How Anubis Market Escrow Works
Your coins are held by the market and released to the vendor only after you confirm receipt and finalize. The model is 2-of-3 multisig, and the one part that surprises people is the 14-day auto-finalize, which releases escrow on its own if you do not act in time. This page is the full mechanics, what the multisig means, where the timer starts, and what you cannot undo.
The model
2-of-3 multisig| Part | Who holds the key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Key 1 | You (buyer) | Signs to release funds to the vendor after you confirm receipt. |
| Key 2 | The vendor | Signs to release funds to themselves once the order is complete. |
| Key 3 | The market | Signs to resolve a dispute, either in your favor or the vendor's. |
Two of the three keys must sign for the funds to move. You and the vendor cannot move the money without each other, and the market cannot move it without one of you. A dispute is resolved by the market signing with its key, which is why the vendor posts the resolution rationale publicly under the closed ticket.
Where the timer starts
The 14-day auto-finalize starts at order confirmation, not at delivery. That means the window is running while the vendor is still shipping, and it does not pause for a slow circuit or a disputed quantity. If the goods arrive and they are not what you ordered, the clock is still running. Open the dispute before the window closes, not after.
The rule that matters
Open any dispute before the 14-day window closes. A dispute that misses it is unrecoverable, because the escrow has already released to the vendor on its own. The timer is the part you cannot undo after it passes.
What escrow does and does not protect against
Escrow protects against vendor fraud on a single order, the vendor cannot take your coins and disappear before you confirm receipt. It does not protect against an exit scam, in which the market itself disappears with all escrowed funds. It does not protect against a dispute that misses the 14-day window. And it does not protect against the coin you picked, a public-coin payment leaves a readable record regardless of how careful the escrow is.
The dispute process
When you open a dispute, the market steps in. The vendor posts their resolution rationale publicly under the closed ticket, which is the habit that keeps vendor pricing inside a narrower band than on markets where dispute outcomes are opaque. You can read the rationale for any closed dispute, which is a useful signal for choosing a vendor: a vendor who loses disputes and posts a clear rationale is different from one who wins them and posts nothing.
Shipping details are encrypted at checkout
Your delivery details are encrypted to the vendor's PGP key at checkout, not stored in plaintext. This means the market does not hold your shipping address in a readable form. The trade-off is that you need the vendor's public key to encrypt the details, which the market provides at checkout. If you use the server-side PGP tool instead of client-side encryption, the plaintext exists on server infrastructure for a window before encryption. The detail is on the review page.
The one thing to remember
The 14-day auto-finalize starts at confirmation, not delivery. Open any dispute before the window closes. A dispute that misses it is unrecoverable, and that is the part of the escrow you cannot fix after the fact.
Questions
3 answersHow does Anubis Market escrow work?
Your coins are held by the market and released to the vendor only after you confirm receipt and finalize. The model is 2-of-3 multisig: two of three keys must sign for the funds to move. You hold one key, the vendor holds one, and the market holds the third. A dispute is resolved by the market signing with its key.
What is the 14-day auto-finalize?
A timer that releases escrow to the vendor automatically fourteen days after the order is confirmed, whether or not you have finalized it. It favors the vendor and the market over the buyer, and a dispute that misses it is unrecoverable. Open any dispute before the window closes.
What happens if I open a dispute?
The market steps in and resolves it. The vendor posts their resolution rationale publicly under the closed ticket, which is the habit that keeps vendor pricing inside a narrower band than on markets where dispute outcomes are opaque. If the dispute is not resolved to your satisfaction before the 14-day window closes, the escrow releases on its own.