arbitova 2.5.4

Python SDK for Arbitova — non-custodial on-chain escrow + AI arbitration for agent-to-agent payments on Base

arbitova

Non-custodial USDC escrow for agent-to-agent payments on Base.

Two agents lock USDC into a contract, one delivers, the other confirms or disputes, and a neutral arbiter resolves. Arbitova never holds the money — the contract does.

No API keys. No registration. No custody. Your Ethereum address is your identity.

pip install arbitova

Contract: 0xA8a031bcaD2f840b451c19db8e43CEAF86a088fC on Base Sepolia (mainnet launching after audit) Spec: A2A-ESCROW-RFC-v0.1 Live UI: arbitova.com/pay

---

Why this exists

Every A2A / agent-commerce spec in the wild — MCP, Google's A2A, ERC-7683, Coinbase's Agent Commerce — defines how agents talk. None of them define how money moves when the agents don't trust each other.

Arbitova is the missing settlement primitive:

• Deterministic state machine. createEscrow → markDelivered → {confirmDelivery | dispute → resolve | cancel}. No hidden branches, no admin override.
• No auto-release after timeout. Review windows expire into DISPUTED, not into seller payout. Silence is safer than a wrong confirmation.
• Content-hash pinned on-chain. Sellers can't swap the delivery file after the buyer inspects.
• Verdict transparency. Every arbiter decision, its reasoning, the ensemble vote breakdown, and the content-hash integrity data is published per-case at arbitova.com/verdicts.

This is not a marketplace. There is no Arbitova account, no listing fee, no Arbitova Pro tier. The protocol is the whole product.

---

Dispute publicity

If an escrow is disputed and resolved by Arbitova arbitration, the verdict, reasoning, and ensemble vote breakdown are published per-case at arbitova.com/verdicts. The delivery payload itself is not published (only its keccak256 hash). Your wallet address is already public on-chain. See the transparency policy.

---

30-second quickstart

Both sides need a Base Sepolia private key with some test USDC + a pinch of ETH for gas. Faucet: https://faucet.circle.com/ (Base Sepolia USDC) · gas: https://www.alchemy.com/faucets/base-sepolia

Buyer

import os
from arbitova import path_b

os.environ["ARBITOVA_RPC_URL"] = "https://sepolia.base.org"
os.environ["ARBITOVA_CHAIN_ID"] = "84532"
os.environ["ARBITOVA_ESCROW_ADDRESS"] = "0xA8a031bcaD2f840b451c19db8e43CEAF86a088fC"
os.environ["ARBITOVA_USDC_ADDRESS"] = "0x036CbD53842c5426634e7929541eC2318f3dCF7e"
os.environ["ARBITOVA_PRIVATE_KEY"] = "<buyer_private_key>"

result = path_b.arbitova_create_escrow(
    seller_address="0xSellerAddressHere",
    amount_usdc="5.00",
    delivery_hours=24,
    review_hours=24,
    verification_uri="https://example.com/spec.json",
)
print(f"Escrow #{result['escrow_id']} — tx {result['tx_hash']}")

Seller

import os
from arbitova import path_b

os.environ["ARBITOVA_PRIVATE_KEY"] = "<seller_private_key>"
# (other env vars same as buyer)

result = path_b.arbitova_mark_delivered(
    escrow_id=1,
    delivery_payload_uri="https://example.com/receipt.json",
    delivery_content_bytes=b"hello, buyer",  # content-hash pinned on-chain
)
print(f"Delivered — tx {result['tx_hash']}")

Buyer confirms (happy path)

path_b.arbitova_confirm_delivery(escrow_id=1)
# Contract pays seller (amount − 0.5% release fee) atomically.

Or: buyer disputes → Arbitova resolves

path_b.arbitova_dispute(escrow_id=1, reason="Delivery did not match spec section 3.2")
# Arbitova signer runs AI arbitration off-chain, then calls resolve() with the split.

---

API reference (Path B — on-chain)

Function	Description
arbitova_create_escrow(seller, amount, delivery_hours, review_hours, verification_uri)	Buyer locks USDC into the escrow contract
arbitova_mark_delivered(escrow_id, delivery_payload_uri, delivery_content_bytes)	Seller signals delivery + pins keccak256(delivery_content_bytes) on-chain
arbitova_confirm_delivery(escrow_id)	Buyer releases funds; contract pays seller (minus 0.5% release fee)
arbitova_dispute(escrow_id, reason)	Buyer opens dispute; bond is locked; Arbitova arbiter resolves
arbitova_resolve(escrow_id, buyer_bps, seller_bps, verdict_hash)	Arbiter-only — posts final split to chain
arbitova_get_escrow(escrow_id)	Read current state
arbitova_cancel_if_not_delivered(escrow_id)	Buyer safety valve — reclaim funds after delivery deadline
arbitova_escalate_if_expired(escrow_id)	Permissionless — anyone can push a silent review window into DISPUTED
verify_delivery_hash(delivery_content_bytes, on_chain_delivery_hash)	Buyer verification: recompute the hash and compare to what's on-chain

---

Fees (contract-level)

On	Rate	Paid by	Source
confirmDelivery / escalateIfExpired	0.5% (releaseFeeBps = 50)	Seller (deducted from payout)	Contract
resolve (after dispute)	2% (resolveFeeBps = 200)	Losing party (from their share)	Contract

No Arbitova balance to top up. No invoices. Fees are collected on-chain in USDC when the contract releases funds.

---

Links

• Website: https://arbitova.com
• Pay UI: https://arbitova.com/pay
• Verdicts dashboard: https://arbitova.com/verdicts
• Spec (RFC v0.1): https://github.com/jiayuanliang0716-max/Arbitova/blob/master/spec/A2A-ESCROW-RFC-v0.1.md
• GitHub: https://github.com/jiayuanliang0716-max/Arbitova
• Transparency policy: https://github.com/jiayuanliang0716-max/Arbitova/blob/master/docs/transparency-policy.md
• npm (JS SDK): https://www.npmjs.com/package/@arbitova/sdk
• MCP server: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@arbitova/mcp-server