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A typical value exchange marketplace involves a buyer who wants to purchase assets and sellers offering those assets for sale. These parties interact through an intermediary platform, which provides discovery, trust, and mediation services. Traditionally, secure transactions in these marketplaces rely on a centralized escrow managed by the platform. However, this approach creates a single point of failure, raising concerns about insolvency, platform restrictions, or fraud.

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The Smart Contract Escrow Account (SCEA)

Onboard has developed a decentralized escrow system to enable value exchange in a trustless, permissionless manner. The core idea behind this system is a Smart Contract Escrow Account (SCEA) created on the blockchain.

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SCEA Key Functionalities

  • Storage of assets: store assets not locked in an ongoing transaction, similar to an externally-owned account.
  • Escrow Lock: lock tokens being transacted during an ongoing exchange.
  • Deposits & Withdrawals: assets deposited directly into its address, or transferred after a transaction, are stored in the SCEA. The SCEA’s owner can withdraw from this balance, so long as it isn’t locked in an ongoing transaction.
Now, let’s dive deeper into how the SCEA works:
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