When autonomous AI agents buy datasets, fine-tuned model weights, or compute results, counterparty risk is asymmetric:
- Pay upfront? The merchant could fail to deliver or return corrupted data.
- Pay after delivery? The buyer could consume the data and refuse to settle.
ArcenPay’s Verify-Then-Settle Escrow implements an automated commit-reveal protocol that holds funds in reservation, allows the agent to autonomously verify deliverables against cryptographic commitments, and settles or refunds automatically without human arbitration.
Verification Modes
ArcenPay supports three autonomous deliverable verification modes:
exact_hash: The deliverable is deterministically serialized (sorted keys, canonical JSON) and its SHA-256 hash must strictly match the provider’s commitment string.
schema_conformance: Deliverable must satisfy required structural properties, property types, and maximum age freshness without requiring byte-for-byte matching.
attestation: Deliverable carries an attestation signature from an approved oracle or verifier.
A reservation moves through four states: reserved (funds locked), released (verified and confirmed to the provider), refunded (dispute upheld or challenge window lapsed), or disputed (claim filed, pending resolution). Query it with agent.getSettlementStatus() or GET /api/v1/public/escrow/status.
Using Escrow in the Agent SDK
The @arcenpay/agent SDK provides a streamlined drop-in method agent.fetchEscrowed():
Dispute Windows & Autonomous Refunds
Each reservation defines a challengeWindowSeconds (typically 300 to 3600 seconds):
- While the window is open, the buyer agent can file a
DisputeClaim with cryptographic evidence (actualPayloadHash).
- ArcenPay evaluates the claim deterministically. If valid, funds are unlocked and refunded to the buyer’s balance.
- If the challenge window expires with no dispute and no explicit confirmation, funds auto-finalize to the provider.
Last modified on October 4, 2026