Escrow
Why your USDT sits in a smart contract, not with Trustfy or the other trader.
is the mechanism that makes trading with a stranger safe: the trade amount is locked somewhere neither of you individually controls, until the conditions for release are actually met.
Expected time
5 minutes
Difficulty
Beginner
You'll need
No prior crypto knowledge
Who actually holds the funds?#
Not Trustfy, and not your counterparty. It's a smart contract — code deployed on BNB Smart Chain that runs exactly as written, for everyone, with no admin override. Trustfy cannot reach in and move funds any more than either trader can.
Seller's wallet
USDT starts here, fully under the seller's control.
Smart contract escrow
Locked the moment a trade is funded — provably, visibly, untouchable by either side alone.
Buyer's wallet
Released automatically once the seller confirms — or per an arbitrator's ruling.
When funds get locked, and unlocked#
- Locked — the instant a trade reaches the Escrow Funded state (see Trade Lifecycle).
- Released to the buyer — when the seller confirms payment received and releases, or when an arbitrator rules in the buyer's favor.
- Returned to the seller — if a trade is cancelled before funding, expires unfunded, or an arbitrator rules in the seller's favor.
You can verify this yourself
Why this is safer than sending directly#
Without escrow, a buyer and seller would have to trust each other to send first — a classic stand-off where whoever moves first is exposed. Escrow removes that risk entirely: the USDT is provably locked before the buyer ever sends a cent, so there's no version of this trade where the seller can just take the money and run.
Does escrow use my BNB or my USDT? Only USDT is escrowed — BNB is used separately, in small amounts, just to pay gas for the transactions that move it in and out.
Can Trustfy stop a release once conditions are met? No — the contract executes the release automatically once the release conditions (seller confirmation, or an arbitrator's ruling) are satisfied.
What if the smart contract has a bug? Trustfy's contracts are designed and reviewed with this exact risk in mind — see Security for how to trade safely regardless.
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