A deep dive into Exchanger's non-custodial escrow system and how it protects both buyers and sellers.
Mia Chen
Head of Engineering
Escrow is the foundation of safe P2P trading. Here's exactly how it works on Exchanger.
When a buyer opens a trade, the seller's cryptocurrency is immediately moved into a smart-contract escrow — a tamper-proof, on-chain vault. The seller no longer has access to those funds, and neither does Exchanger.
The only ways for funds to leave escrow are: the seller clicks "Release" after confirming payment, or a dispute moderator manually overrides the lock following a formal dispute resolution.
This design eliminates the most common P2P scam: a seller taking payment and then disappearing with the crypto. Because the crypto is locked before the buyer sends any fiat, there is no way for the seller to vanish with both assets.
Buyers are protected from "payment not received" claims because the in-trade chat is timestamped and all uploaded payment receipts are permanently linked to the trade record. Moderators review this evidence during disputes.
Sellers are protected from chargebacks by the fact that Exchanger guides them to only release after they verify payment — ideally by logging into their bank or e-wallet to confirm the credit, not just by checking a screenshot.
Escrow is non-custodial: Exchanger never holds or controls the funds. The smart contract is open-source and has been audited by a third-party security firm. A link to the audit report is available in our security documentation.