Question 1

What is SWAPS?

Accepted Answer

SWAPS is a trade coordination engine that discovers trades across participants in tokenized marketplaces. It builds a directed preference graph from user inventories and want-lists, then uses graph theory to find coordinated trades where every participant receives something they want while giving up something they own.

Question 2

What problem does SWAPS solve?

Accepted Answer

SWAPS solves the double coincidence of wants -- the requirement that two parties must each have exactly what the other wants at the same time. In markets for unique or semi-fungible assets like NFTs, collectibles, and tokenized real-world assets, this constraint leaves the majority of listings illiquid. SWAPS eliminates this by finding coordinated trades across the entire marketplace simultaneously.

Question 3

How does SWAPS find trades?

Accepted Answer

SWAPS builds a preference graph from every user's inventory and want-list. When the graph changes, the engine applies graph theory techniques to discover coordinated trades -- sets of participants who can all trade at once so that everyone ends up with something they want. A scoring system then ranks the discovered trades by quality, fairness, and feasibility.

Question 4

What is the living graph?

Accepted Answer

The living graph is SWAPS' core data structure -- a persistent, incrementally-updated directed graph that represents all active trade preferences across a marketplace. Rather than rebuilding the graph from scratch on each request, changes like inventory additions and want-list updates are applied incrementally. The system triggers targeted rediscovery only in the affected portions of the graph, keeping trade discovery fast.

Question 5

How fast is trade discovery?

Accepted Answer

Trade discovery happens in real time. Because the living graph is maintained persistently, only relevant changes trigger recomputation. Performance optimizations ensure that even in large graphs with thousands of participants, the most valuable trades are surfaced instantly.

Question 6

How do I integrate SWAPS?

Accepted Answer

A complete SWAPS integration requires four API calls: (1) register inventory -- submit assets a user owns, (2) register wants -- submit assets a user desires, (3) poll or receive webhooks for discovered trades, and (4) submit consent for trade execution. Most marketplace teams complete integration within one to two weeks.

Question 7

How long does integration take?

Accepted Answer

Most teams go from first API call to production in one to two weeks. The API surface is intentionally small -- four endpoints cover the full workflow. We provide SDKs, example implementations, and dedicated integration support to accelerate onboarding.

Question 8

Do I need to change my existing smart contracts?

Accepted Answer

No. SWAPS operates as an off-chain coordination layer. Your existing marketplace smart contracts remain unchanged. When a trade is discovered and consented to, SWAPS handles settlement through its own atomic settlement contracts. Users grant approval to the SWAPS settlement contract, and execution proceeds through standard token transfer interfaces.

Question 9

What do webhook events look like?

Accepted Answer

SWAPS sends webhook notifications for key events: new trade discovered, trade expired (a participant changed preferences), consent received from a participant, all consents collected (ready for settlement), settlement submitted onchain, and settlement confirmed. Each webhook includes the full trade details, participant addresses, and asset metadata.

Question 10

What do end users see?

Accepted Answer

That depends entirely on you. SWAPS is white-label infrastructure -- your users never see the SWAPS brand. They interact with your marketplace UI and your transaction flow. SWAPS surfaces trade recommendations through your API, and you present them however fits your product.

Question 11

Is the experience customizable?

Accepted Answer

Fully. If you use the optional embeddable widget, it supports custom themes, colors, typography, and layout. You can match your existing brand exactly. If you build your own UI against the API, you have complete control over every pixel.

Question 12

Does the widget support light and dark themes?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The embeddable widget ships with both light and dark themes out of the box and can be configured to follow your site's theme preference automatically. You can also define fully custom color schemes beyond the defaults.

Question 13

What is the custody model?

Accepted Answer

SWAPS is non-custodial. We never hold, escrow, or take control of user assets. Assets remain in users' wallets until the moment of atomic settlement. Users grant standard token approvals to the settlement contract, and all transfers happen in a single atomic transaction.

Question 14

How does atomic settlement work?

Accepted Answer

Once a trade is discovered and all participants consent, SWAPS executes the entire set of transfers as a single atomic transaction onchain. Either every transfer completes or none do -- there is no partial execution. This eliminates counterparty risk entirely. On Ethereum, this uses a custom settlement contract; on Solana, a program with cross-program invocations.

Question 15

Can SWAPS move assets without user consent?

Accepted Answer

No. SWAPS cannot move any asset without explicit consent from every participant in a trade. The settlement smart contracts enforce this at the protocol level -- each participant must sign a consent transaction before execution proceeds. If any single participant declines or revokes approval, the entire trade is cancelled. There is no admin override.

Question 16

What happens if a trade fails onchain?

Accepted Answer

All settlements are atomic. If any transfer within the trade fails -- due to revoked approval, insufficient gas, or any other reason -- the entire transaction reverts. No participant loses any asset. The failed trade is logged, participants are notified via webhook, and the coordination engine automatically searches for alternative trades that exclude the failed conditions.

Question 17

What blockchains does SWAPS support?

Accepted Answer

SWAPS currently supports Ethereum (ERC-721, ERC-1155) and Solana (SPL tokens) for onchain atomic settlement. The trade coordination engine itself is chain-agnostic -- it operates on abstract preference graphs. New chain support requires only a settlement adapter, not changes to the core engine. Additional chains can be added based on marketplace demand.

Question 18

What types of assets work with SWAPS?

Accepted Answer

SWAPS works with any tokenized asset that can be represented in a preference graph: NFTs (ERC-721, SPL), semi-fungible tokens (ERC-1155), gaming items, digital collectibles, trading cards, and tokenized real-world assets such as real estate fractions, commodity tokens, and security tokens. The engine is asset-agnostic and chain-agnostic by design.

Question 19

Do assets need to be onchain already?

Accepted Answer

Assets need to be represented as tokens on a supported blockchain for atomic settlement. However, SWAPS can coordinate trade discovery for any assets modeled in the preference graph -- the coordination layer is separate from the settlement layer. If your assets are off-chain today, you can still use the discovery API and handle settlement through your own mechanism.

Question 20

What is the pricing model?

Accepted Answer

SWAPS offers tiered plans designed for teams at every stage, from development and testing through enterprise-scale production. Contact us at info@swapsapi.com for current pricing and to discuss which tier fits your use case.

Question 21

Who is SWAPS built for?

Accepted Answer

SWAPS is built for marketplace developers and platform operators who need to unlock liquidity for unique or semi-fungible digital assets. This includes NFT marketplaces, gaming platforms with item economies, collectibles trading platforms, and any marketplace handling tokenized real-world assets.

Question 22

How does SWAPS increase marketplace revenue?

Accepted Answer

By discovering trades that bilateral matching cannot find, SWAPS unlocks liquidity and increases trade volume. More completed trades mean more transaction fees for the marketplace. Reduced inventory staleness lowers user churn, and coordinated trading drives user engagement and retention.

Frequently Asked
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