What is Mainnet swap

Ethereum is one of the most popular blockchain network, among others, that supports new digital token generation. Following the ERC-20 standard, a blockchain startup can issue its own token on the Ethereum network.

Later, the company can decide to create its own independent blockchain. A mainnet swap occurs when this company moves its blockchain activity to its own network, substituting the ERC-20 tokens with its new tokens on its own chain and destroying the old tokens. For example, Binance first issued tokens on the Ethereum network, the ERC-20 BNB tokens. Then, once it developed its own blockchain network, the ERC-20 tokens were substituted by BEP2 BNB tokens of the same value, and then the ERC-20 BNB tokens left were destroyed.

A mainnet swap can also occur when a company decides to transfer to a different protocol, for instance moving from a Bitcoin-based protocol to an Ethereum-based one.