Understanding Kasora
How decentralized trading works, and why it's safer than a centralized exchange.
Kasora is a , peer-to-peer (“P2P”) marketplace: you trade directly with another real person, and the only thing standing between you and a scam is code, not a company's promise.
Expected time
6 minutes
Difficulty
Beginner
You'll need
No prior crypto knowledge
Why not just use a centralized exchange?#
A centralized exchange (a company like a crypto bank) holds your funds in accounts it controls. That's convenient, but it means you're trusting that company not to freeze your account, get hacked, or misuse your deposits — all things that have happened, repeatedly, across the industry.
| Centralized exchange | Kasora | |
|---|---|---|
| Who holds your crypto | The company | You, or a neutral smart contract |
| Can your funds be frozen? | Yes, at the company's discretion | Only ever by the contract's own pre-written rules |
| Who sets the rules | The company, and can change anytime | Fixed logic in the smart contract, visible to anyone |
| If something goes wrong | Support ticket, no guarantee | Bond-backed, independent arbitration |
The three pillars that keep trading safe#
Escrow
The trade amount is locked in a smart contract the moment a trade is funded — untouchable by either side until conditions are met.
Bonds
Both traders post a refundable deposit, so walking away or acting in bad faith carries a real cost.
Arbitration
If the two sides can't agree, an independent arbitrator reviews the evidence and issues a binding ruling.
Together, these mean no single party — not your counterparty, not Kasora — can unilaterally take your funds. Dig into each one in the Escrow, Bonds & Fees, and Disputes guides.
What is the Kasora Economic Protocol (TEP)?#
TEP is simply the name for the specific set of rules, written into the smart contract, that govern how much you need to deposit, when it's locked, when it's refunded, and how a dispute gets resolved. You never interact with “TEP” directly — it's just the engine underneath every ad, trade, bond, and fee you see in the app.
You don't need to memorize this
A trade, in three sentences#
A maker publishes an ad. A taker matches it, and the trade amount gets locked in escrow. The buyer pays off-platform, the seller confirms and releases — or, if something's wrong, an arbitrator steps in. See the full Trade Lifecycle guide for every state a trade can move through.
Does Kasora ever touch my money? No — not your fiat payment (that's between you and your counterparty directly) and not your USDT except while it's provably locked in escrow mid-trade.
Who runs the arbitration? Independent arbitrators review disputed trades — not Kasora staff, and not either trader.
Is this the same as a normal crypto exchange? No — there's no order book matching strangers anonymously. You always see who you're trading with, their reputation, and their terms, before you commit.
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