Portal vs Relay

Portal3.4/5

VS

Relay4.3/5

Feature	PortalVisit	RelayVisit
Ratings
Our score	3.4/5	4.3/5
User rating	No reviews yet	No reviews yet
Security	4.0	3.5
Speed	3.0	5.0
Fees	3.5	4.5
Chain coverage	3.0	4.5
Ease of use	3.0	4.5
Specs
KYC required	No	No
Design	Not disclosed	Intent-based
Chains	Bitcoin	Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, BNB Chain, Solana, Bitcoin, Sui, Tron, Other
Chains supported	Not disclosed	85
Typical fee	Not disclosed	Under $0.01 average cost plus dynamic execution fees
Typical transfer time	Not disclosed	1 second
Security model	BitScaler trustless multi-party atomic swap channels and non-custodial validator nodes	Non-custodial depository with authorized signer oracle Hub and relayer settlement
Audited	Not disclosed	Yes
Token	PTB	Not disclosed
Intent-based	Not disclosed	Yes
Native token transfers (no wrapped tokens)	Yes	Yes
Company
Founded	2018	2023
Headquarters	United States	United States
Investors	Paloma Investments, Arrington Capital	Archetype, Union Square Ventures
Strengths and weaknesses
Pros	No wrapped tokens or lock-and-mint bridge contracts Non-custodial design leaves funds in user wallets until atomic settlement Native support for Bitcoin, Runes, and Ordinals without synthetic minting $92M in verified venture backing from Coinbase Ventures, OKX Ventures, and Paloma Investments	Average execution speed of one second across supported networks No wrapped tokens used, settling directly in native destination assets Average transaction fee sits below $0.01 plus network gas Connects over 85 networks without pooled treasury lock-in
Cons	Swap execution speeds are tied to Bitcoin base-layer confirmation times Channel settlement remains vulnerable to elevated Bitcoin network fee spikes	Verification hub depends on an authorized oracle signer architecture Solver capacity limits maximum transfer size during volatile market conditions Relay Vaults retired in late 2026, requiring manual user balance withdrawals
Best for	Native Bitcoin holders avoiding wrapped tokens, Traders exchanging Ordinals and Runes cross-chain, Developers integrating direct Bitcoin settlement	Fast native multi-chain transfers, Cross-chain stablecoin settlements, Developers building cross-chain checkout

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