Make any deal
without the risk.
HandOff locks your payment in a smart contract. When you meet in person, a 4-digit code releases the funds. No cash, no chargebacks, no middleman.
Simple by design
How HandOff works
Five steps. No crypto knowledge required for the buyer.
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Agree on a price
Negotiate on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or wherever you found the deal. HandOff doesn't get involved until money moves.
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Seller creates the escrow
The seller sets the amount, their payout wallet (or ENS name like
alice.eth), and how long the deal window stays open. -
Buyer funds the escrow
The seller sends the buyer a unique payment link. The buyer deposits funds — they can pay with any token, HandOff handles the conversion. Funds lock in a smart contract, not with HandOff.
-
Meet & exchange the code for the goods
Once funded, the buyer receives a 4-digit unlock code (like
A7K2). At the in-person meetup, they inspect the item then verbally give the seller the code. -
Funds release instantly
The seller enters the code into HandOff. Correct code → smart contract releases funds to the seller's wallet. The deal is done, on-chain, in seconds. If no valid code is entered before the expiry window, the buyer's funds are automatically refunded.
Built at
Cannes 2026
Built for trust
Finally safe
to hand things over.
No cash. No counterfeits.
Buyers never carry cash — nothing to rob. Sellers never handle bills — no fakes. Payment is verified on-chain before anyone shows up to the meetup.
Settlement is final.
Once the seller enters the code, funds move instantly. No payment processor can reverse it. No chargeback window. No dispute team.
No one holds your money.
HandOff is a smart contract, not a company. There is no admin key, no override, no custody. Only the code — or the expiry clock — can move funds.
Zero personal info exchanged.
Just a wallet address and an optional ENS name. No phone numbers, no emails, no bank details. Strangers stay strangers — the contract is the only middleman.
Built with
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Why it works
Built around the deal, not around trust
HandOff removes the need to trust a stranger — the smart contract handles everything.
Reserve the item instantly
Once the buyer funds the escrow, the item is effectively reserved. The seller knows payment is real and verified on-chain — no more no-shows or last-minute lowballers.
No cash. No risk.
Buyers don't carry cash — nothing to rob. Sellers never handle bills — no counterfeits. Payment travels via smart contract, not pockets. Pay with any token; HandOff handles the conversion.
Automatic refund if the deal falls through
Every escrow has an expiry window (1–30 days, set by the seller). If the meetup never happens and no code is entered, the buyer can claim a full refund directly from the contract.
Good questions
FAQ
The seller needs a wallet to create the escrow and receive funds. Buyers can connect an existing wallet (MetaMask, WalletConnect, etc.) or create an embedded wallet instantly via Dynamic — no prior crypto experience needed. HandOff is designed so that the crypto complexity is invisible to the buyer.
It's a 4-character alphanumeric code (base36, like A7K2) given to the buyer after payment. The contract stores only a cryptographic hash of the code — never the code itself. Even if someone brute-forced all 1.68 million possible values off-chain, they still couldn't call unlock() because the contract requires msg.sender == seller. Only the rightful seller can submit it.
Nothing happens — the transaction simply reverts and the funds stay locked. The seller can try again. Funds only move when the exact correct code is entered. This means a coerced or guessed code attempt fails silently and safely.
The seller picks their payout token at escrow creation. If the buyer pays in a different supported token, HandOff routes one atomic swap through Uniswap in the same deposit transaction. The escrow then holds the seller's preferred token. At settlement, no second swap is needed — funds go straight to the seller's wallet in the token they chose.
If the expiration window passes (default 7 days, configurable from 1 to 30 days) without a valid unlock code, the buyer can call refund() directly on the smart contract. They receive back the escrowed token — the exact asset the contract holds. No one at HandOff is involved; it's automatic and trustless.
No. HandOff is a smart contract deployed on Ethereum, not a company holding custody. There is no admin key, no multisig override, and no way for anyone at HandOff to touch your funds. Only two things move money: the correct unlock code (entered by the seller) or the expiry clock (triggering a buyer refund).
HandOff charges no platform fee. You only pay Ethereum network gas. A full deal lifecycle — create, fund, unlock, and review — costs roughly $0.30–$0.65 in gas at current prices (≈0.3 gwei). If you fund with a token swap via Uniswap, expect a little more. That's it.
Every completed HandOff increments the seller's on-chain deal count and cumulative volume, stored in HandOffReputation.sol and anchored to their ENS identity (e.g. alice.eth). Buyers see this reputation on the payment page — no database, no admin, fully trustless. Completed deals also mint a permanent ENS subname receipt (e.g. deal-42.hand-off.eth) with buyer, seller, amount, and timestamp stored as text records on-chain forever.
HandOff has no dispute resolution mechanism — intentionally. The code either works or it doesn't. The buyer holds the code and only gives it once they're satisfied with the item in person. If the seller hands over a broken or wrong item, the buyer simply doesn't give the code — and gets a full refund at expiry. This design keeps the protocol simple, trustless, and impossible to game from the outside.
