Markets and Execution

Arkade Intents is a request-for-quote system on every route: a user states an intent, a quote establishes the terms, the user funds, and a solver fills. The market structure never varies by route — only the settlement contract does: To build against these routes directly, start from Lightning or Arkade Assets — this page covers the model they share.

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The Quote

A quote commits the terms a swap will execute on. For cross-corridor routes a solver signs it — requested directly from one solver, or after its sealed bid wins a published request — because an external settlement environment demands live amounts, keys, and timeouts. A quote fixes amounts, the settlement key, relevant timeouts, and the window in which the commitment may begin. It does not guarantee completion. Once value is committed, the settlement contract—not the quote—determines the valid claim and recovery outcomes. Direction decides the first commitment. Sending out of Arkade, the client funds the derived lockup. Receiving over Lightning, the solver funds Arkade once the incoming HTLC is armed; receiving onchain, the client commits on the external side while the solver still funds Arkade — the row worth noticing. An Arkade-to-Arkade swap begins when the client funds the swap contract. Settlement Profiles carries the full per-route table with completion, timeout, and recovery rules. There is no separate accept message. The profile’s first enforceable commitment accepts the quote.

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Fill or Refund

After funding there are exactly two outcomes: the solver fills, or the commitment comes back. Cancel and refund are the same beat, reached by different scripts. A cross-corridor route refunds through a timelocked path in the HTLC, so a deadline delivers it. An intra-Arkade route cancels by submitting the cancel transaction to Arkade — no solver signature — so recovery never waits on the solver, and no deadline can be missed: the swap stays open until filled or cancelled.

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Participants

A user approves the desired result and, through a wallet or application, funds it. A solver supplies pricing, inventory, and risk capacity, and fills the funded contract. Some specifications use provider or market maker as synonyms for solver. Arkade Intents does not use maker and taker for the participants. A maker order is firm once taken, and nothing here is: the user funds first, and if the solver does not perform the user recovers rather than receiving a fill — on a timeout for a cross-corridor route, by cancelling for an Arkade-only one.

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Discovery and Open Markets

A request for terms is addressed to one solver, encrypted to its key, or published so every solver watching the pair may answer with a sealed bid the application selects from locally. Which solvers are candidates at all is application policy — pinned cards, curated registries, or open discovery — and Discovery and Registries covers those sources. Publishing reaches bidders; it does not obligate a product to expose every solver. In the developer preview only the addressed form is in use: applications pin one solver, and nothing publishes a request yet.

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Before You Commit

Derive every settlement contract locally, treat discovery and feed data as advisory, persist recovery data before value moves, and reconcile settlement evidence rather than trusting a relay status message.