A peer-to-peer stablecoin ramp built in 48 hours. Powered by programmable trust.
Introducing Pacto
At the Casa Builder Hackathon, we built Pacto — a non-custodial, decentralized peer-to-peer exchange powered by Trustless Work.
With Pacto, merchants and users can buy or sell Stellar-based stablecoins using local fiat payment methods. Each transaction is protected by an on-chain smart escrow.
No intermediaries. No platform custody. Just programmable roles and secure flows.
How It Works
Every Pacto trade becomes a smart escrow contract. Here’s how we configured it:
- Seller = Funder — locks stablecoins into escrow.
- Buyer = Milestone Marker — completes the fiat transfer and uploads a payment receipt.
- Seller = Approver & Signer — reviews the receipt and either approves or disputes.
- Dispute Resolver = Pacto — steps in if there’s a problem.
All of this is defined using Trustless Work’s role-based API. Even the platform fee! No smart contract dev required.
This approach gives us programmable escrow logic without reinventing the wheel. Roles are simply assigned, not coded. The SDK handles contract creation and flow enforcement.
✅ Works with any Stellar-issued asset
✅ Compatible with any fiat method (bank transfer, cash pickup, etc.)
✅ Escrow conditions are transparent, modular, and enforceable
Merchant-First Design
Pacto has the potential to not only serve individual traders, but also become an income stream for merchants, communities, and local platforms to:
- Offer cash-in/cash-out access to stablecoins
- Onboard users using their own ramps—not someone else’s
- Earn fees on each trade
A hotel that wants to accept USDC can run its own branded P2P ramp.
A DAO can offer fiat payouts to contributors through a community escrow.
A WhatsApp group can become a real off-ramp—with logic, not trust.
Powered by Trustless Work
Instead of writing smart contracts from scratch, we used the Trustless Work SDK to:
- Create escrow contracts with custom roles and metadata
- Define programmable release conditions
- Support any asset with trustlines
We don’t hold the money. We provide the logic to hold it in a neutral, secure, transparent escrow.
This meant we could ship the full prototype in under 48 hours—UX, escrows, dispute logic, and more.
Why It Matters
Peer-to-peer exchanges are:
- The easiest entry point for new users
- A lifeline in regions without reliable on/off ramps
- A powerful way for communities to generate revenue
But they’ve always had trade-offs: centralization, trust risk, lack of tooling.
Pacto flips that.
Open-Sourced & Extendable
Pacto is open-source from day one.
We’re sharing the repo as a starter kit for builders, educators, and ecosystem partners who want to spin up:
- Community ramps
- Merchant-accessible off-ramps
- DAO-to-fiat payout flows
- Local exchange networks
Use our logic. Fork the UI. Plug in your asset. Launch your own ramp.
Ready to Build Yours?
Trustless Work provides the infra. Pacto shows the playbook.
From zero to escrow-backed exchange in one weekend.
Explore the Trustless Work docs →
