<p>There's "Decred cross-chain atomic swapping". It allows two people to exchange cryptocurrencies (currently BTC/LTC/Vertcoin/Decred) without trusting on a third party nor each other.</p>

<p>UPDATE: There's also Lightning Network atomic swap.</p>

<p>You can read about it on <a href="https://blog.decred.org/2017/09/20/On-Chain-Atomic-Swaps/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Decred blog</a> or <a href="https://github.com/decred/atomicswap" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Github</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-13T12:03:03.803Z
2018-01-17T15:07:26.593Z
2018-01-17T15:07:26.593Z
MCCCS
<p>We know that escrow mechanisms are easy to implement when it involves a trusted 3rd party. For example if <em>A</em> and <em>B</em> don't trust each other they can simply send their goods to <em>C</em> whom they both trust. Then <em>C</em> can distribute the goods to them fairly.</p>

<p>However, is there a primitive that achieves the same when there isn't a trusted 3rd party? Basically, <em>A</em> and <em>B</em> don't trust each other and they want to exchange something. Can they do this without involving any trusted party?</p>

<trust><escrow>
Is there an escrow-like mechanism that doesn't involve a trusted 3rd party?
SpiderRico
# Is there an escrow-like mechanism that doesn't involve a trusted 3rd party?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-10-13)

We know that escrow mechanisms are easy to implement when it involves a trusted 3rd party. For example if *A* and *B* don't trust each other they can simply send their goods to *C* whom they both trust. Then *C* can distribute the goods to them fairly.

However, is there a primitive that achieves the same when there isn't a trusted 3rd party? Basically, *A* and *B* don't trust each other and they want to exchange something. Can they do this without involving any trusted party?

**Tags:** trust, escrow


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-10-13. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

There's "Decred cross-chain atomic swapping". It allows two people to exchange cryptocurrencies (currently BTC/LTC/Vertcoin/Decred) without trusting on a third party nor each other.

UPDATE: There's also Lightning Network atomic swap.

You can read about it on [Decred blog](https://blog.decred.org/2017/09/20/On-Chain-Atomic-Swaps/) or [Github](https://github.com/decred/atomicswap)


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