How it works
Placing a hold moves credits from the user's spendable balance into a reserved state. They still belong to the user but cannot be used for anything else. When the outcome is known, the hold is captured, transferring the credits to settle the transaction, or released, returning them to the spendable balance.
Holds are also useful outside marketplaces. A long AI job of unknown length can hold an estimate up front, capture what it actually used, and release the rest, so a user cannot start more work than their balance covers.
Example
A buyer with 500 credits books a 200-credit task. A hold of 200 leaves 300 spendable. The seller delivers part of the work and the buyer approves 150, so 150 is captured to the seller and the remaining 50 is released, leaving the buyer with 350.
Escrow hold in Cred
Holds follow hold → release or capture. A capture can credit a different end user for peer-to-peer and marketplace flows, and a partial capture releases the uncaptured remainder back to the holder automatically.
Escrow / Holds docsRelated terms
Questions
- Is an escrow hold the same as a card authorisation?
- It is similar in shape: reserve, then capture or release, and a partial card capture also releases the rest. A card authorisation reserves money on a card and expires after a set window; a credit hold reserves credits in your own ledger, with no card network involved.
- What happens to held credits if nothing is captured?
- They should be released back to the user. Releasing stale holds keeps balances from being locked by jobs or orders that were abandoned.
- Can a hold be larger than the user's balance?
- No. A hold can only reserve credits the user actually has, which is the point: work cannot start unless the balance covers it.
