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Swap Bitcoin Cash to Bitcoin
Send BCH on the Bitcoin Cash network and receive BTC at a Bitcoin address, or over Lightning. Ghostex waits for 6 BCH confirmations, about an hour at 10-minute blocks, so this pair usually takes longer than the typical 5 to 30 minutes. The 0.48% fee is in the quote; no account, no KYC.
Pair details
BCH to BTC at a glance
Bitcoin Cash began as a copy of Bitcoin, and its older addresses still look exactly like Bitcoin’s. On this route, knowing which wallet an address came from matters more than the amount.
- You send
- BCH on the Bitcoin Cash network. Not BTC, and not a token that represents BCH on another chain.
- You receive
- BTC on the Bitcoin network, or over Lightning if you choose Bitcoin on the Lightning Network as the receive asset.
- Payout address
- A Bitcoin address (bc1q, bc1p, 1 or 3) or a Lightning destination. A bitcoincash: address is refused, but a 1 or 3 address passes whichever chain it belongs to.
- Memo or tag
- None. Neither Bitcoin Cash nor Bitcoin uses a memo or tag.
- Refund address
- Optional: CashAddr (bitcoincash:q… or p…, with or without the prefix) or a legacy 1 or 3 address. A refund returns as BCH on Bitcoin Cash.
- Limits
- About $10 to $10,000,000 in USD value; the form shows the exact BCH limits.
- Rate
- Fixed for 30 minutes from order creation, or floating and set when the swap executes. How the lock meets a slow deposit is covered below.
- Typical time
- About an hour for the 6 BCH confirmations, then execution and the BTC payout: longer than the usual 5 to 30 minutes.
The fork
Why Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin addresses can look identical
Bitcoin Cash split from Bitcoin in a hard fork on 1 August 2017 (UAHF specification). The two chains share every block up to height 478,558 (Bitcoin Cash Node chainparams), so anyone who held BTC at the split also held the same amount of BCH, at the same addresses.
The fork kept Bitcoin’s address encoding. Legacy addresses on both chains use the same version bytes, 0 for pay-to-public-key-hash and 5 for pay-to-script-hash (chainparams of Bitcoin Cash Node and Bitcoin Core), so a 1… or 3… string is valid on either network and does not say which one it was made for. In January 2018 Bitcoin Cash added a format of its own, CashAddr, which writes the same hash behind a bitcoincash: prefix and starts with q for pay-to-public-key-hash or p for pay-to-script-hash (CashAddr specification). The specification’s test vectors pair each legacy address with its CashAddr spelling: one destination, written two ways.
Transactions did not stay interchangeable. Since the fork, a Bitcoin Cash transaction is valid only if it is signed with the SIGHASH_FORKID flag and a new signing algorithm (UAHF, REQ-6-2). Bitcoin nodes do not accept signatures made that way, so a transaction from one chain cannot be replayed on the other. If you still hold coins from before August 2017, sending the BCH to this order does not move the BTC at the same address.
| Starts with | Network | Field on this order |
|---|---|---|
| bitcoincash:q…, bitcoincash:p… (or q…, p… without the prefix) | Bitcoin Cash only | Refund address |
| bc1q…, bc1p… | Bitcoin only | Payout address |
| 1…, 3… | Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash | Either field: check which wallet it came from |
Before you paste
What the form can check, and what it cannot
Each field checks the format, not who owns the address. The payout field wants a Bitcoin address: paste a bitcoincash: address and it answers that this looks like a Bitcoin Cash address. A legacy 1… or 3… address from a Bitcoin Cash wallet is different. It is also a well-formed Bitcoin address, so it passes. BTC paid to it will not show in a BCH-only wallet, and an exchange will not credit it as a BCH deposit.
The refund field works the other way round. It accepts CashAddr and legacy addresses, so your Bitcoin 1… or 3… address would pass there too. A payout cannot be recalled once it is broadcast (Terms, section 11), and a refund is final in the same way.
The simplest guard is to use formats only one chain can read: a bc1 address from your Bitcoin wallet for the payout, and a CashAddr from your Bitcoin Cash wallet for the refund. Bitcoin address types explains bc1q and bc1p.
Fees and timing
BCH to BTC fees and timing
Plan for about an hour before the swap runs. The 0.48% fee comes out of the BCH you send and is already inside the quote.
| You send | 0.48% fee, inside the quote |
|---|---|
| 0.5 BCH | 0.0024 BCH |
| 5 BCH | 0.024 BCH |
| 50 BCH | 0.24 BCH |
About an hour of deposit
6 confirmations × a 10-minute block target (nPowTargetSpacing = 10 * 60 in Bitcoin Cash Node). Its ASERT difficulty rule halves difficulty for every two days the chain falls behind schedule and doubles it when blocks run ahead, but single gaps still vary.
Then the Bitcoin payout
Courier broadcasts the BTC after the swap executes. The first confirmation takes about 10 minutes on average; over Lightning the payout arrives in seconds.
Who pays which fee
Your Bitcoin Cash wallet pays the network fee on the deposit; it goes to miners, not to Ghostex, and is not refunded. The fee for sending your BTC payout is covered by Ghostex and already reflected in the quote.
Does an hour of confirmations break a fixed rate? The Terms set the condition: “To receive the locked amount, your deposit must be sent within that window and must match the amount stated in the order.” The window is the 30 minutes from order creation. A slow Bitcoin Cash network only delays the payout.
Do not send twice. Two of six confirmations after twenty minutes is on schedule for this pair. A second payment is an additional deposit, and under the Terms additional or partial deposits may fall outside the fixed rate and may be refunded instead of exchanged.
Use case
Why swap BCH to BTC
Coins from the split. If you held bitcoin on 1 August 2017 and never moved the BCH you received with it, this order turns that BCH into BTC. Thanks to the replay protection above, the BCH transaction leaves your bitcoin where it is. Send from a wallet that supports Bitcoin Cash.
One coin to manage. If the rest of your holdings are in BTC, or a service you use accepts BTC but not BCH, converting saves you a second chain, a second wallet and a second address format to keep track of.
Lightning. The Lightning Network runs on Bitcoin, not on Bitcoin Cash. Choosing Bitcoin on the Lightning Network as the receive asset puts the coins straight into a Lightning wallet.
Pitfalls
BCH to BTC mistakes to avoid
A BCH legacy address as the payout
A 1… or 3… address from a Bitcoin Cash wallet passes the payout check. Copy the payout from the wallet that will hold the BTC, preferably a bc1 address.
Expecting 30 minutes
Six Bitcoin Cash blocks take about an hour on average. An order still waiting after half an hour is normal; do not send the BCH again.
A Lightning invoice that expires first
The BTC is paid only after about an hour of BCH confirmations, and under BOLT 11 an invoice without its own expiry lasts one hour. Use a Lightning address, LNURL or BOLT12 offer instead.
Who handles the order. Oracle prices BCH against BTC and Router picks the route. Sentinel counts the 6 Bitcoin Cash confirmations, Executor makes the swap and Courier sends the BTC (meet all five agents). A floating order settles at the market price when the swap executes, about an hour after you send; a fixed order locks the BTC amount when you create it (fixed vs floating rates).
FAQ
Bitcoin Cash to Bitcoin questions
Why does BCH to BTC take longer than most pairs?
Ghostex waits for 6 Bitcoin Cash confirmations, and Bitcoin Cash targets one block every 10 minutes, so the deposit alone takes about an hour. Most pairs finish in 5 to 30 minutes; this one usually does not. The BTC payout follows once the swap executes.
Does the slow deposit put my fixed rate at risk?
The Terms state the condition: “To receive the locked amount, your deposit must be sent within that window and must match the amount stated in the order.” The window is 30 minutes from order creation. Slow confirmations only delay the payout.
Is an address starting with 1 or 3 Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash?
It can be either. Legacy addresses use the same format on both networks, and the form cannot tell which wallet made one. Use a bc1 address for the BTC payout and a bitcoincash: address for the BCH refund.
Which refund address formats are accepted?
CashAddr, with or without the bitcoincash: prefix, and legacy addresses starting with 1 or 3. Leave the field empty and a refund returns as BCH to the address you paid from, minus the network cost of sending it.
Can I receive the BTC over Lightning?
Yes: choose Bitcoin on the Lightning Network as the receive asset. Because the payout comes after about an hour of BCH confirmations, a Lightning address, LNURL or BOLT12 offer is safer than an invoice that could expire first.
Do I need an account or KYC?
No. The order needs the BCH amount, a Bitcoin address and, if you want, a Bitcoin Cash refund address. There is no account to create, and no name, email, phone or ID is asked for.
Keep exploring
Other swaps and guides
For the payout side, read Bitcoin address types, Bitcoin confirmation times and Lightning or on-chain. Before you paste anything, see how address poisoning works.
Ready when you areAbout an hour
Swap BCH to BTC now
Enter the BCH amount and a Bitcoin address from your own wallet, then send the Bitcoin Cash. After 6 confirmations, about an hour, Executor makes the swap and Courier sends your BTC.