Frequently Asked Questions

No. Your funds never pass through our wallets and are never under our control at any point. You send them directly to the vault of the protocol executing your swap, and they leave that vault for your address. Portage holds no keys that can move your funds — there is technically nothing for us to take. That doesn't mean there's no risk at all: during the swap your funds sit in the protocol's vault, and you're taking on that protocol's risk. We always show which protocol executes each route, so you know who you're trusting.

To the vault of one of the protocols we work with. The address belongs to that protocol, not to us, and we don't generate it — we request it from the protocol when your swap is created. The mechanics depend on the route. Chainflip and NEAR Intents issue a unique address for each swap: the arrival of funds at that address is what identifies your trade. THORChain uses a shared address, with the route parameters passed in the transaction's memo field. From there the funds are controlled by the protocol's validator network: no single party holds the vault key in full, and any movement requires agreement from a majority of nodes.

Swaps already in progress will complete — the protocols execute them, and that doesn't require us. You just won't be able to start new ones: you'll see a message that the service is unavailable. The only thing you lose is our tracking page. The status of your swap can always be checked directly with the protocol executing it.

You choose what you want to swap and what you want to receive. We request routes from several protocols at once and show them side by side — with the final amount, a full fee breakdown, and the expected time. You pick a route, send your funds directly to the executor, and follow the swap on the status page until it completes.

Open the status page — it shows exactly where your funds are right now: waiting for network confirmations, swapping, or being sent to your address. Cross-chain swaps take 10 to 60 minutes, so a long wait on its own doesn't mean something is wrong. If something does go wrong, we usually know before you do: every swap is recorded in an event log, and anything unusual triggers an alert. Message us with your swap ID — you'll find it on the status page.

It depends on the direction and the amount. We show every available route at once, ordered from best to worst, and break down the fees for each one: what the executing protocol charges, what goes to network fees, and what we charge.

No. Every fee is visible on the quote screen before you send anything. The final amount may differ slightly from the estimate: prices move while the swap executes, and network fees depend on congestion. That isn't a hidden fee — we show the minimum you'll receive in the worst case, and if conditions fall below that threshold the swap won't execute and your funds are returned.

No. No identity verification, no accounts, and we never hold your funds. You don't even have to connect a wallet: you can simply copy the deposit address and send from any wallet — the swap is picked up automatically as soon as the transaction appears on-chain.

You can, and if that works for you, do it. Portage is useful because it shows several protocols at once. Routes missing from one are available on another, prices for the same pair differ between them, and when a protocol goes offline for maintenance or an incident, swaps keep working through a different route. You see all of that on one screen instead of checking each venue in turn.

We're planning an independent code audit. Worth noting: Portage has no smart contracts of its own — which removes the single most common source of exploits in crypto. The audit will cover what we do have: how deposit addresses are generated, how swaps are processed, and how data is stored.

Treat us the way you'd treat any service in crypto — a healthy dose of caution is warranted. Here's what we can offer: funds physically never reach us, the deposit address belongs to the executing protocol, and every swap can be verified on-chain independently of us — the transaction shows funds going to the protocol's vault, not to a wallet of ours. Beyond that it comes down to reputation and reviews, which take time to build. We don't have them yet, and we're not pretending otherwise.

There's no token and none planned — so no airdrops either. If one ever appears, it will be because it makes technical or economic sense, not before. Don't build expectations around it.