👋Introduction

OpenPeer is a decentralised protocol for peer-to-peer trading between fiat and cryptocurrencies without the need for intermediaries such as centralised exchanges or escrow services. The protocol is deployed on multiple EVM blockchains including Ethereum, BNB Chain and Polygon. OpenPeer utilises smart contracts to enable two parties to buy and sell crypto-assets between each other.

OpenPeer aims to provide a secure and reliable protocol that offers a better peer-to-peer trading experience than centralised exchanges. The protocol is designed to be trustless, meaning that users do not need to trust any third parties with their funds. Instead, trades are executed using smart contracts that automatically escrow the funds until the trade is completed.

Key Features

Some of the key features of OpenPeer include:

• Decentralised: OpenPeer is working towards being a fully decentralised protocol that can operate without the need for a centralised party. Right now our escrow mechanism is fully decentralised, and we intend to decentralise our order book and arbitration in the near future.

• Trustless: Because trades are executed using smart contracts, users do not need to trust any third parties with their escrowed funds. Funds are escrowed in a smart contract until the trade is completed, ensuring that both parties fulfill their obligations.

• Self-custody: OpenPeer is a self-custody platform, meaning that users control their own funds. This is in contrast to centralised exchanges, where users must trust the exchange to hold their funds both in their account and in escrow.

• Low fees: OpenPeer utilises decentralised relayers to cover gas fees for users. This makes the platform accessible to users with only stablecoins in their wallet, without the need for the native token like ETH, MATIC, or BNB.

How It Works

As a user, OpenPeer is designed to look familiar to centralised p2p exchanges. However interactions are on-chain and smart contract based in the background. We recommend connecting to OpenPeer through a self-custody wallet like Metamask, Trust Wallet or Coinbase Wallet. When accessing OpenPeer on mobile we recommend using the embedded browser within these wallets. If you don't have a wallet you can create one in OpenPeer using your email or social login.

When a seller wants to sell crypto assets and exchange them for fiat money, they post an ad on the OpenPeer protocol. The advertisement states the available crypto assets for sale, minimum and maximum trade sizes, acceptable payment methods, and any price rules. Currently posting an ad is limited to approved merchants. If you're a merchant you can apply here. Most ads on OpenPeer require the merchant to deposit the crypto into a smart contract for sale for an ad to be visible.

A buyer selects one of the ads to purchase the crypto assets from the seller with fiat money. The money in the contract is locked in escrow and the sellers payment details are made visible to the buyer.

Once the buyer sends fiat payment and the seller confirms receipt of payment the crypto locked in escrow is released to the buyer. If a dispute arises, either party can initiate arbitration and assign a third-party arbitrator to make a resolution.

Conclusion

OpenPeer is a decentralised protocol for peer-to-peer trading between fiat and cryptocurrencies. Entirely self-custodial, OpenPeer aims to provide a more secure and transparent trading experience than centralised exchanges.