Smarter Escrow Tracking & Transparency

We’re currently testing version 0.1.2 of our Solana-based escrow program. This update brings important improvements for transparency, auditing and usability. The changes focus on balance tracking, event visibility and sequential trade handling. In this post, we’ll walk through what’s changed and why it matters to you as a trader, developer or integrator.

✨ What’s New in v0.1.2

1. Tracked Escrow Balances

• Change: A new field tracked_balance has been added to the Escrow account.
• Benefit:
  • This provides an authoritative, on-chain view of how much value is currently held in each escrow.
  • Off-chain indexers, wallets and dispute resolution tools no longer need to infer balances by replaying past transfers — they can simply read the current tracked_balance.

Example:

• When you fund an escrow, tracked_balance updates to reflect the deposit.
• When funds are released, cancelled or resolved via dispute, it automatically resets to 0.

2. New Event: EscrowBalanceChanged

• Change: Every major escrow action (funding, release, cancelation or dispute resolution) now emits a new event whenever the on-chain balance changes.
• Benefit:
  • Provides real-time, stream-friendly updates for explorers, bots and dashboards.
  • You can easily subscribe to a single event type to track balance changes in your UI or backend.

Event Fields:

• object_id — escrow account (PDA)
• escrow_id / trade_id — identifiers for cross-system linking
• new_balance — updated tracked balance
• reason — human-readable string (e.g. “Escrow funded”, “Escrow released”)
• timestamp — time of the event

This makes it much easier to build auditable transaction histories and visualize user funds across multiple trades.

3. Sequential Address Updates Are Transparent

• Change: Updating the sequential escrow address now emits a dedicated SequentialAddressUpdated event.
• Benefit:
  • In chained trades, everyone can see when the “next link” in an escrow sequence is updated.
  • Builds confidence by surfacing changes that were previously only visible by inspecting state directly.
• This ensures buyers, sellers and arbitrators all have a clear event log of the sequential flow.

4. Dispute Workflows Track Balances Too

• Change:
  • Dispute resolution functions (default_judgment / resolve_dispute_with_explanation) now set the tracked_balance back to 0 once funds are moved.
  • They also emit corresponding EscrowBalanceChanged events with clear reasons like “Dispute resolved to buyer” or “Dispute resolved by default judgment”.
• Benefit:
  • Eliminates ambiguity after disputes are closed: you can see exactly when the escrow was emptied and why.
  • Adds accountability in arbitration processes.

5. Improved Transparency in Auto-Cancellations

• Change: Auto-cancellations now also zero-out tracked balances and emit a balance change event.
• Benefit:
  • Users no longer have to guess whether an escrow was cancelled before being funded or after — the event log makes that distinction obvious.

📊 Why These Changes Matter

1. For Traders — You get more confidence in the platform. Every coin in escrow is accounted for with an explicit balance field and matching event trail. No hidden moves.

2. For Dispute Participants — Arbitration outcomes are cleaner: funds move, balances reset and events are logged. Both winners and losers know exactly what happened on-chain.

3. For Developers & Integrators — Building wallets, dashboards or bots? With tracked balances and standardized events, you can show escrow lifecycle state machines without reconstructing transaction history.

4. For Arbitrators — Sequential and dispute changes now leave audit-friendly logs, making it easier to justify and verify decisions.

🚀 Summary

The 0.1.2 release isn’t just a technical upgrade — it’s a big step towards full transparency and user trust in decentralized trade. With tracked_balance, EscrowBalanceChanged and SequentialAddressUpdated events, every token held in Escrow now leaves a clear, auditable trail.

This update lays the groundwork for richer dashboards, better arbitration tools and ultimately, safer peer-to-peer trading on Solana.

Stay tuned — we’re not done yet. Lots more to come as we race towards a devnet MVP.