How Escrow Works
Escrow is the reason a darknet market is a market and not a gamble. It is the mechanism that holds your money until you confirm, and it is the one most buyers use without understanding. This is how it actually works, step by step, including the part where the platform key becomes the tiebreaker.
The normal release
You order, the amount moves into escrow, the vendor ships, you confirm, and the escrow releases to the vendor. In that path the platform never touches the money. It is a holder, not a party, and the release is triggered by your confirmation, not by the platform deciding. That is the whole point, and it is the part that survives a bad vendor.
The frozen state
A dispute freezes the escrow at its current state. Neither side can move the money while it is frozen, which is what protects you from a vendor who ships nothing and a buyer who confirms nothing. The freeze lasts until the dispute is resolved, by the recommended split or by the panel.
The platform key
When a dispute reaches the panel, the platform key signs in one direction or the other, releasing the escrow to the side the panel decided for. The key is the tiebreaker, and it is only used when the two sides cannot agree. A market where the platform key is the only way money moves is a different animal. A market where it is the last resort is the one worth using.