Agent Escrow
Escrow is a mechanism for economic commitment: value is locked before work and released or refunded based on outcome.
Escrow is not the whole category. Settlement is the abstraction — commitment, verification, release/refund, disputes, reputation, and finality. Escrow is how many A2A-SE implementations realize the commitment step.
| Term | Role |
|---|---|
| Escrow | Mechanism that holds committed value |
| Settlement | Whether the obligation was satisfied and what happens to that value |
| Payment rail | How value moves into / out of the exchange (out of A2A-SE scope) |