Collateral off the venue. In your control.
OneBalance OES is a neutral, cryptographically verifiable off-exchange settlement network. Designed to eliminate counter-party risk by keeping collateral in your control. We are launching a pilot with close partners.
Problem: Exchange risk
Not your keys, not your crypto.
It is a lesson the industry relearns every few years. Billions of dollars are lost to exchange hacks, and collateral can sit locked in bankruptcy processes for years.
Exchange risk is about more than hacks and defaults: collateral posted to a venue shares the venue’s withdrawal risk, and it stays stuck until withdrawals reopen.
Problem: Traditional off-exchange settlement
The custodian becomes your new counterparty.
Today’s off-exchange settlement moves collateral from the venue to a custodian’s balance sheet. The venue is no longer the counterparty. The custodian is.
The firm still carries two risks: counterparty risk in the custodian, and technology risk in the systems that mirror and settle its ledger.
What the firm still carries
- Counterparty risk
- The collateral is only as safe as the custodian's balance sheet, and only usable while its ledger stays in step with the venue.
- Technology risk
- The custodian's systems, and any partner mirroring the ledger into the venue, have to run as specified.
OneBalance OES removes the first. Only technology risk remains.
Introducing OneBalance OES
Collateral sits with counterparties.
Today it sits on a venue's or a custodian's balance sheet, and whoever holds it is a counterparty.
Solution: OneBalance OES
Collateral in your control. Guarantees the venue can rely on.
Our solution takes collateral off the custodian’s and the venue’s balance sheet and places it in a cryptographically verifiable on-chain escrow.
Assets stay in the trader’s control, and the venue keeps the guarantees it needs to extend trading capacity against them.
The design builds on the cryptographically verifiable resource-lock architecture OneBalance built for intent networks and applies it to off-exchange settlement.
- Escrow
- 0x7a3f…c41e
- Pledged by
- Trader · Fund A
- Collateral
- 2,400,000 USDC
- Beneficiary
- Venue A
- Title
- Stays with trader
- Release rule
- Net obligation, at settlement
- Read escrow state from chain
- Match lock L-0418 to state root
- Check rules against deployed contract
State root
0x9f2c84d1e07ab3…5d
Neutral by design. Verifiable by anyone on it.
Each one follows from taking the counterparty out of off-exchange settlement, rather than moving it somewhere else.
- 1
Neutral custody
Collateral stays with the custodian of your choice or in self-custody.
- 2
Largest netting set
Any venue and any custodian can connect, so every participant that joins enlarges the netting set for everyone on it.
- 3
Cryptographically verifiable
Escrow state and lock status are verifiable per client without trusting the operator.
- 4
Auditable
The escrow contracts are audited before go-live, and the escrow state lives on-chain, open to any auditor.
- 5
Programmatically settled
Settlement runs as code: the net obligation is computed and released from the escrow on rules fixed in advance, with no operator in the loop to approve or delay it.
- 6
Private
Escrows can be configured so balances and lock status stay private to the public while remaining verifiable to the parties.
- 7
Legally enforceable
Collateral is pledged to the escrow without title transfer, so ownership stays with the trader until settlement.
- 8
Exit at will
Traders withdraw free collateral at any time while open obligations stay covered.
Custodian-based vs. escrow-based
Two ways to take collateral off the venue.
Both designs keep collateral away from the venue while the venue still extends trading capacity against it. The difference is where the collateral sits, who holds the keys, and what the venue has to trust.
Custodian-based OES
Escrow-based OES (OneBalance)
- Where the collateral sits
- Custodian-based OESIn the client's account at one custodian, on that custodian's balance sheet
- Escrow-based OES (OneBalance)In an on-chain escrow on the token's native chain, outside any provider's balance sheet
- Who holds the keys
- Custodian-based OESThe custodian signs every movement
- Escrow-based OES (OneBalance)The client's own signing stack (custody platform policy, hardware keys, or self-custody) signs the lock and every allocation
- What the venue recognises
- Custodian-based OESA custodian ledger entry, mirrored into the venue by the custodian or a tokenization partner
- Escrow-based OES (OneBalance)A cryptographically verifiable escrow state, recognised as bounded trading capacity in the venue's own risk engine
- Risk
- Custodian-based OESCounterparty and technology risk: the custodian, plus any mirroring party, each diligenced separately
- Escrow-based OES (OneBalance)Technology risk only: no counterparty on venues that verify the escrow state directly; the risk is the audited contract code
- How settlement runs
- Custodian-based OESThe custodian moves its ledger on a fixed cycle of hours, on the venue's instruction
- Escrow-based OES (OneBalance)As code: net obligations are computed and released from the escrow on rules fixed in advance
- Verifiability
- Custodian-based OESTiered, negotiated reporting through the custodian's API; the client trusts the custodian's ledger
- Escrow-based OES (OneBalance)Escrow state and lock status verifiable per client on-chain, without trusting the operator; private mode available
- Exit
- Custodian-based OESAt the next settlement cycle, after the venue releases
- Escrow-based OES (OneBalance)Free collateral withdrawn at any time while open obligations stay covered
- Assets
- Custodian-based OESThe custodian's supported list, a few dozen tokens
- Escrow-based OES (OneBalance)Any token on its native chain, one escrow per token, same contract architecture everywhere
- Custodians and venues
- Custodian-based OESThe network's own list; nothing settles across networks
- Escrow-based OES (OneBalance)Any custodian and any venue can connect; every participant enlarges the netting set
We are launching a pilot of OneBalance OES with close partners.
Contact oes@onebalance.io to participate.
Join us in London at our DAS side event to discuss the future of onchain settlement.
RSVP on Luma