What Self-Custody Protects, and What Stays Yours
SimpleSwap is self-custodial, which changes what "safe" actually means for it. Here's what that design protects you from on its own, and the few small things that stay in your hands.
What to Know Before You Swap
How SimpleSwap protects you by design, and the few things worth double-checking yourself.
Your funds staying yours
Self-custodial means there's no user balance sitting on SimpleSwap's side. Nothing to lose or freeze, because nothing is held in the first place.
Nothing to do here. This is the part SimpleSwap's architecture already handles.
Lookalike websites
The only real domain is simpleswap.io. Bookmark it or type it directly rather than clicking a search ad or a social media link.
Quick habit: glance at the address bar before entering anything.
Sending to the right place
SimpleSwap shows the correct network during the swap. Taking a moment to confirm the address avoids the one mistake that can't be undone.
Takes a few seconds before you hit send.
Picking a rate type
Fixed locks the price for 20 minutes. Floating tracks the market instead. Neither is safer, they just suit different swaps.
Pick fixed if you'd rather know the exact number in advance.
A quick compliance check
Once in a while a specific transaction gets a closer look, the same as any regulated exchange runs from time to time.
Your funds aren't at risk. It resolves once the requested info is sent.
Your seed phrase
SimpleSwap will never ask for your seed phrase or private key, on the site, by email, or through support.
Simple rule: anyone who asks for it isn't SimpleSwap, full stop.
When Verification Actually Applies
Most crypto-to-crypto swaps need no account or ID upfront. Two things bring verification in: a fiat purchase, which follows the payment partner's own KYC rules, and a transaction a compliance system flags for a closer look. Outside those two, the flow stays what it is: pick a pair, enter the address, send.
From SimpleSwap's Safety Academy
SimpleSwap runs its own scam-education guide. These are the six warning signs it flags most often, pulled straight from it.
Any message pushing you to act immediately, before you've had time to check anything.
No legitimate swap, wallet, or investment can promise a fixed profit.
No real support agent or partner service will ever ask for it.
Being contacted first, instead of reaching out yourself, is a common opening move.
Off-platform, into a private DM, away from any record of what was said.
A real balance that's already yours doesn't need an extra payment to release it.
The full guide also walks through ten specific attack patterns, from fake cloned sites to wallet drainers and address poisoning. Read the full Safety Academy
See how a swap actually moves
The mechanics behind fixed and floating rates, step by step.