NFT escrow
Buying or selling an NFT outside a marketplace — a private sale, an OTC deal, a trade — means trusting a stranger to hold up their end. Vaultion locks the payment in a smart contract so the buyer's funds are committed and the seller gets paid once the NFT changes hands, with a dispute ruling to settle anything that goes wrong — Kleros jurors or a Vaultion reviewer on Ethereum, a Vaultion reviewer elsewhere.
Start an escrowPrivate deals, less risk
Payment committed up front
The buyer’s stablecoins lock in the contract before the deal, so the seller can transfer the NFT knowing the money is already there.
Release when it transfers
Once the buyer confirms they have received the NFT, they release the payment in one on-chain transaction.
Kleros for the edge cases
If the wrong asset is sent or the deal stalls, either side opens a dispute and independent jurors rule.
What to verify on a private NFT deal
On a private NFT sale the payment locks on-chain, and so does delivery. These are the checks that make both legs verifiable rather than a matter of trust.
Contract & token check
Confirm the exact contract address and token ID, and that the seller actually holds it. Escrow secures the payment, not the authenticity of the asset.
On-chain transfer
Release when the token lands in the buyer's wallet on-chain — a verifiable transfer, not a screenshot or a promise to send it later.
Royalties & fees
Factor in marketplace or creator royalties and the gas for the transfer, and agree who covers them before you set the escrow amount.
What counts as delivered
“Delivered” is the buyer confirming the token in their wallet. Both sides can point to the on-chain transfer if a dispute is opened.
Check the contract before you commit
Vaultion runs on a published, open-source contract that holds the funds — not Vaultion. You can read it and the locked balance on the block explorer before you send anything.
Frequently asked
Does Vaultion swap the NFT and payment atomically?
No — Vaultion escrows the stablecoin payment only. The NFT is transferred separately, wallet-to-wallet or via a marketplace; the escrow holds the money until the buyer confirms receipt, with Kleros as the fallback if there is a dispute.
What stops the seller from taking the money without sending the NFT?
The funds stay in the contract until the buyer releases them or a dispute ruling decides. The seller cannot pull the payment out on their own.
Which chains and tokens?
Payment is escrowed in USDC, USDT, DAI, or PYUSD on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Smart Chain, TRON, and Solana (token availability varies by network). The NFT can live wherever you transfer it.
What does it cost?
A tiered platform fee — 4% on smaller deals down to 2% on larger ones — is paid once when the escrow is created. What a dispute costs depends on the network. On Ethereum you choose at creation: Kleros charges a fee, paid in ETH by the party that raises the dispute, while a Vaultion reviewer costs nothing. On every other network a Vaultion reviewer handles it and there is no charge. Either way, no dispute means nothing extra to pay.
Lock an NFT deal
Set up an escrow in a few steps. Funds stay locked in the contract until the deal is done or arbitration decides.
Create an escrow