The buyer
Funds the escrow and is protected by the condition: the money leaves only when what was agreed has been shown.
Escrow
Payment that waits
for something to happen.
Agree in advance what must happen before funds are released. We help arrange escrow around those conditions, whether payment is due in full or at specific milestones.
Escrow does not make a counterparty trustworthy. It makes the conditions explicit, and takes the decision to release out of the hands of whoever is holding the money.
The three roles
The seller
Ships or performs against a commitment that is already funded, knowing exactly what has to be evidenced to be paid.
The escrow provider
The entity that holds the funds and releases them under the escrow agreement. That decision sits with it, not with us and not with either party.
HAN & WOLF coordinates the arrangement and the documentation around it. The escrow service itself is provided by the entity named in the agreement for your transaction.
From agreement
to release.
- 01Terms
The condition is written
What has to happen, what evidences it, and who has to approve that evidence.
- 02Funding
The escrow is funded
The buyer places the funds with the provider under the agreement.
- 03Evidence
The document is submitted
An inspection report, a transport document or whatever the terms name.
- 04Approval
The named parties approve
Each approval is recorded against the condition it answers.
- 05Release
Funds are released
By the provider, under the agreement, in full or as the stage allows.
One payment, or several
The same mechanism, used at a different grain.
Paid once, against one condition
A buyer purchases a shipment of industrial materials. The full balance is placed in escrow and released once an independent inspection confirms the agreed specification at loading.
One condition, one approval, one release. Simple to administer, and appropriate where the whole value of the transaction turns on a single event.
Illustrative example. Figures, parties and conditions are agreed per transaction.
- FundedFull amount
- ConditionInspection confirms specification
- ReleaseFull amount on approval
Paid in stages, against several
The same purchase, structured so that part of the value is released when the cargo is handed over for transport, and the balance once inspection at destination confirms the specification.
Each stage has its own condition, its own evidence and its own approval. Nothing is released early because a later stage is going well.
Illustrative example. Figures, parties and conditions are agreed per transaction.
- FundedFull amount
- Stage oneReleased on handover for transport
- Stage twoReleased on inspection at destination
In the platform
The condition, and what answers it.
WOLF DIGITAL keeps the release condition, the document submitted against it and the approvals it still needs in one place, so nobody has to ask where things stand.
Attaching a document does not release anything. Release is carried out by the escrow provider, under the escrow agreement, once the approvals it names are in place.
Transaction
Industrial materials · 2,000 t
BSBuyer and supplier, coordinated by HAN & WOLF
Evidence in review75%complete
- ApproSupplierConfirmed the inspection arrangementsApproved
- ApproBuyerReviewing the inspection reportWith you
- ApproEscrow providerActs on the approvals recorded in the agreementPending
Evidence in review. The inspection report is with you for review.
Interface concept, played as a short demonstration.
If the condition
is not met.
The escrow agreement decides. It names what happens if a document does not arrive, if an inspection fails, or if a deadline passes: whether funds return to the buyer, whether a cure period applies, and who decides.
Those provisions are negotiated for each transaction, with the escrow provider, before anything is funded. We will not tell you there is a standard answer, because the useful one is written into your agreement.
Tell us what the payment should wait for.
The event, the evidence and the people who have to agree it happened. From there we can work out whether escrow is the right instrument and how it would be arranged.