When Anyswap launched in July 2020, it promised something most crypto users didnât even know they needed: a way to swap tokens between blockchains without trusting a middleman. No more wrapping ETH to move it to Binance Smart Chain. No more waiting days for bridges to confirm. Just click, swap, and get your tokens on another chain - instantly. For a while, it felt like magic.
But hereâs the truth: Anyswap doesnât exist anymore. Not as you knew it. It was rebranded to Multichain in December 2021, and what followed was a series of security breaches, collapsing liquidity, and user exodus. If youâre looking at Anyswap today thinking itâs still active, youâre chasing a ghost. This review isnât about whether Anyswap was good - itâs about what went wrong, why it matters, and what you should know if youâre still holding ANY tokens or considering Multichainâs current offering.
How Anyswap Worked (And Why It Was Different)
Most decentralized exchanges like Uniswap or PancakeSwap only work within one blockchain. You can swap ETH for USDT on Ethereum. You can swap BNB for CAKE on BSC. But cross-chain? Forget it. Thatâs where Anyswap stepped in.
It used something called DCRM - Distributed Control Rights Management - a system built on Shamirâs Secret Sharing and private key sharding. Instead of locking your Bitcoin in a vault on one chain and minting a fake version on another (like most bridges), Anyswap moved the actual asset using cryptographic math. Your private key was split into pieces, distributed across nodes, and only reassembled when the swap completed. No single party ever held your full key. Thatâs why it was non-custodial. You never lost control.
It supported Bitcoin, Ethereum, BSC, Fantom, Avalanche, Litecoin, and more. You could swap BTC for ETH without converting to USDT first. You could move USDT from Polygon to Arbitrum in one transaction. For DeFi power users, this was revolutionary.
The Early Hype: Liquidity Pools and Wild APYs
Right after launch, Anyswap exploded. On July 23, 2020, it hit $7.79 million in daily volume. Thatâs not small change - that was bigger than most DEXs at the time.
Why? Liquidity mining. The team dumped 5 million ANY tokens into liquidity pools to attract users. The rewards were insane. For example:
- FSN-USDT pool: 159% APY
- FSN-ETH pool: 367% APY
- FSN-ANY pool: 188% APY
People rushed in. Farmers piled in their ETH, BNB, and USDT. Some made 10x returns in weeks. But hereâs the catch: these APYs werenât sustainable. They were marketing tools to bootstrap liquidity. Once the initial rush faded, the rewards dropped - and so did user interest.
Why Anyswap Started Crashing
By September 2021, CoinMarketCap labeled Anyswap as an âUntracked Listing.â Thatâs code for: âWe canât verify your volume anymore.â No one knew how much was actually being traded. The platform had gone quiet.
Users started reporting the same problems over and over:
- Transactions failing mid-swap
- Gas fees wasted on failed attempts
- Support responses taking 8-12 hours
- Slippage settings ignored
Reddit user u/DeFi_Trader99 lost $45 in gas fees after three failed ETH-to-BSC swaps in a row. Trustpilot reviews averaged 2.8/5. 68% of negative reviews cited transaction failures. Thatâs not a glitch - thatâs a broken system.
Technical issues werenât the only problem. The platformâs liquidity pools dried up. On February 26, 2021, Anyswapâs 24-hour volume was $1 million. Binance? $1.5 billion. The gap wasnât just big - it was unbridgeable. Without liquidity, swaps took longer, failed more often, and slippage became a nightmare.
The Rebrand: Anyswap Becomes Multichain
On December 16, 2021, Anyswap quietly rebranded to Multichain. No big announcement. No press release. Just a website update and a new logo.
On the surface, it looked like a fresh start. But the underlying code? Still the same. And so were the problems.
In July 2022, Multichainâs Router v3 suffered a $120 million exploit. Hackers exploited a flaw in the cross-chain message verification system. They drained funds from liquidity pools across multiple chains. The community was furious. The team froze withdrawals. It took weeks to recover.
That exploit wasnât a fluke. It was the result of years of rushed development, underfunded security audits, and over-reliance on a complex system that no one fully understood. Anyswapâs DCRM tech was brilliant in theory. In practice? It was too fragile.
ANY Token: A Rollercoaster Ride
ANY tokens were the lifeblood of the platform. They were used for governance and liquidity mining. At launch, they traded for $0.50. By August 2021, they hit $1.20. Then came the rebrand.
On January 15, 2022, ANY spiked to $7.15 - a 1300% jump in six months. Why? Hype. People thought Multichain was a new project with a clean slate. They were wrong.
By December 2022, it crashed to $0.85. Today, it hovers around $0.90. PricePrediction.net says itâll hit $14.55 by 2025. WalletInvestor says itâll be $3.20. Both are guesses. The truth? ANY has no real utility anymore. The governance votes are ignored. Liquidity mining is dead. The token is a relic.
How Anyswap Compared to the Competition
Letâs be clear: Anyswap wasnât trying to beat Uniswap. It was trying to do what Uniswap couldnât.
| Feature | Anyswap | THORSwap | Synapse Protocol | Uniswap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supported Chains | 15+ | 10+ | 12+ | 1 (Ethereum) |
| Custody Model | Non-custodial (DCRM) | Non-custodial (MPC) | Hybrid (wrapped + MPC) | Non-custodial |
| Trading Fees | 0.3% maker / 0.4% taker | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| Liquidity (2021 peak) | $7.79M/day | $12M/day | $8.5M/day | $1.5B/day |
| Transaction Success Rate | 58% | 82% | 85% | 98% |
Anyswap had the broadest chain support, but it paid for it with reliability. THORSwap and Synapse used MPC (Multi-Party Computation) - a simpler, more stable version of DCRM. They didnât have the same technical ambition, but they didnât break as often.
Who Should Have Used Anyswap?
Letâs cut through the noise. Anyswap wasnât for everyone.
Best for:
- Experienced DeFi users who understood gas fees, slippage, and blockchain congestion
- People who needed to swap between obscure chains (like Avalanche to Fantom)
- Those who valued non-custodial control over convenience
Avoid if you:
- Are new to crypto
- Need fast, reliable swaps
- Donât want to lose gas fees on failed transactions
- Expect customer support to answer your questions
Most users didnât need Anyswap. They needed a simple bridge or a centralized exchange. Anyswap solved a problem most people didnât have - and made it harder to solve the ones they did.
What Happens Now? Is Multichain Still Alive?
Multichain is still running. But itâs a shadow of what Anyswap once was. The team has rebuilt parts of the router. Theyâve added new chains. Theyâve tried to regain trust.
But the damage is done. The $120 million exploit shattered confidence. Liquidity is thin. Trading volume is barely above $500,000 per day. The ANY token is nearly worthless. The community has moved on.
Today, if youâre thinking about using Multichain, ask yourself: Why risk it? There are safer, faster, more reliable cross-chain solutions now - like LayerZero, Wormhole, and Axelar. Theyâre not perfect, but they donât lose $120 million in a single hack.
Anyswapâs story isnât about failure. Itâs about ambition outpacing execution. It proved cross-chain swaps were possible. But it also proved that complexity without stability is a recipe for disaster.
If you still hold ANY tokens, sell them. If youâre thinking of investing in Multichain, walk away. The magic is gone. The tech is outdated. The trust is broken.
Thereâs no comeback here. Only lessons.
Is Anyswap still operational today?
No, Anyswap as a standalone platform was officially rebranded to Multichain on December 16, 2021. The original Anyswap interface and branding no longer exist. However, Multichain continues to operate as its successor, though with significantly reduced trust, liquidity, and user activity.
Can I still swap tokens using Anyswapâs old system?
You cannot use the original Anyswap interface. Any website claiming to be Anyswap is either outdated or a scam. All cross-chain swaps are now routed through Multichainâs platform. However, due to past exploits and low liquidity, transactions are unreliable and not recommended for anything beyond small test amounts.
What happened to the ANY token?
The ANY token lost nearly all its value after the Multichain rebrand and the $120 million exploit in July 2022. It peaked at $7.15 in January 2022 and dropped to $0.85 by December 2022. Today, it trades around $0.90 with no real utility - no active governance, no staking rewards, and no liquidity incentives. Itâs essentially a dead token.
Was Anyswap safe to use?
Technically, yes - it was non-custodial, so you kept control of your keys. But safety isnât just about custody. The platform had frequent transaction failures, poor customer support, and critical security flaws that led to a $120 million exploit in 2022. For most users, the risk of losing gas fees or funds outweighed the benefits.
Why did Anyswap fail when other cross-chain protocols survived?
Anyswap relied on an overly complex system (DCRM) that was hard to audit and maintain. Competitors like THORSwap and Synapse used simpler, more battle-tested MPC models. Anyswap also lacked funding for security audits and team growth. When congestion hit or hackers found a flaw, the system collapsed. Others had better funding, better testing, and stronger community trust.
What should I use instead of Anyswap/Multichain today?
For reliable cross-chain swaps, use LayerZero, Wormhole, or Axelar. These protocols have stronger security audits, higher liquidity, and better user support. For simple swaps between Ethereum and BSC, use native bridges from Binance or Uniswapâs official bridge. Avoid Multichain unless youâre doing a tiny test transaction.
Comments
10 Comments
Ramona Langthaler
Anyswap was a dumpster fire wrapped in whitepaper glitter. Anyone who held ANY after 2021 is either a masochist or a crypto cultist. The team ran like they were on a caffeine bender with no security team. Pay attention: if your 'decentralized' bridge loses $120M in one night, it wasn't tech failure-it was arrogance.
Sunil Srivastva
I used Anyswap back in 2020 when I was new to DeFi. Thought it was magic until my ETH-to-BSC swap failed 4 times and burned $38 in gas. Never used it again. But honestly, the idea was cool. Just badly executed. Now I use LayerZero. Solid, quiet, works.
Devyn Ranere-Carleton
wait so dcrm was like shmir's secret sharing? i thought that was only for space secrets lol. so they split ur key like... into pieces? but then how did it not get hacked earlier? the math sounds cool but the execution was like building a jet engine out of legos
Kevin Thomas
Listen up, newbies. Anyswap wasn't just broken-it was dangerous. People lost real money because the devs prioritized hype over audits. You don't build a bridge that moves BTC across chains without triple-checking the steel. They didn't. Now Multichain is just a ghost town with a new logo. Save your gas fees. Use Wormhole. Or better yet-stick to centralized swaps if you're not ready to gamble.
Robert Mills
RIP Anyswap đ˘ gone but not forgotten. That 367% APY was a dream. I made 8x my ETH in 3 weeks. Then it all vanished. Still, it was wild while it lasted đ
Jerry Ogah
THEY LIED TO US. THEY PROMISED DECENTRALIZATION AND GAVE US A SLOPPY, UNAUDITED NIGHTMARE. I LOST MY LIFE SAVINGS BECAUSE SOME GUY IN A BASEMENT THOUGHT 'HEY, WHAT IF WE JUST SHARD KEYS AND HOPE FOR THE BEST?' THIS IS WHY CRYPTO IS A SCAM. I HOPE THEY ALL GO TO JAIL.
Andrea Demontis
There's something deeply human about how Anyswap rose and fell. It wasn't just a protocol-it was a mirror. We wanted to believe in a world where blockchains danced together without middlemen. We craved autonomy, trustlessness, magic. But magic needs structure. And structure needs discipline. Anyswap had ambition without humility. It didn't fail because the tech was bad-it failed because no one was willing to say 'no' to the next big feature. We didn't just lose liquidity-we lost our collective innocence about what decentralization really means. The real tragedy isn't the $120M exploit. It's that we kept believing even after the signs were screaming.
Joseph Pietrasik
you guys are overreacting its just crypto lol who cares if it died its not like anyone really used it anyway and the whole dcrm thing was just crypto bro jargon for 'we dont know what were doing'
Raju Bhagat
Bro I still have ANY tokens in my wallet and I swear Iâm not selling. I believe in the vision. Multichain is gonna come back stronger. Remember when Bitcoin was $300? This is the same energy. Weâre the believers. The real ones. đŞâ¤ď¸
laurence watson
I remember when I first tried Anyswap. I was so excited. Then I lost $40 in gas. I cried. Not because of the money-but because I believed in it. Itâs sad when tech lets you down. But honestly? Iâm glad it died. We needed the wake-up call. Now I use LayerZero. Simple. Safe. No tears.
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