Cross-chain atomic swaps are some of the most intriguing developments in the world of cryptocurrency right now. These swaps will effectively remove the need for centralized exchange platforms moving forward. We now have seen the first cross-chain atomic swap between Decred and Litecoin which was completed very recently. Although not too many specifics have been announced, this is a major development in the cryptocurrency world.
A Major Milestone for Litecoin and Decred
The concept of cross-chain atomic swaps is greatly interesting to cryptocurrency developers. Especially in the world of altcoins, such a technology could prove to be invaluable. Being able to exchange value from one coin to another without having to go through centralized or decentralized exchange solutions is a major development in cryptocurrency.
Ensuring this technology is viable has proven to be a different matter altogether, though. Although various developers are working on this technology, no projects have been made available to the public just yet. That situation may change sooner rather than later, though, as Decred and Litecoin developers successfully completed a cross-chain atomic swap just a few hours ago.
Just completed the first $DCR <> $LTC cross-chain atomic swap with @SatoshiLite. Huge shout-out for debugging with us! More info soon™… pic.twitter.com/o2viQm3LTR
— Decred (@decredproject) September 19, 2017
This development did not involve the use of the Litening Network whatsoever. Instead, the swap took place in an on-chain manner, which is pretty surprising. This shows how cross-chain atomic swaps can be completed in various ways. It also did not take place on the testnet. This trade was successfully completed on the mainnet. No transaction IDs were provided at this point in time, though.
Seeing this type of functionality being brought to life is a major milestone for cryptocurrency in general. While most people will argue ShapeShift provides the exact same functionality, it is still a centralized entity aiming to perform swaps via more traditional exchange methods. Cutting out any intermediary makes a lot more sense in the world of decentralized cryptocurrencies. There are also no profits or fees to worry about, other than transaction costs.
Although we will have to wait some time until we receive more details regarding this cross-chain atomic swap, there is plenty of reason to get excited right now. This is good news for both Decred and Litecoin supporters, even though this technology can be modified to accommodate any other cryptocurrency in existence today. For example, swaps between Bitcoin and Litecoin, or Dogecoin and Decred are not impossible with this concept. The future is looking brighter for cryptocurrency than ever before.
It will take a while before we see this functionality appear in regular cryptocurrency wallets, though. After all, this was just one successful test which may not necessarily result in any big changes over the next few weeks. The main objective for now is to duplicate this successful trial and ensure that transactions worth both ways. Once that is achieved, the teams can then look into ways to integrate this functionality into existing wallets.
