Chainflip on herrenlos: native cross-chain swaps, including Bitcoin

herrenlos routes across several providers and picks the best executable one for your trade (that's the whole idea behind swaps here). Chainflip is one of those providers — and it's the one that makes native cross-chain swapping possible, including moving real BTC in and out without wrapping it first. This post is what Chainflip is, why we integrate it, and exactly how it behaves in the app.

What Chainflip is

Chainflip is a decentralized protocol for cross-chain swaps of native assets. Instead of wrapping a token and bridging it, it lets you send a native asset on one chain and receive a native asset on another — for example native BTC to ETH, or SOL to USDC — settled by a network of validators rather than a custodian. That "native, not wrapped" property is why it can handle Bitcoin at all, which pure EVM aggregators can't.

Why herrenlos integrates it

Most aggregators are excellent inside the EVM world but can't touch chains like Bitcoin. Chainflip fills exactly that gap, and it does so in a way that matches how herrenlos works:

• Native cross-chain reach — BTC, and other non-EVM assets, become swappable without a wrapped-token detour.
• Non-custodial by design — you either send funds from your own wallet to a generated deposit address, or sign a single transaction in your own wallet. herrenlos never holds your funds or your keys.

To use it, herrenlos operates its own Chainflip broker — the piece that requests quotes and deposit channels from the protocol on your behalf.

Where Chainflip actually competes

Chainflip is one provider among several, not the whole app, and herrenlos only asks it to quote pairs it can genuinely settle. Under the hood there's a gate (isChainflipPairSupported) that fires a Chainflip quote only when both sides of your swap are on a Chainflip-native chain — currently Ethereum, Arbitrum, Bitcoin, Solana, Assethub (for DOT), and Tron — and the specific token isn't an aggregator-only listing (things like WBTC or USDe route through other providers instead).

When both legs qualify, Chainflip is quoted in parallel with the other providers and ranked by what you'd actually receive. Sometimes it wins; sometimes another provider is better for that exact pair and size, and then that one is highlighted. herrenlos is not Chainflip, and Chainflip is not the only route — it's simply the best tool for native cross-chain legs.

How a Chainflip swap works in the app

Depending on the chains involved, a Chainflip swap uses one of two flows:

• Deposit channel — herrenlos requests a one-time deposit address and you send funds to it from your own wallet. This is how externally-signed chains work, so it's the path for Bitcoin, Tron, and DOT deposits.
• Vault swap — for EVM and Solana source chains, you can instead sign a single transaction in your connected wallet.

There's also DCA (dollar-cost-averaging), a Chainflip-native mode that breaks a larger order into chunks.

One detail worth calling out because it's a real safety feature: Chainflip swaps require a refund address. If a swap can't be filled — say the price moves past the minimum you'd accept — the funds are returned to that address rather than being stuck. You provide it as part of the flow.

Boost: for slow-confirming deposits like BTC

Some deposits confirm slowly. A Bitcoin deposit, for instance, waits on block confirmations before the swap can proceed. For those, Chainflip offers boost — an option to front that confirmation wait for a faster end-to-end time. When a boost pool is available for your deposit asset, herrenlos shows a "⚡ Boostable" hint on the route and a Boost opt-in toggle on the review screen, along with the boost's indicative fee and faster ETA so you can decide.

Fast EVM and Solana deposits (ETH, USDC, SOL) confirm in about a block and simply have no boost pool, so you won't see the option there — that's expected, not something missing.

What you experience

From your side it's the same shape as any swap on herrenlos: pick your pair and amount, see Chainflip ranked against the other providers, and if it's the route you take, review it — confirm the ETA, choose boost if offered, and provide your destination and refund addresses — then either send to the deposit address or sign in your wallet, and track the swap to completion.

Honest limits

• Chainflip only quotes pairs it can natively settle; for everything else, other providers cover the route. That's by design.
• A quote is a snapshot — prices move, and the amount shown is an estimate until the swap actually settles. The refund address is your backstop if it can't fill.
• Boost only exists where confirmations are slow (mainly BTC); it isn't a universal speed toggle.
• herrenlos is a beta product, and Chainflip is one integration among several — sometimes another provider is the better executable route, and surfacing that honestly is the point.

If you want to try a native cross-chain swap, open the swap page and put in a pair like BTC to ETH to see Chainflip quoted alongside the rest. For what's shipped and what's next across providers, see the roadmap.