ICP to ADA: Swap Internet Computer for Native Cardano, No KYC

The Internet Computer has two kinds of identifier, and the swap cares which one you use. A principal is the long dashed ID many ICP apps show first. An account ID is a 64-character hexadecimal string derived from it, and it is what ICP transfers are sent to and from.

For this pair, the sender field wants the 64-character account ID of the wallet you send from. The dashed principal is not accepted. In the NNS dapp, Plug or OISY, look for the account ID on the receive or account view and copy that.

The same distinction applies to the deposit. Send ordinary ICP from your main account. ICP that is staked in an NNS neuron cannot be moved until the neuron has dissolved and you have disbursed it back to the account. Once the ICP shows as a liquid balance, the transfer confirms in a few seconds.

Cardano is a separate chain with its own wallets. Eternl, Lace and VESPR each create a wallet from a recovery phrase and show receive addresses that start with addr1. Copy one from the receive tab and paste it into the ADA field.

Cardano wallets also show a stake address beginning stake1. That is a reward address for staking, and the payout field rejects it. Use the addr1 address instead.

Your Cardano wallet may show several addr1 addresses and create a new one after each payment. That is normal: they all belong to the same wallet, and any of them can receive the ADA. Check the first and last characters after pasting, and look the address up on Cardanoscan once the payout is sent.

GhostSwap lists ADA twice. This pair pays native ADA on Cardano, the coin your addr1 wallet holds and the one you can delegate to a stake pool. There is also a BEP-20 version of ADA on BNB Smart Chain, listed as a separate coin, which uses a 0x address.

Pick the native version unless you specifically want a token on BNB Smart Chain. Native ADA is what Eternl, Lace and VESPR show, and it pays its own fees, so you need nothing else in the wallet to move it later.

Delegating that ADA to a stake pool keeps it in your wallet. There is no lock-up, so it stays spendable while it earns rewards. For more on how Cardano works and what holders weigh up, read whether Cardano is a good investment.

Each side is a native coin paying its own fees, and that keeps ICP to ADA simple. There is no gas token to hold on either side. The care goes into the identifiers: an account ID, not a principal, on the way in, and an addr1 address, not stake1, on the way out.

The exchange box shows the ADA you get after fees for the ICP you enter, quoted from aggregated liquidity from leading crypto markets. The reference rate next to it is the market price for 1 ICP in ADA before fees. The rate floats with the market until your ICP deposit confirms.

ICP confirms in a few seconds, so the floating window is short. After that, most swaps finish within minutes, and the ADA then needs a few minutes of Cardano blocks before your wallet shows it as confirmed.

Limits for this pair, low and high, appear in the box. Send exactly the amount quoted, from the account ID you entered, in one transfer. You can follow the ICP side on the ICP-Dashboard by searching your account ID.

If a swap cannot be completed, the coins are refunded to the sender address you entered. For ICP to ADA that is your 64-character account ID, which is one more reason to copy it from a wallet you control and not from an exchange.

Your swap ID opens a status page that shows the deposit being seen, the conversion and the ADA payout. GhostSwap is a no-KYC crypto exchange, so there is no account history to search; keep the swap ID until the ADA has arrived.

If the ICP Dashboard shows your transfer and the status page has not moved for a long while, contact support@ghostswap.io with the swap ID and the ICP transaction details. Sending the ICP again will not speed anything up.