Chainflip validators pre-witness a deposit when a majority recognize that it has been included in a source-chain block. Available Boost liquidity can then stand in for that deposit, allowing the swap to execute through the Just-In-Time automated market maker, or JIT AMM. The Boost fee is deducted from the deposited amount.

The providers of that liquidity bear the risk that the incoming deposit does not reach confirmation after the normal safety margin. A Bitcoin reorganization that removes the deposit can expose the committed liquidity to loss.

Bitcoin deposits can be considered for Boost after their first block inclusion, provided that Boost is enabled, sufficient liquidity is available and the accepted fee limit permits boosting. Pools must fund the deposit amount minus the Boost fee; Boost applies to the whole deposit or none of it. A shortage sends the deposit through regular confirmation processing without a Boost charge.

The regular confirmation requirement is a protocol parameter that can change. The SDK’s getRequiredBlockConfirmations reports requirements by chain. Bitcoin block production and the destination payout still affect receipt time, so first-block eligibility does not promise completion within a fixed number of minutes.

A second deposit on the same deposit channel can only be considered for Boost after the earlier boosted deposit has finalized.

Chainflip’s JavaScript SDK reference records that version 2.2 removed every Boost pool fee tier except 5 basis points, equivalent to 0.05%. This percentage applies to the amount of the deposit being boosted, and the fee compensates the providers of Boost liquidity. Older descriptions of multiple pool tiers do not describe that version’s pool configuration.

A boosted quote distinguishes estimatedBoostFeeBps , the estimated charge, from maxBoostFeeBps , the maximum accepted charge. These values describe the Boost component. Liquidity fees, the Chainflip network fee, any broker or affiliate commission and transaction costs on the source and destination chains can also affect the total cost.

Open full-size image

The SDK’s getQuoteV2 can return a boostQuote when there is a Boost opportunity for the requested amount. That quote can be passed to requestDepositAddressV2 for a deposit channel or encodeVaultSwapData for a supported Vault Swap. Successful acceleration still depends on liquidity when the protocol attempts to boost the deposit.

Open full-size image

Enabled State

checkBoostEnabled reads the Boost setting from Bitcoin’s asset configuration. Governance can disable Boost, including during an incident.

Available Liquidity

getBoostLiquidity reports available pool depth for an asset and chain. Its poolType distinguishes standalone pools marked LEGACY_BOOST from lending supply liquidity marked SUPPLY .

Hypothetical BTC Liquidity and Fee Check

Assume a hypothetical deposit of 0.0438 BTC and hypothetical available BTC Boost liquidity of 0.0416 BTC. Also assume that the deposit meets the swap’s amount limits, Boost is enabled, the accepted fee limit allows the documented version 2.2 tier of 5 bps and the deposit has just been included in its first Bitcoin block.

The available liquidity is 0.0022 BTC below the gross deposit amount and cannot cover the deposit minus the Boost fee. Chainflip falls back to regular confirmations and charges no Boost fee. The presence of some pool liquidity does not produce a partially boosted deposit, and other applicable swap and transaction charges remain.

Open full-size image

Change only the hypothetical available liquidity to 0.0573 BTC. The pool can now cover the full 0.0438 BTC deposit, allowing early execution under the stated conditions. At 5 bps, the Boost fee alone would be 0.0438 BTC * 5 / 10,000 = 0.0000219 BTC . That calculation excludes every other fee and does not determine the destination asset amount.

Chainflip Lending’s unified pool model also uses part of the supplied BTC to support Boosted swaps and deposits. BTC suppliers can earn Boost yield alongside lending interest, and their BTC positions share the Bitcoin reorganization risk previously borne by standalone Boost depositors. This BTC-specific exposure does not extend to positions in other supplied assets.

Within the lending supply pools, accrued interest and fees automatically increase the value of each supplier’s pool share, with no manual claim required. For BTC suppliers, returns reflect both borrowing and Boost activity. The 5 bps charge on a boosted deposit is a transaction fee, not an annual yield or a guaranteed return for a supplier.