Buying Capacity and Staking

Peer does not use buyer tiers, volume ladders, cooldowns, tier-based order caps, or tier fee discounts. On routes protected by OrchestratorV3, your ability to start an order is based on live, continuous capacity.

The app calculates that capacity from:

• any small free takes still available for the selected payment method;
• the free USDC stake backing your wallet; and
• the payment method's current griefing and chargeback policy.

Always trust the capacity, warnings, and final transaction result shown in the app. Platform policies are configurable and may change for future orders.

Start with a free take

Some non-chargebackable payment methods can offer a configured number of small, lifetime free takes. A free take lets you start one whole order without staking.

• It is available only when the entire order fits within the method's current free-take amount.
• Free amounts cannot be combined with each other or added to stake-backed capacity inside one order.
• The allowance is consumed when the order is successfully started. Cancelling, expiring, or failing to complete that order does not restore it.
• Chargebackable methods do not offer free takes.

The app shows whether a free take is available and its current maximum amount. The protocol does not treat free takes as an identity or anti-Sybil system.

Add stake for continuous capacity

For larger or later orders, USDC in the protocol's StakeVault can back your activity. Your displayed balance is split into:

• Staked: all USDC you own in the StakeVault.
• Reserved: the part currently backing pending orders or settled chargeback windows.
• Pending withdrawal: stake you asked to withdraw; it no longer backs new orders.
• Free: eligible stake that is not reserved and can back a new order.

There is no staircase of stake thresholds. Adding or freeing stake changes capacity continuously.

How the two capacity curves work

Each enabled payment method can apply two independent curves:

1. Griefing-bond capacity. A pending order reserves the maximum cancellation penalty that could accrue during its normal order window. If you fulfil, this bond is released with no penalty. If you cancel or let the order expire after the configured grace period, the penalty grows linearly with the time the seller's liquidity was locked and is paid to the seller.
2. Chargeback capacity. A chargebackable method reserves a configured share of the order. After settlement, that coverage stays reserved for the configured chargeback window. A valid chargeback can use the remaining coverage to compensate the seller.

For a normal stake-backed order, Peer reserves the larger requirement, not both added together. Your bonded capacity is whichever curve allows the smaller order. All current reservations share one stake balance across every payment method, so capacities shown for different methods must not be added together.

The exact formulas are documented in Stake, Capacity, and Risk. Current contract addresses are published in V3 Deployments; the live app and on-chain RiskManager configuration are the source of truth for mutable platform settings.

Delegated stake

A stake owner can authorize another wallet, such as a relayer operated for a Safe, to use its stake for future orders. The stake owner keeps ownership and withdrawal rights, while the authorized taker's new orders draw from the owner's shared capacity.

Delegation is powerful:

• The stake owner can revoke a taker for future orders, but existing reservations keep the stake owner recorded when each order started.
• A taker can clear an unwanted assignment and disable new delegation.
• A taker can restrict future assignment to one specific stake owner.
• Multiple authorized takers can draw from the same portfolio, so one taker's order can reduce the others' available capacity.

Only delegate to wallets you control or trust. Check the displayed stake-owner address before starting an order.

Chargebacks and deferred payouts

On a chargebackable route, stake coverage normally remains reserved after the order settles. Coverage can be partial, and chargebacks after the configured window are not covered by the protocol.

If the method allows it, a deferred payout may be offered when your free stake can cover the pending griefing bond but not the full chargeback reservation. In that mode, the crypto released by the order is held in the StakeVault for the chargeback window instead of using stake as post-settlement coverage. Any valid chargeback may be paid from that deferred amount, and you can withdraw the unslashed remainder after it matures.

Peer must show deferred payout before you start. Do not use that route if you need the received crypto immediately.

Quotes and final admission

A quote describes seller liquidity, rate, expected output, and fees. It does not reserve stake and is not filtered to guarantee that your wallet has enough capacity.

Capacity is fetched separately and can change when another order starts, a reservation remains active, a withdrawal is requested, or an operator pauses new admissions. The final on-chain signalIntent transaction is authoritative. If it fails, no order exists and you must not send fiat.

Seller deposit ranges, available liquidity, verification availability, and normal Escrow safety bounds can still limit an order independently of stake.

V2 coexistence

Legacy OrchestratorV2 deposits and active orders can coexist with OrchestratorV3 during migration. Only a deposit routed through OrchestratorV3 with the canonical risk hook uses the stake/free-take system described here. The app determines the route and should explain any different requirements before you start.

Buyer safety checklist

• Confirm the payment method, rate, fees, output token, destination chain, and capacity warning before starting.
• Confirm any delegated stake-owner address.
• Wait for the app to show an active on-chain order before sending fiat.
• If you will not pay, cancel promptly; late cancellation or expiry can slash the time-based griefing penalty.
• Never assume a quote guarantees admission or that capacity shown for several methods can be combined.
• Review a deferred-payout maturity time before accepting it.
• Requesting a stake withdrawal immediately removes that amount from new-order capacity; withdrawal completes only after the delay and subject to existing reservations.