Eliminating Intermediaries: Atomic Swaps Explained

By introducing true decentralization to its infrastructure, Aerum enables the exchange of tokens without the need for a third party, such as an exchange, to guarantee trust. In order to achieve this, the platform takes advantage of atomic swaps.

Atomic Swaps and Their Purpose

Atomic swaps represent a technical means of exchanging tokens without having to go through a trusted third party such as an exchange. In order to achieve optimal efficiency, Aerum takes advantage of two types of atomic swaps:

• On-chain atomic swaps
• Cross-chain atomic swaps

It’s worth noting that both of these are included in the Aerum Wallet in both its web and mobile versions. By implementing these two types of atomic swaps, Aerum achieves true decentralization of token payments as well as real-time smart contract interaction.

Now, let’s have a deeper dive into both types of atomic swaps to see why they are so essential to Aerum’s infrastructure.

On-Chain Atomic Swaps

These are designed to enable the trust-less, decentralized exchange of digital assets (e.g. tokens and coins) within the blockchain infrastructure of Aerum.