Trustless Work presents escrow as a critical infrastructure layer for marketplace platforms, enabling non-custodial fund holding between buyers and sellers without requiring platforms to build custom payment systems. The article outlines how escrow solves the coordination problem in marketplaces and details the technical implementation using stablecoins and smart contracts.
This article explains why marketplace trust breaks at the moment money moves and positions escrow as the solution. It details how large platforms like Amazon built internal escrow systems, but most can't afford that infrastructure. Trustless Work abstracts escrow infrastructure, allowing platforms to configure trust logic without custodying funds. The article walks through the escrow flow: initiation, funding with stablecoins, status updates, approval, and fund release. It describes key roles (depositor, receiver, initiator, approver, release signer) and common marketplace patterns (buyer-approved delivery, platform-verified delivery, auto-release with timeout, digital goods, peer-to-peer sales). The core value proposition is enabling marketplaces to control payment logic without holding money, reducing custody risk, compliance burden, and time to market.
