P2P marketplace
Trades between people where the money is held in escrow until both sides have done their part, and a dispute goes to a human with the evidence already attached.
Anyone buying or selling between individuals: currency, goods, services, anything arranged between two people who do not know each other.
Built, tested and switched off. It is a function of an issuer or an acquirer, so it stays off until the corresponding authorisation is recorded, or until an authorised institution operates it on the platform. Nothing here is offered to a customer meanwhile. This service will be available after the authorisation of the Banque Centrale du Congo; it is switched off by the administrator
The problem
One side has to go first. Whoever that is carries all the risk, and the usual resolution — argue in a chat, then give up — favours whoever is most willing to behave badly.
How it works
- Agree the trade and open it; the buyer’s money moves into escrow.
- The seller can see the money is held, so they deliver.
- The buyer confirms, and escrow releases to the seller.
- If they disagree, it goes to a dispute where a person looks at the evidence attached to the trade.
What you can check
Facts about the running platform rather than adjectives. Each one is visible in the product, the API reference or the ledger.
- Escrowed money is held on the ledger, not held as a promise — both sides can see it is there.
- Release requires the buyer’s confirmation or a dispute decision; neither side can take it unilaterally.
- A dispute carries the trade’s own evidence and history, so a reviewer is not reconstructing it from screenshots.
- Counterparty history is visible, so a pattern of disputes is apparent before a trade rather than after.
What it costs
The fee for a completed trade is shown before you open it. A trade that is cancelled before delivery returns the escrowed money.
Questions
What stops the buyer taking the goods and refusing to confirm?
A dispute. Escrow does not release on silence — it goes to a person who reviews the evidence attached to the trade. A buyer who refuses to confirm a delivered trade is making a case they have to win rather than simply walking away with it.
How is a dispute actually decided?
By a person, on the evidence attached to the trade and the history of both parties. It is not an algorithm, and it is not whoever complains loudest.
Can I see who I am trading with?
You can see their trading history, including disputes. A pattern is visible before you trade, which is considerably more useful than discovering it afterwards.
Read next
Refunds and disputes
A refund that reserves the money atomically before it is promised, and a dispute that is an object with a timetable rather than an email thread somebody is supposed to remember.
Wallets and transfers
A transfer between two accounts is one balanced posting on a double-entry ledger, not a message between two systems that might later disagree.
Identity and tiers
Tiers that let somebody start with a phone number and grow into higher limits, so verification is a ladder rather than a wall at the front door.