How to swap BTC to ETH — wallet to wallet
Native bitcoin in, native ether out. No account, no wrapped tokens. Five steps, one confirmation, about fifteen minutes.
Swapping BTC to ETH without an exchange account takes one Bitcoin transaction and about fifteen minutes. You'll get native ether on Ethereum mainnet — not wBTC, not a bridged token — delivered straight to your wallet. Here's the exact flow, what to double-check, and what it costs.
You need: bitcoin in a wallet you control, an Ethereum address for the payout, and a BTC address for the refund path. That's the whole checklist — no email, no registration, no token approvals.
Set the pair and amount
Open the BTC → ETH swap. Enter how much bitcoin you're sending — or type the ETH amount you want and let the form work backwards. The quote compares every rail carrying the pair (THORChain, Chainflip, NEAR Intents) and shows the best delivered amount.
Paste your Ethereum address
This is where the ether lands. Use an address whose keys you hold — a hardware wallet, MetaMask, Rabby. Don't use a deposit address of a custodial service: some credit contracts-transfers incorrectly, and you lose the point of a wallet-to-wallet swap.
Add a BTC refund address
Required before a deposit address is issued. If the price moves past the protected tolerance or liquidity drops mid-swap, your bitcoin returns here automatically — no tickets, no waiting on support.
Send exactly one transaction
You'll get a unique BTC deposit address with the amount and an expiry timer. Send from your wallet with a normal network fee (choose a priority that confirms within the window — one confirmation is what the protocol waits for). Don't send twice, don't send a different amount from a custodial withdrawal that deducts fees.
Track until the ETH lands
The tracker follows your deposit address through confirmation → swap → payout. Nothing to do here; typical end-to-end time is 15–30 minutes, dominated by Bitcoin's ~10-minute blocks. The payout transaction hash gives you final proof on Etherscan.
What it costs and how long it takes
Three costs, one number: your Bitcoin network fee (you control it), the protocol's liquidity cost and outbound Ethereum gas (priced into the quote), and the interface fee (Moss: 0.3%, also inside the quote). The delivered ETH amount you see is net — if a venue shows prettier percentages but delivers less ETH for the same BTC, the percentages are marketing.
Timing is dominated by Bitcoin: expect the swap to complete one or two blocks after your transaction confirms. Sending with a too-low fee is the main cause of "slow swaps" — the protocol can't act before the chain confirms you.
Do I receive real ETH or a wrapped version?
Real ether on Ethereum mainnet, sent as a normal transaction to your address. Verify the payout hash on any Ethereum explorer — it's a plain value transfer, not a token mint.
Can I swap from an exchange withdrawal directly?
Better not to. Exchanges sometimes deduct fees from the sent amount or batch withdrawals oddly, and the deposit expects a specific amount within a time window. Withdraw to your own wallet first, then swap.
What if I miss the deposit window?
A late deposit isn't lost: deposit-address rails either still execute at current rates or refund to your BTC address, depending on how late and how far the price moved. The tracker shows which path your swap took.
Is there a minimum?
Yes — enough to cover outbound Ethereum gas plus protocol minimums, typically around 0.0004–0.001 BTC depending on the rail. The form rejects amounts below the live minimum before you send anything.