SideShift.ai: what it is, who runs it and how a shift works

What SideShift.ai is

SideShift.ai is an instant crypto exchanger. You pick the coin you are sending and the coin you want back, give an address for the coin you will receive, and send a deposit to an address SideShift generates for that order. SideShift calls each order a "shift." Its help center describes it as a direct-to-wallet exchange covering more than 200 assets, and its developer FAQ counts 42 blockchains. There is no order book, no balance to fund in advance and no trading screen: one deposit goes in, one payout goes out.

The service also runs an API and an embeddable widget that wallets and other apps use to offer swaps inside their own interfaces. SideShift names Trezor, Bitcoin.com and Edge Wallet among its integrations and says it has processed more than $3.0 billion in volume. Both figures are the company's own and are not independently audited.

Who operates SideShift.ai

The terms and conditions open by saying that SideShift AI is operated by Paradigm Ltd. The only location the terms give is a mailing address in Basseterre, St. Kitts. They do not state where the company is incorporated, give a registration number, name a governing law or mention any financial licence. The help center and white paper refer to "the founder" without a name, and no executive team is listed on the pages we opened.

Searches for "SideShift app" often surface a different business. SideShift Corporation, based at 111 Broadway in New York, runs sideshift.app, a creator-marketing platform where brands hire content creators and pay them through Stripe and Whop. Its terms of service (effective 17 October 2026) do not mention cryptocurrency or sideshift.ai. Queries such as "sideshift earn money" or "sideshift jobs" refer to that app, not to the exchanger described here.

How a shift works

1. Choose the pair and rate type. Pick the deposit coin and the coin to receive, along with the network for each, then choose a fixed or variable rate (explained below).
2. Enter the receiving address. This is your own wallet address for the coin you want. Coins that need a memo or destination tag must include it. Setting a refund address lets SideShift return a rejected deposit automatically.
3. Send the deposit. SideShift shows a unique deposit address for the order. Processing starts after one blockchain confirmation; Litecoin, Dash and Dogecoin need two.
4. Receive the payout. The order page moves through Pending, Received, Settling and Settled. SideShift puts the average shift at about 10 minutes, depending on the coins and network congestion.

Each order gets an order ID, and SideShift assigns an account ID backed by a private key when you create a shift. The developer FAQ warns that the order ID is sensitive: if no refund address was set, anyone holding the ID can open the order page and choose where a refund goes, or cancel the order.

Fixed and variable rates

Minimums and maximums are set by SideShift and published only per order. The minimum moves with coin prices and network fees, and deposits above the maximum need manual processing.

SideShift fees

SideShift does not publish a fee percentage for its own margin. Its FAQ says the rate you see already has fees included and that they vary by pair and market conditions. To compare costs, look at the amount you will receive rather than for a quoted fee; our guide to where exchange fees hide explains why.

Two cost layers are documented:

• Network fees. SideShift calculates the blockchain fees for the pair and applies them to the shift. It lists a sending fee for payouts in BTC, ETH, EVM and TRC-20 tokens, ATOM, KAVA, TIA and SEI, and a receiving fee for ETH, EVM-token and TRC-20 deposits that must be swept from the unique deposit address. An address-creation fee exists for EVM token deposits but is not charged at present, according to the help article.
• Integrator commission. When you swap through a wallet or app that embeds SideShift, the integrator earns a default commission of 0.5% of the shift value. Integrators can set it anywhere from 0% to 2%, and anything above the default is passed on to the user through the rate. A swap through a third-party app can therefore be priced differently from the same swap on sideshift.ai.

Custody, screening and restrictions

The terms state that SideShift "does not provide custodial services," and the help center says it does not hold user funds. In practice, during a shift your deposit sits at an address SideShift controls until the payout is sent, so for those minutes you rely on the service to complete the order.

SideShift does not ask for identity documents before a swap. Its risk management policy says every transaction is screened with unnamed third-party tools that trace the source of the deposit and the destination address. A shift linked to illegal or malicious activity is paused for human review. If the review goes against the user, the account is suspended and the deposit is refunded after an unspecified holding period, and users with flagged deposits "of serious nature" must complete verification before the refund. The terms also allow SideShift to freeze a transaction for as long as an investigation needs and to refuse to execute it.

SideShift publishes two lists of excluded countries that do not match:

• The terms exclude citizens, nationals and residents of the United States, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Syria.
• The help center lists North Korea, the United States, Iran, Belarus, Cuba, Eritrea, Syria, Russia and Thailand, and adds that the XAI token and SideShift staking are unavailable in the US.

Read together, US residents cannot use any part of the service, and the terms reserve the right to restrict other countries at any time.

Refunds and wrong-network deposits

A deposit is refunded when it is the wrong amount for a fixed-rate order, arrives after the order expires, or falls outside the deposit range on a variable order. The developer FAQ says a refund is usually made without a fee and within three days, and that SideShift will not attempt recovery when the network cost would exceed the deposit.

Sending the wrong token is handled under a separate token recovery policy (updated 18 June 2026). Only two cases qualify: a token sent to a native-coin address on the same chain, or a token sent to another token's deposit address on the same chain. Deposits sent on a different chain are treated as lost. Recovery is assessed case by case, can take several days and may cost the network fee needed to retrieve the funds. Checking the network on both sides of a shift matters more than any rate difference; our guide to how crypto wallets and addresses work covers the basics.

The XAI token

XAI is SideShift's own ERC-20 token on Ethereum, capped at 210 million. The white paper (last updated June 2026) splits the supply into 40% for a staking reserve, 30% for fundraising and 30% for the founder. Integrators are paid their commission in XAI. The white paper says staking rewards ended on 3 June 2026 and that XAI is no longer yield-bearing; holders who staked can still withdraw from the vault by exchanging svXAI for XAI on the unstake page. Nothing on this page is a view on XAI's price.

Alternatives by function

These are categories, not recommendations.

• Other instant exchangers work the same way, with different coin lists, rate rules and refund policies. Our instant exchanger ratings compare them on published criteria.
• Decentralized exchanges swap tokens on one chain from your own wallet without a deposit address, with gas paid directly to the network.
• Centralized exchanges suit repeat trading and fiat on-ramps but require an account, identity checks and custody of your balance.

SideShift is also assessed separately in our SideShift review; this profile describes the service and does not grade it.