This is the page to read before you sign anything. A Bitcoin trade is not instant, and
during the gap your money is somewhere. Somewhere specific, with an address, not
“in the system”.
Buyer side: held by the buyer, or delivered to the buyer
Seller side: held by the seller, or delivered to the seller
Buyer side: held by the buyer, or delivered to the buyer
Seller side: held by the seller, or delivered to the seller
Held by StampDEX for the length of one trade
Settled on Bitcoin, final
Listing opens
The asset
In listing escrow, locked to this listing
The BTC
With the buyer, not yet committed
Who controls the keys
Escrow keys: StampDEX (server side, encrypted)
Status
Buyer browsing; nothing signed
What proves it
Listing PSBT signed by the seller
Buyer signs the payment
The asset
In listing escrow
The BTC
Into the listing escrow address
Who controls the keys
Escrow keys: StampDEX; payment key: the buyer wallet
Status
Payment broadcast, waiting for confirmations
What proves it
Funding transaction on Bitcoin
Settlement waits for confirmations
The asset
Transfer transaction broadcast; one confirmation away
The BTC
In listing escrow until the transfer confirms
Who controls the keys
Escrow keys: StampDEX
Status
Settlement worker watching the chain
What proves it
Transfer transaction id, two confirmations required
Filled
The asset
In the buyer's wallet
The BTC
Paid to the seller, service fee deducted
Who controls the keys
Escrow emptied; nobody holds anything for this trade
Status
Trade complete on Bitcoin
What proves it
Transfer and payout transactions confirmed
If it fails
The asset
Held in escrow, recoverable
The BTC
Held in escrow, recoverable
Who controls the keys
Escrow keys: StampDEX until recovery completes
Status
Failed: escrow released nothing
What proves it
Recovery path in Recovery
Dispenser open
The asset
With the seller's dispense address, armed
The BTC
With the buyer, not yet committed
Who controls the keys
Dispenser: the seller; payment: the buyer
Status
Buyer picks a stamp from the dispenser
What proves it
Dispenser transaction on Bitcoin
Buyer pays the dispenser
The asset
Released by the protocol in the same transaction
The BTC
Straight to the seller, with the buyer paying the network fee
Who controls the keys
Neither side waits on the venue: the dispenser is atomic
Status
One transaction, payment and dispense together
What proves it
The single confirmed transaction on Bitcoin
Confirmed
The asset
In the buyer's wallet
The BTC
With the seller
Who controls the keys
Nobody holds anything for this trade
Status
Complete; the venue never touched the funds
What proves it
One confirmation on the payment transaction
The complete ledger, including stamp dispenser caveats and atomic stamp purchases when they arrive, is in Where your funds are.
Trade and stage
The asset
The BTC
SRC-20 purchase: Listing opens
In listing escrow, locked to this listing
With the buyer, not yet committed
SRC-20 purchase: Buyer signs the payment
In listing escrow
Into the listing escrow address
SRC-20 purchase: Settlement waits for confirmations
Transfer transaction broadcast; one confirmation away
In listing escrow until the transfer confirms
SRC-20 purchase: Filled
In the buyer's wallet
Paid to the seller, service fee deducted
SRC-20 purchase: If it fails
Held in escrow, recoverable
Held in escrow, recoverable
Stamp dispenser purchase: Dispenser open
With the seller's dispense address, armed
With the buyer, not yet committed
Stamp dispenser purchase: Buyer pays the dispenser
Released by the protocol in the same transaction
Straight to the seller, with the buyer paying the network fee
Stamp dispenser purchase: Confirmed
In the buyer's wallet
With the seller
An SRC-20 trade uses the three-transaction listing flow. The seller signs the tokens
into escrow addresses created for that one listing. The buyer pays the exact total to
that listing’s payment address. When the payment confirms and the token balance checks
out, the settlement worker broadcasts the transfer that delivers the tokens, and the
seller is paid.
That design means there is a window where your BTC has left your wallet and has not
reached the seller. StampDEX says so on the buy panel before you sign, not afterwards.
Read down a column to see the whole picture at one moment. The line that matters: between Awaiting transfer and Filled, the BTC has left the buyer and has not reached the seller. It is in the escrow addresses StampDEX created for that one listing. That is not a loss and it is not a queue. It is a named on-chain address you can look up in any block explorer.
StampDEX generates the per-listing escrow keys server side and holds them encrypted for
the length of that trade. They are never sent to a browser. Those escrow addresses are
the only funds StampDEX ever operates, and they exist for one listing at a time.
Your own wallet keys never leave your wallet. Every transaction that spends from your
address is a 部分签名的比特币交易 (PSBT) your wallet displays and signs. See
Review a 部分签名的比特币交易 (PSBT) before signing.
Tokens are in escrow and cannot be spent elsewhere
Payment broadcast, not confirmed
BTC is in the listing escrow, tokens not yet received
Tokens still in escrow, no proceeds yet
Settlement broadcast
Tokens are in a Bitcoin transaction
BTC is in escrow, released on confirmation
Filled
Holds the tokens
Holds the proceeds, less the seller fee
Failed
BTC held in escrow, recoverable
Tokens held in escrow, recoverable
Neither side is ever holding both. That is the point of the escrow: the tokens are
committed before a buyer is asked for money, and the money is committed before the
tokens are released.
Bitcoin Stamps: your BTC never passes through StampDEX
A stamp sale is a Counterparty 分发器. The seller opens a dispenser holding the
stamp. The buyer sends the asking price to the dispenser address in a Bitcoin
transaction StampDEX composes and the buyer’s wallet signs. When that transaction
confirms, the dispense and the payment happen together.
Compare this with the SRC-20 ledger. There is no purple column here, because a stamp purchase never passes through a StampDEX-controlled address. The stamp moves and the payment lands in one confirmed Bitcoin transaction, so there is no state in which your money has left you and not reached the seller.
The registry records this directly: for Bitcoin Stamps, StampDEX has no settle
authority and no reconcile authority on the marketplace surface. There is nothing to
settle, because the Bitcoin transaction is the settlement. See
What you can and cannot do.
If an SRC-20 order shows Awaiting transfer, Settling, Awaiting confirmation,
or Failed, your BTC is in the listing’s escrow address. Not spent, not swept, not
in a queue. You can open the order page, copy the address and the transaction ids, and
look at them in any block explorer without asking anybody.
Failed means the payment confirmed but the expected token balance could not be verified
in time. The order stops there deliberately rather than releasing money against an
unverified balance. An operator resolves it. See
Recovery.