What makes you trust an instant swap service? We'd value your input

[noxswap]

What makes you trust an instant swap service?

Hello everyone,

I'm part of the NoxSwap team (our thread). We'd like to hear from people who use instant swap services regularly.

Four questions

1. What makes you trust an instant exchange enough to send it real funds for the first time?
2. Where do you usually discover swap services: aggregators, forums, search engines, recommendations? (the poll above is for this one)
3. What frustrates you most about the services you use today?
4. Which features matter most to you, and what do you still miss?

Honest opinions are welcome, critical ones included. I'll read every reply.

Thank you!

[mikel_012]

Hello and welcome. As someone that uses instant swaps every week I will gladly answer

1. I will never try a random swap that only have a domain and a website. I only start using swaps that spent a marketing budget here in bitcointalk and/or have escrow because then I know it is not a low effort vibe coded site that can exit scam with any small amount

2. BitcoinTalk or catalog sites like https://bitlist.co/ which is from bitcointalk members

3. Honestly I have no frustrations with the swaps I use. I have some where I check the quotas before swapping, and sometimes I will use one that is faster when I need the money as fast as I can

4. Fast swaps, no kyc and the pairs I need like usdc in solana or base for cheap payments. What I think it would be a interesting idea is a fidelity or points system so I have reasons to use only one swap and receive bonus for loyalty

[noxswap]

Thanks, that's really useful, especially point 1.

On escrow: what deposit size makes a new swap service credible for you, and does it matter who holds it (a forum escrow or a catalog)?

On loyalty: would you prefer a better rate after a few swaps, or cashback in the coin you received? And since most swaps work without accounts, how would you expect it to track your swaps without giving up privacy?

[BitMaxz]

Mostly what makes me trust an instant exchange is that first it should be active here on the forum and have some campaign running live and known swap exchange here on the forum, and if the instant exchange has an escrow amount from trusted escrow here on the forum.

I think I can't answer the 2nd one, but about the 3rd one, the only thing that frustrates me is if the site itself is very slow and complicated things to set up when you are going to swap or exchange.

For the 4th one, I think of a feature where you can choose a cheaper option and privacy, and I also value the exchange speed.

[noxswap]

Thanks, that's helpful. Escrow from a trusted forum escrow came up in both answers so far, so it seems to matter more than anything a site says about itself.

On the cheaper vs privacy option: what would the privacy option change for you in practice? Routing through XMR, Tor access, no data kept, or something else? And would you accept a slower swap for it?

[sunsilk]

1. Transparency and liquidity and they are very active with answering concerns of the potential customers.

2. Only in the forum.

3. Nothing really but I think those which they say are transparent and no kyc but, they later revert that rule although it's understandable that they need to comply to regulations. But don't say they are no kyc if they are compliant.

4. Just do honest business with what you say and what you advertise, you should mean it. If you're saying that you're anonymous, you mean it. People don't have problems with kyc as long as you've said it beforehand.

[noxswap]

Thanks, point 3 is a fair one and probably the most common complaint about instant swaps.

How would you like a service to say it beforehand? A clear line before you send the deposit, a dedicated page, or both? And how do you usually judge liquidity: published reserves, limits, or just how fast swaps complete?

[sunsilk]

Thanks, point 3 is a fair one and probably the most common complaint about instant swaps.

How would you like a service to say it beforehand? A clear line before you send the deposit, a dedicated page, or both?

I don't have a preference for it because I think that the standard is that it's on the FAQ or in the tag line at the top of the page itself.

But you would know better for that, depending on which part or how you'll highlight that tag.

And how do you usually judge liquidity: published reserves, limits, or just how fast swaps complete?

Probably published reserves.

The speed is a different matter because even if you say that you're the fastest but if the network has got some issue on that particular coin sent for swap, you have no control over that.

[JeromeTash]

1. What makes you trust an instant exchange enough to send it real funds for the first time?

Transparency is one of the most important attributes of a good instant exchange, especially the liquidity. If the instant exchange has its own liquidity, the better, but there has to be proof of reserves. If the service is a no-KYC verification, there are fewer chances of having funds frozen

2. Where do you usually discover swap services: aggregators, forums, search engines, recommendations? (the poll above is for this one)

BitcoinTalk Forum and trusted aggregators

3. What frustrates you most about the services you use today?

Most services come with false advertisement about being non-custodial and having no KYC, but afterwards they hold funds and ask users for KYC verification. Some of them turn into exit scams

4. Which features matter most to you, and what do you still miss?

- A service that has its own liquidity has control over its reserve funds.
- Not asking for KYC verification or if the funds are found to be of high AML risk; at least they should just refund the sender.
- The fee is also a very important aspect. Lower fees attract more users.
- Great customer support

[noxswap]

Thanks, very clear answers. The gap between "no KYC" on the homepage and a frozen deposit later seems to be the common thread in this thread so far. :-)

[aioc]

1. What makes you trust an instant exchange enough to send it real funds for the first time?

It should have an official announcement here and should have an active representative, and it's a big help if they have marketing here and it is being managed by a reputable manager and its better if they have an escrow; users trust platforms with an existing escrow.

2. Where do you usually discover swap services: aggregators, forums, search engines, recommendations? (the poll above is for this one)

The forum where I am most active, and I prefer projects with an active representative

3. What frustrates you most about the services you use today?

Lack of support and transparency. When there are issues with your swap, you should have an answer on where the error was made

[noxswap]

Thanks, that's a very good point, and you're not the first here to mention escrow. We'll look into it and reach out to a reputable escrow here on the forum. :-)

On support: agreed. When a swap goes wrong, a clear answer on where it failed and what happens next matters more than anything written on the homepage.

[hugeblack]

Personally, I believe that a platform’s spending is the only reliable metric for gauging trust. While an escrow can be useful during the initial stages, as an exchange grows, the total volume of deposits will far exceed that escrow amount. Therefore, trust should be based on the total amount the platform spends like signature campaigns and promotional activities; a platform that has invested $100,000 in its own promotion is unlikely to commit sccam for an amount less than that.

[Taskford]

Personally, I believe that a platform’s spending is the only reliable metric for gauging trust. While an escrow can be useful during the initial stages, as an exchange grows, the total volume of deposits will far exceed that escrow amount. Therefore, trust should be based on the total amount the platform spends like signature campaigns and promotional activities; a platform that has invested $100,000 in its own promotion is unlikely to commit sccam for an amount less than that.

They can choose to raise up the escrow amount once their platform grow. Then to be safe they can actually grab the services of trusted people in this forum, to handle that job for them.

Although we can say that those platform spend lots of money, have less chance to scam. But if they have intention to scam, those spending's is nothing and they will still pull a scam here once they see a whale transact huge amount of money in their platform.

So I think the only way to see them became more reliable, if they stay for many years here.

[hugeblack]

They can choose to raise up the escrow amount once their platform grow. Then to be safe they can actually grab the services of trusted people in this forum, to handle that job for them.

There are no guarantees; even if a platform were to increase its escrow deposit (to $100,000, for example) it is inevitable that, at some point, the platform could grow to the extent that deposits received within a five-hour window exceed that $100,000 amount, at which point the platform might decide to commit scam. In fact, some scam have already occurred even when security deposits of $10,000 were in place.

[noxswap]

Fair point, an escrow is a signal, not insurance. That's why I'd look less at the size of the deposit and more at how long a service actually sits on customer funds: a swap that settles in minutes leaves far less on the table at any moment than one holding balances for hours. The rest is track record, which only time builds.

[Taskford]

They can choose to raise up the escrow amount once their platform grow. Then to be safe they can actually grab the services of trusted people in this forum, to handle that job for them.

There are no guarantees; even if a platform were to increase its escrow deposit (to $100,000, for example) it is inevitable that, at some point, the platform could grow to the extent that deposits received within a five-hour window exceed that $100,000 amount, at which point the platform might decide to commit scam. In fact, some scam have already occurred even when security deposits of $10,000 were in place.

Yeah right, even though they do that. Still chances for scamming still there.

Scammers will remain, a scammer even if they spend a lot on marketing or they put lots of money on escrow. But I think at least if they do that raising the amount handle by their escrow agent will compensate their several users if scamming incident happened.

But best action what people need to do is to be vigilant on the platform they are using. Maybe best for them to wait until they get good reputation. Since its really hard to trust new platforms nowadays. Since they have high tendency to scam their clients.

[Alpha Marine]

1. What makes you trust an instant exchange enough to send it real funds for the first time?

Its reputation. I won't use a swap that does not come highly recommended. If it has a good reputation on the forum, then I can use it easily. If it's on the forum and has some unresolved issues, or if I'm not convinced by the explanation they give for the unresolved issues, then I won't be using it, especially if I was swapping a large amount.
I also don't swap large amounts when I'm using a swap service for the first time.

2. Where do you usually discover swap services: aggregators, forums, search engines, recommendations? (the poll above is for this one)

It's mostly just this forum.
I also use swap services recommended by my wallet. Cake wallet uses swap services to swap coins. I don't know if it's a flawed view, but I will trust a swap service more if I have used it before on a wallet i trust like Cake Wallet.

3. What frustrates you most about the services you use today?

Late payments
Poor customer care service.

[noxswap]

Thanks, that lines up with what we keep hearing: reputation first, small amount first. The Cake Wallet point is a good one.
A wallet you already trust vouching for a service does more than any landing page, so that is something for us to earn, not to claim.

Late payments and poor support are the two we've put the most work into: a fixed rate so the amount can't drift, and a human answering.
Noted that the forum is where most of you find services. Appreciate the detailed answer.

[mikel_012]

Thanks, that's really useful, especially point 1.

On escrow: what deposit size makes a new swap service credible for you, and does it matter who holds it (a forum escrow or a catalog)?

The more the better and I prefer forum members that already hold money for many years without any problem

On loyalty: would you prefer a better rate after a few swaps, or cashback in the coin you received? And since most swaps work without accounts, how would you expect it to track your swaps without giving up privacy?

The concern is valid

I think maybe a code that can be used with every swap and the approximate volume is added to the code. This way if I swap $1955 my code will have $1900 added and it can be used for discounts. No direct connection to swap order ids or addresses. But this needs to be thought to avoid tracking as you said