User guide for contracts with arbitration
Install the wallet
Fund your wallet
Wallet backup
Pairing of Buyer and Seller wallets
Real name attestation (verification)
(OPTIONAL) You can attest your real name before creating a contract, so it will appear in the contract and your counterparty will see it when signing. The same applies to your counterparty.
Real Name attestation can be done via a Real Name Attestation bot found in the Bot Store (the second tab of your chat window). Add this bot and follow its instructions.
Reveal your verified real name to the counterparty
Buyer shares their address with the Seller
The following steps assume that it is the Seller who offers the contract, however the Buyer can do so too, just by swapping the roles in this guide.
To create a contract with arbitration, the Buyer first sends their wallet address to the Seller in chat. The Buyer can insert their wallet address into the chat by selecting "Insert my address" from the three-dot menu.
Seller offers a contract
Filling in the contract (by the Seller)
- - Selects their role in the contract as Seller option (active by default).
- - Enters the sum and currency of the contract (most likely you’ll want to transact in USDC – a stablecoin).
- - Selects an arbiter from the proposed list by inserting their address into the appropriate field from the page with the list of arbiters.
- - Enters the title of the contract.
- - Copies the text of a previously prepared contract (or another document replacing it, such as an invoice) into the "Text" field. Make sure that you mention the names and the roles of both parties in the contract body, like in real-world contracts. The contract text should be written in 3rd person, avoid "I" and "you" as otherwise the arbiter will have trouble identifying who is who if you have a dispute and the contract lands on the arbiter’s desk. The text should be rather long and spell out all the terms and conditions, rights and obligations in your deal with the other party.
- - Indicates the duration of the waiting period for acceptance of the proposed contract in hours.
- - Optionally indicates their additional contact details (phone, email, etc) to facilitate communication with the other party and with the arbiter.
- - Clicks the button "Offer contract with arbitration".
Arbiter’s selection
Buyer accepts the contract
Contract signing and posting into the DAG
Buyer pays to escrow
After the contract is posted to the DAG, the Buyer needs to pay to the contract by opening it in their wallet and clicking the Pay button. This locks the money on the smart contract address associated with the contract (escrow).
At this point, it is strongly recommended that both parties back up their wallets (burger menu -> Settings -> Backup all wallet data) to make sure that the funds can always be recovered from the smart contract. The smart contract, as well as contract text, is stored only in the parties' wallets and nowhere else. They cannot be recovered from any earlier backups.
Buyer releases the funds from escrow
Contract termination by Seller
Dispute initiation
Dispute resolution
After the "open dispute" link is clicked, the arbiter selected in the contract will automatically receive the contract text, briefly review it, and based on the contract’s complexity will estimate the cost of their service and ask the plaintiff to pay for it (the cost must be within the range indicated by the arbiter in their profile for this type of the contract, otherwise the plaintiff can complain to the ArbStore). The payment is processed through the ArbStore this arbiter is enrolled with, so the plaintiff will receive a payment request from the ArbStore in chat. The payment will be held by the ArbStore until the arbiter makes a decision.
After the payment is sent, the arbiter starts resolving the dispute. They will contact both parties through Obyte wallet chat or other means of communication indicated in the contract, collect evidence from both parties, and make a decision regarding the dispute.
The arbiter then posts a specially crafted unit into the DAG which allows the winning party to claim the funds locked on the contract.