How escrow works
You are about to send money to a stranger. Escrow is the reason that is a reasonable thing to do: the thing you are buying is already out of their hands before you send anything.
The crypto moves before you do
Opening a trade debits the seller’s available balance and credits a hold, as a double-entry movement on Koinzaar’s ledger. It is not a flag on a row that some other part of the system has to remember to check. From that moment the seller cannot spend it, cannot withdraw it, and cannot cancel the trade to get it back before the payment window ends.
Your money never enters Koinzaar. You pay the seller directly, into the bank or mobile money account the offer names. We hold one side of the trade, and it is the side you are not yet holding.
Releasing
When the money lands, the seller releases and the hold becomes your balance. That is the only path that moves crypto to a buyer, other than a moderator deciding a dispute.
Crypto is never released on a timer. A trade that runs out of time is cancelled and the escrow returns to the seller, because a clock cannot know whether a bank transfer arrived. A platform that auto-releases is one where a buyer who does nothing gets paid.
When it goes wrong
Either side can open a dispute while the escrow is held. The trade freezes, the escrow stays exactly where it is, and a moderator reads the chat and whatever evidence you both attach — a transfer receipt, a bank statement line, a screenshot of the app. They then release to the buyer or return to the seller. Nobody can move the escrow while a dispute is open, including us.
Send the payment from an account in your own name, keep the confirmation, and say nothing in the chat you would not want a moderator to read. Those three habits decide most disputes.
Where the coin is actually kept
Most of the platform’s balance is never reachable by a machine that is connected to anything. Only a capped amount sits in a wallet that can sign, and the ceiling is configuration rather than a habit. Withdrawals above it wait for a signature that is produced offline.