Glossary
Atomic Swap
A trustless exchange of two assets across separate chains via hash-time-locked contracts: either both transfers happen, or neither does.
An atomic swap lets Alice trade BTC for Bob's LTC without either party having to trust the other or any third party. Both sides lock funds in HTLCs (hash-time-locked contracts) keyed off the same secret hash. Revealing the secret to claim one side automatically reveals it for the other.
If either side fails to reveal, both contracts expire and the funds return to their original owners. Atomic swaps predate modern bridges and remain one of the most trust-minimized cross-chain primitives — slow and limited in scope, but free of bridge-style honeypots.