 s on Ethereum, sub-second on Solana.

Chain reorganisation (reorg)

A reorg happens when the network replaces recent blocks with a longer competing chain, potentially dropping transactions that were in the replaced blocks.

Confirmations

A confirmation is one block mined on top of the block containing your transaction; exchanges wait for several before treating a deposit as final.

Dust

Dust is an amount so small that the network fee to move it exceeds its value.

Finality

Finality is the point after which a transaction cannot be reversed or reorganised out of the chain.

Mempool

The mempool is the waiting room of unconfirmed transactions on a node; miners pick the highest-fee ones first.

Network congestion

Congestion is when transaction demand exceeds block capacity, pushing fees up and confirmation times out.

RBF (Replace-By-Fee)

RBF lets a Bitcoin sender replace an unconfirmed transaction with a higher-fee version.

Transaction ID (TXID / hash)

A TXID is the unique hash identifying a transaction on its blockchain; it lets anyone look it up in a block explorer.

UTXO

A UTXO (unspent transaction output) is a discrete chunk of coins on Bitcoin-like chains; a wallet balance is the sum of its UTXOs.

Address checksum

A checksum is built-in redundancy in an address format that lets software detect typos before funds are sent.

Bech32 / SegWit address

Bech32 is the Bitcoin address format starting with bc1 (SegWit); bc1q is native SegWit, bc1p is Taproot.

Bridge

A bridge moves an asset between blockchains, usually by locking it on one side and minting a wrapped version on the other.

EVM address (0x…)

An EVM address is the 42-character 0x… format shared by Ethereum and all EVM-compatible chains and L2s.

HD wallet

An HD (hierarchical deterministic) wallet derives unlimited addresses from one seed phrase, so you can use a fresh address per payment.

Layer 2 (L2)

A Layer 2 is a network that settles to a base chain (usually Ethereum) while processing transactions cheaper and faster — Arbitrum, Optimism, Base.

Memo / destination tag

A memo (or destination tag) is an extra identifier some chains — XRP, XLM, TON, ATOM, EOS — require alongside the address to route a payment.

Seed phrase

A seed phrase is the 12–24 words that back up all keys of a wallet; anyone with it controls the funds.

Stablecoin

A stablecoin is a token pegged to a fiat currency, typically the US dollar — USDT, USDC, DAI.

Wrapped token

A wrapped token (WBTC, WETH) is an IOU on one chain representing an asset locked elsewhere.

Wrong network deposit

A wrong-network deposit is sending a token on a different chain than the order expects — e.g. USDT on Tron to an Ethereum USDT address.

Affiliate program

An affiliate program pays a share of fee revenue to whoever referred a user, tracked with a code or link.

Custodial exchange

A custodial exchange holds your coins in accounts it controls; you trade balances inside the platform and withdraw later.

Deposit address

The deposit address is the one-time address an exchange generates for your order; sending there starts the swap.

Instant exchange

An instant exchange converts one crypto into another in a single order — quote, deposit, receive — without an order book or account.

Liquidity provider

A liquidity provider is the counterparty that actually supplies the destination asset for a swap.

Non-custodial

A non-custodial service never holds your balance: funds move from your wallet to a one-time deposit address and out to your receive wallet within a single order.

Order ID

The order ID is the reference that identifies your swap; it is all support needs to find and act on it.

Order window

The order window is the time you have to send the deposit before the order expires and its address stops being monitored automatically.

Quote

A quote is the receive amount an exchange commits to for a given input at that moment, including its fee and estimated network costs.

Receive address

The receive address is the wallet address where the exchange sends the asset you are buying.

Refund address

The refund address is where the exchange returns your deposit if the swap cannot be completed.

Swap aggregator

A swap aggregator routes each order to whichever liquidity provider offers the best executable rate at that moment.

Swap time

Swap time is the elapsed time from your deposit being broadcast to the payout landing in your wallet — dominated by confirmation requirements on both chains.

Telegram swap bot

A Telegram swap bot runs the full exchange flow — quote, addresses, deposit, status — inside a Telegram chat.

AML (Anti-Money Laundering)

AML screening is the automated analysis of a deposit’s on-chain history to detect links to sanctioned addresses, hacks, mixers or other high-risk sources.

Frozen funds / held order

A held order is a deposit paused by a liquidity provider’s AML screening pending review, verification or refund.

KYC (Know Your Customer)

KYC is the identity-verification process — ID document, selfie, sometimes proof of address — that regulated financial services require before serving a customer.

PGP signature

A PGP signature lets you verify that a message or file was published by the holder of a known private key and was not altered.

Phishing (fake exchange sites)

Phishing is impersonating a legitimate service — cloned domain, fake support account — to steal deposits or seed phrases.

Sanctions screening

Sanctions screening checks an address against lists such as OFAC’s SDN list of blocked addresses.

Source of funds (SoF)

A source-of-funds request asks you to document where the crypto you deposited came from, typically after an AML flag.

Travel Rule

The Travel Rule requires regulated virtual-asset service providers to share sender and recipient information for transfers between them.