Escrow

Funds held safely in a Circle wallet until delivery is confirmed.

Conduit Escrow protects both buyer and seller in a peer-to-peer transaction. The buyer locks USDC before anything is delivered. Funds are held securely until the buyer confirms receipt — then released instantly to the seller.

All escrow funds are held in a Circle Developer-Controlled Wallet — a secure MPC wallet managed by Circle. No private keys are stored in Conduit’s database.

How it works

1. Seller creates the escrow link

   Set title, description, amount, and a delivery window.

2. Buyer pays

   USDC is locked in a dedicated Circle wallet. Status becomes HOLDING.

3. Seller delivers

   The seller completes the work or delivers the goods.

4. Buyer confirms receipt

   Funds release instantly to the seller. Status becomes RELEASED.

If the buyer doesn’t confirm or dispute within 7 days after delivery, funds auto-release to the seller.

Escrow statuses

Status	Meaning
ACTIVE	Created, waiting for buyer to pay
HOLDING	Buyer paid — funds locked
CONFIRMED	Buyer confirmed — release in progress
RELEASED	Funds transferred to seller
DISPUTED	Buyer raised a dispute
MEDIATION	Both sides responded — awaiting review
CANCELLED	Escrow refunded to buyer

Disputes

If something goes wrong, the buyer can raise a dispute before confirming receipt. Both parties have 48 hours to submit evidence. Auto-resolution applies: if the seller goes silent for 48 hours funds are refunded to the buyer; if the buyer goes silent after the seller responds funds release to the seller; if both respond it escalates to the AI Dispute Agent or admin review.

Fees

Conduit takes 0.5% of the escrow amount on release, deducted from the amount transferred to the seller. No fee is charged if the escrow is refunded.