Arwen Protects Your Coins
Escrows protect your coins if an exchange is hacked, becomes malicious, or goes offline.
When you trade with Arwen, you don’t need to deposit your coins at the exchange. Instead, you lock your coins in an on-blockchain user escrow. Arwen escrows use the blockchain itself, in the form of a smart contract, to securely hold coins between you and the exchange. If you create a Bitcoin escrow, the Bitcoin blockchain is the agent of escrow.
What if an exchange is hacked or goes offline?
Arwen will alert you if the exchange has been compromised. You will notice this if closing a user escrow fails or a trade is aborted (both shown below). Because your coins are locked in escrow, they are immune from any attack that targets the exchange's wallet.
Always remember to come online at the designated time if you see an error.
If you cannot close a user escrow, the following screen will appear if the exchange is not allowing you to close your user escrow. Follow the instructions and be sure to come online during the designated time. As long as your Arwen app is open during this window, you will be able to recover your coins.
Similarly, if a trade is aborted by the exchange and escrows are frozen, the following screen will appear.
Follow the instructions and be sure to come online during the designated time. As long as your Arwen app is open during this window, you will be able to recover unused coins from your user escrow and coins you bought from the exchange escrow.
Because atomic swap trades are irreversible, the balance shown in your frozen escrows are the exact amounts you will be able to retrieve if you follow the instructions to come online.
For other questions about coin recovery, please email support@arwen.io