In today's article, you get to sit ringside and watch the crypto swap vs. exchange battle! To kick things off, we'll explore their main differences. From there, we'll also explore what it means to trade vs. swap crypto. In doing so, we'll explore the pros and cons of swapping and trading crypto. Lastly, to top things off, we’re also going to cover the easiest way to swap crypto using Moralis Money! 

Moralis Money is the number one option among the best coin swap sites. With this tool, you can seamlessly swap crypto at the click of a button. For a sneak peek, check out the example demo below, showing you how easy it is to swap DUCKIES token for wrapped BTC: 

Crypto Swap vs. Exchange - What's the Difference? 

Cryptocurrency swaps and exchanges are two distinct ways to acquire tokens. But what is the actual difference between a crypto swap and an exchange? In short, a crypto swap platform allows you to directly exchange one cryptocurrency for another without intermediaries; meanwhile, a crypto exchange is a digital marketplace operating similarly to a stock exchange where you can buy, sell, or trade crypto for fiat and vice versa. To clarify this even more, take a look at the following crypto swap vs. exchange table chart:

	Crypto Swap vs. Exchange
	Crypto Swap		Crypto Exchange
Transaction Model	Crypto is swapped directly between two parties.		Crypto exchanges operate as marketplaces where users can trade rather than swap cryptocurrencies.
Intermediary Involvement	Crypto swaps don't require intermediaries.		Crypto exchanges generally act as intermediaries to facilitate trades.
Governance	Platforms offering crypto swaps are usually decentralized and governed by smart contracts.		Crypto exchanges are usually centralized and controlled by single entities.
Transaction Fees	Crypto swap platforms generally offer low transaction fees.		Due to third-party involvement, crypto exchange platforms can have slightly higher fees.
User Experience	Simple and straightforward.		More sophisticated UIs with additional trading tools.

What is a Crypto Swap? 

A crypto swap is a process allowing you to exchange one crypto for another without intermediaries or a crypto-to-fiat exchange. Consequently, instead of using coin A to purchase coin B and then buying coin C, you can directly swap coin A for coin C.

So, with a crypto swap, you can seamlessly swap tokens in a simple, fast, affordable, and usually decentralized manner. And platforms facilitating crypto-to-crypto swaps can save you from undergoing unnecessarily time-consuming and costly fiat-to-crypto conversions.

Consequently, a crypto swap generally requires fewer transactions, saving you time and money compared to using crypto exchanges that often charge a fee for each transaction. 

There are numerous platforms facilitating crypto swaps, and these swaps can occur through various mechanisms. Some examples are centralized exchanges (CEXs), brokers, peer-to-peer trading, etc. However, one of the most prominent ways to swap cryptocurrency is to use a decentralized exchange (DEX) or automated market maker (AMM).

Now, to better understand crypto swaps and why they are necessary, let’s look at crypto exchanges closer! 

What is a Crypto Exchange? 

A crypto exchange is a digital marketplace where you can buy, sell, or trade various cryptocurrencies. These platforms operate similarly to conventional stock exchanges, where trading pairs are offered, and order books are kept to match sellers with buyers. 

Crypto exchanges serve as vital infrastructure in the crypto ecosystem by providing a venue for liquidity and price discovery. Furthermore, some exchanges offer additional features, like margin trading, futures, and other options. 

There are two main types of exchanges; however, when referring to ”crypto exchanges,” people usually talk about centralized exchanges. For this reason, we’ll do the same throughout this article. Nevertheless, these are the two exchange types: 

• Centralized Exchanges (CEX): CEXs work similarly to conventional stock exchanges, with the main difference being that you can convert fiat money to cryptocurrencies like Ethereum or Bitcoin. Moreover, a central authority also governs a CEX, hence the name. And the exchange itself is the intermediary between traders.

• Decentralized Exchanges (DEX): Contrarily, DEXs perform the same fundamental functions as a CEX; however, there’s no central authority regulating the transactions and data. Instead, this process is generally handled by self-executing smart contracts, removing the need for intermediaries. Furthermore, if you remember from the previous section, DEXs often offer swap features, allowing users to swap crypto rather than trade it. 

Let’s now compare the differences between a crypto swap vs. an exchange!

What’s the Difference? Crypto Swap vs. Exchange 

To further clarify the difference between a crypto swap vs. an exchange, let’s compare crypto swapping with trading on an exchange:

• Transaction Model: When swapping crypto, one token is directly swapped for another between two parties. This process is generally facilitated by smart contracts on a DEX. In comparison, a crypto exchange operates as a marketplace where people can trade rather than swap cryptocurrencies. 

• Intermediary Involvement: Crypto swaps usually function without middlemen, as the exchange occurs directly between two wallets. Meanwhile, the platform acts as an intermediary managing the transaction on a centralized crypto exchange. 

• Governance: Since crypto swaps are facilitated through DEXs and crypto exchanges usually are centralized, they are governed differently. Swaps are governed through automated smart contracts, while crypto exchanges are controlled by central authorities. 

• Transaction Fees: Due to third-party involvement, traders often need to pay higher transaction fees on a crypto exchange compared to a swap platform. With that said, most crypto swap platforms also apply transaction fees.

• User Experience: Crypto exchanges usually feature sophisticated user interfaces and additional features like trading instruments, charts, price alerts, etc. On the other hand, DEXs and swap platforms provide simpler trading environments that can be more approachable to novice investors.

With that said, one of the major differences between a crypto swap platform and an exchange is that you swap assets on the former and trade crypto on the latter. As such, let’s look at the pros and cons to trade vs. swap crypto.

Trade vs. Swap Crypto: Pros and Cons 

Swapping and trading can, in some instances, be used synonymously; however, this is not the case in crypto. Trading in crypto generally refers to exchanging one token for fiat and purchasing another token with the obtained funds. Swapping, on the other hand, enables an instant exchange between two cryptocurrencies. 

But is it best to swap or trade crypto? To answer this, let’s examine both methods' pros and cons!

Trading

Pros:

• User-Friendly: Trading generally occurs on crypto exchanges that are usually adapted to the masses, making them easy to navigate, especially for novice traders.

• Reliability: Some of the largest organizations in crypto are CEXs, and they are reputable and reliable platforms for trading crypto. 

Cons:

• Custody: Crypto exchanges take custody of your assets, which can be risky if something happens to the platform. 

• Centralization: Centralization makes crypto exchanges vulnerable to hacking.

• Fees: Since trading occurs on crypto exchanges, it generally requires higher fees than swapping.

Swapping

Pros:

• Lower Fees: Swapping generally requires less transaction fees.

• Wide Token Rage: Some of the smaller and most interesting coins are more easily obtained through swapping.

• Higher Security: Since swaps are decentralized, they provide a higher degree of security since there’s now third-party involvement. 

Cons:

• Variable Rates: One downside of swapping is the variability of exchange rates between swap-enabled platforms.

• Lower Regulation: Since DEXs facilitate crypto swaps, they’re harder to regulate, meaning the potential for scams can be higher. However, this is easily solved by using a reputable crypto-swapping platform like Moralis Money! 

Nonetheless, swapping provides a quick, easy, and straightforward way to acquire new and exciting tokens. For this reason, let’s explore swapping further by looking closer at the ultimate crypto swap: Moralis Money! 

Introducing Moralis Money: The Ultimate Crypto Swap

If you want a fast, accessible, and cheap way to swap cryptocurrency, then you’ll want to check out Moralis Money. But what exactly is Moralis Money? 

Moralis Money is the premier blockchain analytics tool. The platform leverages on-chain data in real-time to give your true market alpha. As such, with Moralis Money, you can easily find new crypto projects before everyone else! 

What’s more, along with being the industry’s leading blockchain crypto breakout scanner, Moralis Money also offers a straightforward and easy-to-use crypto swap feature. So, how exactly does this work? 

Before we get going - if you don’t know what crypto you want to swap - check out our guide on finding the most undervalued crypto to learn how to find tokens before they break out. 

However, if you already know what crypto you want to swap, then start by going to its token page using Moralis Money’s token search. In this case, we’ll demo the crypto swap feature by acquiring wrapped BTC on the Polygon network. As such, let’s head on over to that token’s token page: 

From there, you can simply use the swap feature to the right to acquire wrapped BTC. In our case, we’ll be swapping DUCKIES for wrapped BTC: 

It’s that easy to swap cryptocurrencies when working with Moralis Money! 

To further highlight the advantages, let’s explore some of the main benefits of swapping with Moralis Money!

The Benefits of Swapping with Moralis Money 

In this section, we’ll explore the central benefits of swapping crypto with Moralis Money by covering additional features making it the ultimate tool for crypto traders!

• 1inch Aggregator: Moralis Money leverages the 1inch DEX aggregator to give you the best swapping fees and token prices available. This makes Moralis Money one of the cheapest crypto swap platforms on the market. 

• Token Explorer: With Token Explorer, you can pick and choose between 15+ search parameters to easily find the tokens you’re looking for. This means you can find new crypto before everyone else to maximize your gains. Here’s a quick demo of one of our present strategies in action: 

• Token Pages: If you want to learn more about a token, check Moralis Money’s token pages. Moralis Money features token pages for all coins. On these pages, you can find alpha metrics, price charts, security data, general information about the project, and much more. This is also where you find the swap feature, allowing you to acquire any token at the click of a button: 

• Multi-Chain Compatibility: Moralis Money supports multiple networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, and others. This means you can swap and find tokens across multiple blockchain networks, all in one place. 

• Token Alerts: With Token Alerts, you can easily set up email notifications to monitor individual tokens or the entire market for emerging opportunities. If you’d like to learn more about this, check out our tutorial on how to set up crypto price alerts. 

• Token Shield: Token Shield provides security information on all tokens, allowing you to seamlessly dodge cryptocurrency scams. To learn more, check out our crypto pump and dump scams guide. 

• Portfolio Manager: Moralis Money also features a straightforward crypto portfolio manager so you can track all your assets across the supported chains. 

Summary: Crypto Swap vs. Exchange

In today’s article, we witnessed the crypto swap vs. exchange battle! In doing so, we learned that a crypto swap refers to the process of directly exchanging one crypto for another without an intermediary. Contrarily, a crypto exchange is a marketplace that operates similarly to a conventional stock exchange where you can trade, buy, and sell crypto. One of the main differences between the two is that you trade rather than swap crypto on an exchange. From there, we covered the pros and cons to trade vs. swap crypto.

In addition to exploring what it means to trade vs. swap crypto, we also showed you how to seamlessly swap tokens using Moralis Money - the best altcoin exchange for swapping crypto! 

However, in combination with allowing you to easily swap crypto, Moralis Money also helps you find new and existing tokens through features like Token Explorer, Token Alerts, and Token Shield. 

Also, did you know that you can maximize the value of Moralis Money by subscribing to the Moralis Money Pro plan? As a Pro plan user, you get access to a private Discord server, can use Token Alerts, get narrower timeframes for all search parameters, and much more: 

If you want to try the Pro plan, sign up for our seven-day trial today by heading to our pricing page: 

You can also try the Token Explorer feature right here using the widget below. Apply your own strategy, or use one of our premade filters: