I Hate Swap Programs
I hate swap programs.
A swap works by sending money to some unknown third party. The swap depends on an unwritten article of faith that the third party would then make a transaction on a different blockchain.
The problem is that the swap depends on the integrity of this third party. There is no recourse if the third party fails.
Unfortunately, one needs to use a swap service to move funds between HIVE and #hive-engine
HIVE Exchange Swaps
Different exchanges in the Hive-O-Sphere employ different swap services.
If you went to your wallet on LeoDex.io; you would see buttons labeled "deposit" and "withdraw." These buttons are an interface to the @leodex swap program.
The interface lets you set the amount and destination for the swap. The form has a link labeled "Check Liquidity."
The "check liquidity" button doesn't work because LeoFinance is rebranding to inLeo. Clicking the button on the bottom of the form executes the swap.
The first step of the swap transfers funds to @leodex . The leodex swap program is supposed to have a program that executes a transaction to put coins in the destination account.
You can use blockchain explorers to view the transactions. he.dtools.dev shows #hive-engine side of things and hiveblocks.com shows the HIVE side.
https://hiveblocks.com/@leodex#30b0601506ef79840d44c214f546ffc320e2aba8
There should be a matching transactions on each blockchain (minus a small fee).
Well, there isn't.
The swap is broken.
NOTE: They might fix the program. In that case you will need to scroll down to the transactions from Oct 21-25.
Apparently, @leodex is manually executing some transactions for people who have friends on the inside ... but the swap is broken.
The fact that they manually fix transactions for people who know the right people doesn't make things better.
Blurt Swap is Even Worse
The problem is not unique to #leofinance. I lost a pile of TRX on SteemIT because of a swap. That place is a den of thieves and such is to be expected.
I lost 2900 #BLURT on their stinking swap.
Swap Programs Require Support
The sad truth is that swap programs require centralized support.
Again, the structure of a swap is as follows: one sends money to a third party. The third party then transfers funds on the external blockchain.
One is placing blind trust in that third party.
How to Improve Swap Programs
One could improve swap programs by creating a page that shows both the liquidity of the swap and links to the transactions performed by the swap. This would help users verify that the program is working.
My Money is Gone
I accept that 2900 BLURT I sent to the BLURT swap is gone.
I accept that the 10 HIVE that I sent to @leodex is gone.
I just simply wish that people would stop pushing these poisonous swap programs on us.
The Picture
I generated the picture at the top of the page with DALL-E. This is my collection of AI images
The picture shows two robots swapping coins. The first robot is trying to steal money from the second robot. I thought it might work as a #meme
This is more of like a P2P transcation you are talking about, but there should be proper regulation in this platforms offering swap deals
The blockchain was built on the idea that it is possible to build financial systems which are not dependent on legal or government regulators.
Most swaps, like the #leodex and #blurt swaps, are run by third parties. We depend on the benevolence of the third parties to carry through the transaction.
I sent 10 HIVE to @leodex . I was depending on the goodness of @leodex to carry through the transaction.
Instead of depending on third party swaps, we need to find ways to move funds between blockchains without a dependency on third parties.
!WINEX
If you want to go from Hive to HBD, it's on chain and trustless. If you want to swap to another chain there is no way to get to another without trusting a third party. I have lost thousands of dollars this way. So what can we do?
Would you like to work with me and help me develop cross chain atomic swaps with Hive and BTC? I think once we have that there is Thor/Rune that can be used to go from BTC to others. There are two methods I see we can use:
There is the Thor/Rune method that can be employed. This involves selling the idea of getting Thor nodes to join the Thor Network. I have trusted this exchange and it is a decentralized exchange. The other is to use a method designed by Mike Hearn to create two transactions where once a signature is exposed the coins are moved on both networks.
https://github.com/thorchain
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/guides/what-are-atomic-swamps
The HIVE community controls both HIVE and HIVE-Engine.
Since the HIVE community controls both blockchains, it should be possible to create a trustless transfer mechanism between the two blockchains.
As I understand, every HIVE account has an HE account.
I am not on a HIVE development team. I can imagine several ways of doing this, but I would have to spend time studying the code before suggesting anything.
It is also possible to do swaps without a third party.
I may be wrong but, as I understand, the swap coins on HE are in a wallet held by HIVE Engine.
When a user transfers BTC into HE, the funds transfer into an exchanged owned account. The system references the coins SWAP.BTC on HE.
I could buy the SWAP.BTC and transfer it out. Just as the inbound transaction involved only two wallets, the outbound transaction would involve just the HE wallet and my wallet.
I Am Not Familiar with ThorChain
I am not familiar with ThorChain. I would suspect that many blockchains are looking for ways to integrate their services in a trustless manner.
I suspect that there is a great deal of talent working on the problem. Your linked article mentioned P2PTradeX. I suspect that there are other solutions.
!PIZZA
Your post inspired me to write this. To your point, HE and Hive do not have separate blockchains. Currently, as @markymark pointed out months ago, you can create an invalid HE transaction, like I send you 100 SWAP.BTC and it will go into the Hive blockchain without an error. Of course Hive Engine.com wont reflect that transfer in your balance or allow you withdraw them.
The Hive blockchain is not for keeping what is valid for HE, but just a store for both invalid and valid transactions. The HE nodes figure out what is valid and what isn't. I do believe making atomic swaps between HE tokens and Hive tokens should be easy. My article talks about swapping directly from HBD with native on-chain BTC.
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@yintercept(1/10) tipped @leprechaun