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A team of developers from Altcoin Exchange have conducted a successful atomic swap between Bitcoin and Ethereum. 0.12345 ETH was transferred on-chain for 0.12345 BTC marking the first swap between the two most popular cryptocurrencies by market cap. The announcement came via the company's official Twitter on October 7. Atomic swaps are part of a technical vision to enable decentralized exchanges in the cryptocurrency industry.

Altcoin exchange shared the news on Twitter, saying

"We have completed the very first Ethereum <> Bitcoin atomic swap! More details coming soon,"

In the last several months, developers across the cryptocurrency industry have realized similar feats in testing atomic swaps. Vertcoin, Decred, Bitcoin, and Zcash conducted atomic swaps in August and September.

Altcoin exchange is documenting the whole process and will share a detailed report in the coming week. Andrew Gazdecki, the CEO, said a GitHub repository of the project would be out by Tuesday. The company describes itself as a Decentralized Exchange on its website.

Often mentioned alongside decentralized exchanges, atomic swaps allow two parties to exchange blockchain assets on different chains without requiring a third party. Eradicating counterparty risk is considered a step towards eliminating the role of centralized exchanges. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts point at the recent wave of Bitcoin exchange prohibitions in China as a clear sign that more practical decentralized exchanges (DEX) are required.

Cryptocurrency Analyst Willy Woo believes:

"Altcoin exchanges are SERIOUS business these days. Given regulatory pressures, 2018 onwards should see huge opportunity for DEXes."

Atomic swaps make DEXs possible at scale.

Andrew used the swap demonstration to make a case why the centralized model of exchanges will soon be a relic. He expects decentralized exchange business models to eat up a significant share of cryptocurrency trading. Thanks to the speed, ease, and security of atomic swaps, decentralized exchanges are just as viable as traditional trading platforms. 

The altcoin exchange group acknowledged last month's successes by Litecoin for championing the greater cause.

Last month, Charlie Lee, a lead developer at Litecoin tested on-chain atomic swaps with Decred and Vertcoin. Additionally, he completed an off chain swap with Bitcoin using SegWit on both the bitcoin and litecoin blockchain.

Current implementations of atomic swaps have come under attack for poor privacy. Critics pin it down to the permanent public record on each participating blockchain. Andrew conceded they are fully aware that more progress needs to be made on enabling privacy and matching orders on trades.

Details of the atomic swap transaction are available for the initiation A, participation B, redemption A and redemption B