What you need
Three things, and none of them is an account:
- A Monero wallet you control, to receive the XMR. Common choices are Cake Wallet on a phone, Feather on a computer and the official Monero GUI. Write down its seed phrase before you use it: see seed phrase safety.
- The coin you are swapping from, in a wallet you can send from: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Solana, or USDT on TRON or Ethereum.
- A refund address for that coin, also from your own wallet. If the swap can't be completed, the coins go back there.
You don't need an email address, a password or a phone number. The swap is tied to an order code, not to a person.
Step 1: choose the coins and the amount
Open the swap console, pick the coin you send under You send and XMR under You get, and type the amount. Under the field you see the minimum and maximum the exchanges accept right now; tap either one to use it.
While you type, the amount you would receive is an estimate from market prices and typical fees. No exchange has been asked yet, which keeps the page fast and avoids sending exchanges requests for amounts you are still deciding on.
Every pair also has its own page with today's rate, for example Bitcoin to Monero or USDT TRC20 to Monero.
Step 2: pick a rate type
A fixed rate locks the amount you receive, as long as your deposit arrives within the time shown on your order page (about 15 minutes, set by the exchange). A floating rate follows the market until your deposit confirms and usually costs a little less. The percentage on each button is the total cost against the market price, network fee not included.
Not sure? The guide to fixed and floating rates goes through when each one wins.
Step 3: compare offers and choose one
Press Compare offers. Lethe asks several exchanges at once through its partner Trocador and lists their offers, starting with the one that leaves you the most XMR. Each offer shows its cost against the market (“Spread”) and the exchange's KYC rating.
Every amount already includes the exchange's fee, Lethe's 1% and the network fee. Nothing is added later.
Offers are kept for 5 minutes. After that the page asks you to compare again, so you always start from a current price.
Step 4: enter your addresses
- Your XMR address: copy it from your wallet's Receive screen. A fresh subaddress (they start with 8) for each swap keeps your swaps from being linked to each other.
- Refund address: an address for the coin you send, from a wallet you control. Avoid exchange deposit addresses: a refund sent there may not be credited.
Each field has Paste and Scan QR code buttons. The QR code is read inside your browser and never uploaded. Every address is checked for typos with its network's checksum before the order opens, but only you can confirm it is really yours, so compare the first and last characters with your wallet.
Step 5: start the swap and send
Press Start swap. Lethe opens the trade with the exchange you chose and checks its reply: the receiving address must be exactly yours and the amounts must match the offer. If anything differs, the trade is not used and no deposit address is shown.
Your order page then shows the deposit address, the exact amount and the network. Send that amount in one transaction from your wallet. Keep the order code (it looks like LT-XXXX-XXXX): with no account, it is the only way back to the page, from any device, through Track order.
How long it takes
The exchange waits for your deposit to confirm, makes the swap and sends the XMR. Most swaps finish within 5 to 30 minutes, and a Bitcoin deposit is usually the slowest part. The order page follows each step by itself, so you can close it and come back.
When the XMR arrives, your wallet shows it at once but keeps it locked for 10 blocks, about 20 minutes, before you can spend it. That's a Monero rule, not a problem with the swap: why Monero balances are locked.
What stays private, and what doesn't
Be clear about what a swap hides:
- The XMR you receive is private from here on. Monero hides senders, receivers and amounts on every transaction, so what you do with it next isn't visible on a public ledger.
- Your deposit is still public on its own chain. A Bitcoin or Ethereum transfer to the exchange's deposit address can be seen like any other. Sending from an address tied to your name, such as a withdrawal from an exchange account, links you to the start of the swap: see sending straight from an exchange.
- The exchange sees both sides of its own trade, like any exchange. Lethe shows offers only from exchanges rated A or B on Trocador's KYC scale: A means no identity checks, B means checks are possible in some cases. The rating is on every offer.
- Records. Lethe deletes its order record 24 hours after the swap completes. When you start a swap, your IP address, browser language and browser details are kept for 1 year in a separate record, a condition of Trocador, and shared only on an official law enforcement request. The exchange keeps its own record, and Trocador keeps the trade for 14 days.
If you want the chains themselves to show no link between two coins that aren't Monero, that's what the private route is for.
A checklist for your first swap
- Try a small amount first, a little above the minimum.
- Use a fresh XMR subaddress and a refund address from your own wallet.
- Before you send, check the network badge, the exact amount and the deposit address.
- Keep your order code until the XMR is in your wallet.
