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Salvo in one page
A just-in-time clearing exchange for friction assets: gift cards, credit lines, balance transfers, cash advances, loyalty points. Value stuck where its owner can't use it.
How it works
- SellerPhotographs a gift card, lists it at a discount
- BuyerAt the register: opens Salvo, types the total, taps Pay
- SalvoPicks the cards, shows their barcodes
- RegisterScans: the seller's card pays for the buyer
- SalvoSends the buyer's money to the seller
Buyer pays less than face. Seller gets more than any exchange pays.
Nothing is bought until a buyer is at the till. No inventory means no capital cost, no dead stock and no fraud priced into the spread, so both sides keep the gap to face value. Any card, any amount, at the moment of purchase.
The hard parts
| Problem | Answer |
|---|---|
| Double spend | The card number is sealed at listing and opened only for the buyer who paid. A card lists once. The seller is paid after the card works; a dead card costs the buyer nothing. |
| Returns | In store, a return is between the buyer and the store. Credit lines hold the buyer's payment in escrow until the return window closes. |
| Time lag | Matched at the tap, never before. Barcode in seconds. |
| UX | One account, Face ID. A Wallet pass or store icon opens a keypad: type, pay, scan. |
| Routing | Cards are used up in order; only the last is part used. Its leftover goes back on sale first, backed by the buyer's deposit until the next buyer uses it. |
Under the hood
- PhonePays the escrow from a passkey account
- EscrowHolds the money on chain. No admin key
- LitSees the payment, opens the card for that phone only
- PhoneShows the barcode
- EscrowPays the seller a day later
Two ways to pay, one till: stablecoins through the escrow, or a card hold charged only for value used.
Beyond gift cards
- Movie credits: unused Cinemark credits become tickets other people buy.
- Cash advance: a cardholder's card buys goods for a buyer who pays less; the cardholder is paid from escrow. Unused credit becomes cash.
- Loyalty: one sign-up, every program, the best redemption.
- Morpho: escrowed payments earn yield and back loans to cardholders, in isolated markets.
More: Where the money goes · Settlement · Custody · How fast the till is