Swaps vs. bridges vs. conversions: what's changing in 2025
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Swaps vs. bridges vs. conversions: what's changing in 2025
"We are well past the halfway mark of 2025, and crypto swaps are everywhere. But is that just hype, or does the data back it up? And what exactly is a crypto swap, and how does it differ from bridging or exchanging? In Q2 2025, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) saw a huge 25.3% jump in spot trading volume, hitting over $876 billion."
"A crypto swap is a direct, wallet-to-wallet exchange of one digital asset for another no fiat currency, no order books and no third-party custody. Instead of selling your Bitcoin (BTC) for dollars and then buying Ether (ETH), you swap BTC for ETH in a single step. When people talk about converting crypto, they often mean selling into fiat or using a platform's internal conversion tool, which may add hidden fees, delays or intermediaries."
Decentralized swaps surged in 2025, with DEX spot trading volume rising 25.3% in Q2 to over $876 billion while centralized exchanges fell nearly 28% to $3.9 trillion. A crypto swap is a direct, wallet-to-wallet exchange of one digital asset for another, avoiding fiat, order books and third-party custody. Swaps replace the sell-into-fiat-and-rebuy cycle and can incorporate cross-chain bridge solutions to move assets between blockchains. Users favor swaps for lower fees, improved liquidity via automated market makers, non-custodial private-key control, no KYC requirements and faster on-chain settlement. Layered tools like Symbiosis, Uniswap v4 hooks and atomic-swap designs aim to optimize cost, efficiency and safety.
Read at cointelegraph.com
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