P2P Swaps
Apart from the various fiat payment methods available, there are something called Swap Destinations as well. These are payment methods, but for BTC, on a network other than the Lightning Network.
This is useful if you want to exchange Lightning Sats for on-chain Sats (or on any other network like Liquid BTC if you prefer). This process of exchanging Sats on the Lightning Network for on-chain Sats is usually referred to as a “swap”.
The table below makes it simple to understand swap in terms of “buyer” and “seller”:
| Side | Sends | Receives | Swap type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seller | ⚡BTC | 🔗 BTC | Swap out |
| Buyer | 🔗 BTC | ⚡BTC | Swap in |
How to do a P2P Swap
Remember, in RoboSats you always buy or sell Lightning Network Sats. If you want to receive Sats over the Lightning Network in exchange for your on-chain Sats, then you create a BUY order. On the contrary, if you want to receive Sats on-chain in exchange for your Lightning Network Sats, then create a SELL order.
In the Order Create screen, select “BTC” from the currency dropdown menu:
Select your Swap Destination from the dropdown:
You then set the amount or range you want to swap for. Remember that if you are a seller, then you will receive on-chain BTC and if you are the buyer, you will be sending on-chain BTC:
You then simply create the order and wait for a taker to take your order. In the chatroom you move forward as usual, but this time the payment method is simply an on-chain bitcoin address.
Order amount and mining fees
The amount to be sent on-chain must be the exact value mentioned in the order amount. The sender of on-chain sats needs to cover for mining fees (on-chain transaction fees).
What premium do I set?
In case of a swap, it’s better to keep the premium at 0%; but if you want to make the offer a little more attractive to your counterparty, then you can follow the below recommendations:
- If you are the seller - you will be receiving on-chain BTC; setting the premium slightly below 0% (e.g., -0.1%, -0.5%) will make your offer more attractive. The taker already pays 0.175% fees on the trade plus they have to pay mining fees for sending the on-chain BTC.
- If you are the buyer - you will be sending on-chain BTC; setting the premium slightly above 0% (e.g., 0.1%, 0.5%) will make your offer more attractive.
These are just general recommendations about what premium to set to get started with swaps, but at the end of the day, the price is what the market sets… So, experiment and see what works for you!
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