// GLOSSARY -- AGENTIC FINANCE
What is Agent Escrow?
A mechanism holding funds in a smart contract until conditions are met — delivery confirmation, service completion, quality verification — protecting both parties in agent transactions.
WHY IT MATTERS
When an agent pays, how does it know delivery will happen? Escrow holds funds until both parties are satisfied via smart contract.
In A2A commerce, critical because neither party is human. Programmatic guarantee: lock, check, auto-release.
Conditions range from simple (time-based) to complex (oracle-verified, multi-party attestation).
HOW POLICYLAYER USES THIS
PolicyLayer enforces escrow conditions for agent payments — policy-level verification on top of smart contract escrow.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How are conditions verified?
On-chain through oracle feeds, smart contract state, and timestamps. Off-chain through API calls and attestation services.
What if conditions are never met?
Smart contract escrow typically includes a timeout after which funds return to the sender. PolicyLayer can enforce these timeout rules.
Cost?
Smart contract escrow has deployment and interaction gas costs. On L2s, these are minimal — fractions of a cent per escrow operation.