Anyswap Crypto Exchange Review (Now Multichain): What Happened and What You Need to Know

Mar, 19 2026

When Anyswap launched in July 2020, it promised something most decentralized exchanges couldn’t do: swap Bitcoin for Ethereum, or Binance Coin for Avalanche, without touching a centralized exchange. No intermediaries. No custodians. Just direct, trustless cross-chain trades. For a while, it looked like the future. But today, Anyswap doesn’t exist as it once did. It’s now called Multichain, and its story is a lesson in innovation, ambition, and the brutal realities of DeFi. If you’re looking at Anyswap right now because you heard it’s still active, you need to know one thing upfront: the original platform shut down. The name changed. The technology evolved. And the risks? They got worse. This isn’t a review of a thriving exchange. It’s a breakdown of what Anyswap was, what it became, and whether anyone should still touch it.

What Anyswap Actually Did

Anyswap wasn’t a typical crypto exchange. You didn’t deposit funds and trade against other users. Instead, it was a cross-chain bridge that used Distributed Control Rights Management (DCRM)-a cryptographic system built on Shamir’s Secret Sharing and private key sharding. This meant when you swapped BTC for ETH, your Bitcoin never left the Bitcoin chain. Your Ethereum never left the Ethereum chain. Instead, Anyswap’s network of validators used encrypted fragments of private keys to authorize the swap across chains. No one held your assets. No one could steal them. That’s the dream. It supported over 15 blockchains, including Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, Fantom, Avalanche, and even Bitcoin. Tokens like USDT, LTC, FSN, and XRP could all be swapped directly. The fee structure was simple: 0.30% for makers, 0.40% for takers. No hidden charges. No price slippage from order books. It used automated liquidity pools, like Uniswap, but across chains. And it didn’t raise money. No presale. No VC funding. Just a public launch on July 22, 2020. Within 24 hours, it hit $7.79 million in daily volume. That’s rare. Even rarer? It was one of the first to do this without wrapped assets. Other bridges like Wormhole or stargate locked your asset on Chain A and minted a token on Chain B. Anyswap didn’t do that. It moved value directly.

Why It Gained Early Traction

DeFi Summer 2020 was a gold rush. Liquidity mining was exploding. Users were desperate for yield. Anyswap offered it. By September 2020, it had deployed on Binance Smart Chain and started distributing ANY tokens-its native currency-to liquidity providers. The rewards were insane: 159% APY for FSN-USDT, 367% for FSN-ETH. People flocked in. Liquidity pools grew. Trading volume climbed. Binance noticed. In October 2020, it awarded Anyswap a $350,000 grant from its $100 million Accelerator Fund. That wasn’t just money. It was validation. Anyswap was now on the map. For experienced DeFi users, it was a game-changer. You could swap 2.5 BTC for 50 ETH in one transaction, saving over $100 in fees compared to using centralized exchanges. No KYC. No waiting. No withdrawal limits. But for beginners? It was a minefield.

The Hidden Problems

Behind the flashy numbers were deep flaws. First, transaction failures. During Ethereum network congestion, Anyswap’s DCRM system would often stall. Users reported three failed swaps in a row, losing $45 in gas fees each time. One Reddit user called it “a lottery where you pay to lose.” Second, liquidity. On February 26, 2021, Anyswap’s 24-hour volume was $1 million. Binance? $1.5 billion. Even Uniswap, limited to Ethereum, had 10x more activity. Anyswap’s pools were thin. Slippage was high. Sometimes, a swap would fail because there wasn’t enough liquidity on the destination chain. Third, support. Customer service? Nonexistent. Telegram and Discord channels had average response times of 8-12 hours. Trustpilot reviews from May 2021 showed 68% of negative feedback cited “transaction failures” and 82% complained about “no help when things went wrong.” And then there was the learning curve. First-time users took 45-60 minutes to complete a single swap. Experienced users still needed 15-20 minutes. Documentation was sparse. Critical details about gas limits, chain-specific fees, and slippage settings were buried in GitHub issues. No tutorials. No live chat. Just a website and a Discord server.

User facing errors while swapping tokens, with stable alternatives standing strong in geometric forms behind.

The Rebrand: Anyswap Becomes Multichain

On December 16, 2021, Anyswap quietly disappeared. Its website redirected to Multichain a rebranded version of the same protocol. The ANY token remained. The DCRM tech stayed. But the name changed. Why? Because Anyswap was losing ground. CoinMarketCap had already labeled it an “Untracked Listing” in September 2021-meaning it had no reliable volume data. DappRadar’s Q3 2021 report showed Anyswap held less than 0.1% of the DEX market. It was fading. Multichain promised upgrades: faster routing, better security, more chains. But the reality was worse. In July 2022, Multichain’s Router v3 suffered a $120 million exploit. Hackers exploited a vulnerability in the cross-chain message verification system. Millions in assets vanished. The community was furious. The team admitted fault. Compensation? Minimal. Recovery? Slow. Today, Multichain still operates. But it’s not the same platform. The trust is gone. The volume? A fraction of what it once was.

Is ANY Token Still Worth Anything?

The ANY token hit an all-time high of $7.15 in January 2022, right after the Multichain rebrand. Since then, it’s crashed to around $0.85 by late 2022 and has hovered near $1 since. PricePrediction.net forecasts $14.55 by 2025. WalletInvestor says $3.20. Neither is based on current usage. There are no active users. No real liquidity. No major DeFi protocols integrate with it anymore. ANY’s value now rests on speculation-not utility. If you hold ANY, you’re betting that Multichain will fix its security flaws and regain market trust. That’s a big if.

Abandoned Anyswap monument overtaken by code vines, with a lone ANY token spinning above an empty liquidity pool.

Who Should Use Multichain Today?

Short answer: almost no one. If you’re a beginner: avoid it. The interface is outdated. The risks are high. The support is nonexistent. If you’re an experienced DeFi user with a high risk tolerance: you might still use it for niche swaps-say, swapping a lesser-known token between two obscure chains where no other bridge exists. But even then, you’d be better off with alternatives like Synapse, LayerZero, or Celer. The truth? Cross-chain bridges have moved on. The industry now favors message-passing protocols like LayerZero and Axelar over DCRM. They’re faster, cheaper, and more secure. Multichain’s tech, once groundbreaking, is now outdated.

Alternatives to Consider

If you need to swap across chains, here are better options:

LayerZero - Used by major DeFi apps like Stargate and Pendle. Proven security, low fees.
Synapse Protocol - Supports 20+ chains. High liquidity. Better user experience.
Celer cBridge - Fast, low-cost, and integrated with wallets like MetaMask.
Wormhole - Backed by Jump Crypto. Used by Solana and Ethereum ecosystems.

None of these rely on DCRM. They use simpler, more reliable methods. And they’ve survived exploits better than Multichain.

Final Verdict

Anyswap was a bold experiment. It proved cross-chain swaps without wrapped assets were possible. It inspired a generation of DeFi builders. But it also showed how fragile these systems can be. Today, Multichain is a ghost of its former self. The technology is outdated. The security record is poor. The community is gone. Don’t use it unless you have a very specific, very niche need-and even then, proceed with extreme caution. The best move? Walk away. Use something that’s actually alive.

Is Anyswap still operational as a standalone exchange?

No. Anyswap officially rebranded to Multichain on December 16, 2021. The original platform no longer exists. All operations, liquidity, and development have been absorbed into Multichain. Any website still claiming to be Anyswap is either outdated or a scam.

Can I still swap tokens using Multichain today?

Technically, yes-Multichain’s interface is still live. But it’s risky. The platform suffered a $120 million exploit in July 2022, and its liquidity is extremely low. Most major DeFi protocols have moved to LayerZero or Synapse. If you must use it, only swap small amounts and understand you’re taking on significant technical and security risk.

Why did Anyswap fail while other bridges succeeded?

Anyswap relied on DCRM, a complex cryptographic system that was hard to scale and prone to failures during network congestion. Competitors like LayerZero and Synapse used simpler message-passing architectures that were faster, cheaper, and more reliable. Anyswap also lacked user support, clear documentation, and marketing. When users hit problems, there was no help. When security flaws emerged, the response was slow. Those weaknesses were fatal in DeFi.

Is the ANY token still worth holding?

Holding ANY today is pure speculation. The token has no real utility-no staking rewards, no governance power, and no active ecosystem. Its price is driven by hype, not usage. If you’re holding it, you’re betting that Multichain will somehow recover. That’s unlikely. Most experts consider ANY a dead asset.

What should I use instead of Multichain for cross-chain swaps?

Use LayerZero, Synapse, or Celer cBridge. LayerZero is the most secure and widely adopted. Synapse offers the best user experience and supports the most chains. Celer is great for beginners. All three have better liquidity, faster speeds, and active development teams. Avoid Multichain unless you’re doing a very specific, low-value swap.

19 Comments

Sahithi Reddy
March 19, 2026 AT 10:39

Anyswap was cool while it lasted but now it's just a ghost story in DeFi. Don't waste your time.
Bryan Roth
March 20, 2026 AT 11:46

I remember when Anyswap was the only way to move BTC to Polygon without wrapping. It felt like magic. Now? You got LayerZero, Synapse, Celer-all faster, cleaner, and actually maintained. The real tragedy isn't that it died. It's that no one bothered to upgrade the UX before the exploit hit.
sai nikhil
March 20, 2026 AT 16:54

The fact that Multichain still operates after a $120M exploit is wild. I'd rather lose money on a scam than trust a team that doesn't respond to panic. No customer service. No transparency. Just silence.
George Hutchings
March 21, 2026 AT 13:56

I used it once. Took 40 minutes. Gas fees burned more than the actual swap. Never again. LayerZero is just… better.
Henrique Lyma
March 22, 2026 AT 13:32

Anyswap was a noble experiment in cryptographic purity, but DeFi doesn't run on ideals-it runs on liquidity, speed, and reliability. DCRM was elegant in theory but a nightmare in practice. Every failed transaction was a silent indictment of its architecture. The rebrand to Multichain was less an evolution and more a funeral procession.
Steph Andrews
March 24, 2026 AT 02:18

I still have ANY tokens in my wallet and I swear I'm not holding out hope I just like the name. It reminds me of when crypto felt like a movement not a casino
Prakash Patel
March 24, 2026 AT 02:56

You guys act like Multichain is the only one that got hacked. Wormhole got $300M. Stargate got $200M. Everyone's vulnerable. At least Multichain admitted fault. Most just disappear.
Zachary N
March 24, 2026 AT 05:29

If you're still considering Multichain, here's what you need to know. First, check the liquidity on the chains you're swapping between. If it's under $500k, walk away. Second, always test with under $10 before doing anything real. Third, read the GitHub issues-not the website. The team stopped updating the docs after the exploit. Fourth, if you're not using a hardware wallet, you're already playing with fire. Fifth, assume every transaction will fail and plan for it. Sixth, don't rely on Discord for help. Seventh, keep a backup of your transaction hashes. Eighth, monitor the Multichain audit logs manually. Ninth, never use it for stablecoin swaps. Tenth, if you're new to DeFi, just use a centralized exchange. Eleventh, the ANY token has no governance power. Twelfth, the team hasn't posted a roadmap since 2022. Thirteenth, most integrations were dropped by Q1 2023. Fourteenth, there are no tutorials left. Fifteenth, the community is mostly bots. Sixteenth, your best bet is to sell ANY and move on. Seventeenth, you're not missing out on anything. Eighteenth, the real innovation now is in message-passing protocols, not key sharding. Nineteenth, if you're still here after reading this, I respect your grit. But please, use LayerZero.
Elizabeth Kurtz
March 24, 2026 AT 19:55

I used to work in crypto compliance and I saw this coming. No KYC, no support, no accountability. That’s not innovation. That’s negligence dressed up as decentralization.
john peter
March 24, 2026 AT 22:25

Anyswap was the epitome of crypto's delusional phase. A system that required users to become cryptographers just to move assets? That's not user-friendly. That's a cult. And now we're left with the ashes of a religion built on trustless promises.
Marc Morgan
March 26, 2026 AT 13:59

So Multichain’s still up? Cool. I’ll just send my life savings to a ghost with a GitHub repo and a Discord channel full of crickets. What could go wrong?
Anastasia Thyroff
March 28, 2026 AT 03:31

I cried when Anyswap died. Not because I lost money. But because I believed in it. I believed in a world where you didn’t need a bank to move your crypto. Now? It’s all just centralized proxies with fancy names
Kira Dreamland
March 29, 2026 AT 10:55

I used Multichain once to swap a tiny amount of FSN. It worked. Took 12 minutes. No drama. I didn't even think about it again until now. Maybe it's not dead. Just quiet.
shreya gupta
March 29, 2026 AT 13:29

You people act like Multichain is the villain. Meanwhile, you're all still using wrapped BTC on Ethereum. You're not decentralized. You're just pretending. Anyswap tried something real. You just want convenience.
Derek Lynch
March 29, 2026 AT 17:05

If you're still holding ANY, you're not an investor. You're a believer. And that's okay. But don't pretend you're being smart. You're gambling on a ghost. Go read the audit reports. Then go sell. You'll thank yourself later.
Shreya Baid
March 29, 2026 AT 19:31

I understand the frustration. But let’s not forget what Anyswap achieved. It proved cross-chain swaps without wrapping were possible. That opened doors. The tech may be outdated, but the vision was ahead of its time. Maybe one day someone will build on its lessons-not its code.
Christopher Hoar
March 31, 2026 AT 03:52

Multichain still works if you know how to use it. I swap like 500$ a week. You just gotta be patient. The site is janky. The gas is high. But it gets the job done. Stop hating. Just use it.
Robert Kunze
April 1, 2026 AT 21:05

i used to use anyswap all the time but after the exploit i got scared. now i only use layerzero. its so much faster and the support actually replies. i dont know why anyone still uses multichain
Heather James
April 3, 2026 AT 05:01

Anyswap was the last honest DeFi experiment. No VC money. No hype. Just code. And it worked. Until it didn’t. That’s the beauty and the tragedy of crypto.