Onboard

• Name: Onboard
• URL: https://www.onboard.xyz/
• Category: P2P crypto-fiat ramp stack / escrow marketplace / local-rail integration layer
• Tags: ethereum-ecosystem
• Summary: Onboard at the project layer is the escrow and marketplace architecture: Smart Contract Escrow Accounts, mediator-assisted release, exchange matching, local-rail coverage, and the older Protocol / Exchange / Connect split. The broader company-run account, dashboard, API-key, webhook, and direct-settlement shell now lives in onboard, which is the cleaner place to reason about regulated onboarding, payout authorization, and operator-managed lifecycle truth.
• What it does:
  • Runs a non-custodial P2P protocol on EVM chains using a Smart Contract Escrow Account (SCEA) that locks assets until counterparties or a mediator approve release
  • Offers Onboard Exchange as a ready-made marketplace for crypto-fiat swaps and Onboard Connect as the integration layer for third-party wallets and apps
  • Supports low-code redirect integrations and native API integrations for embedded onramp/offramp user flows
  • Publishes payment-channel and currency support for local rails such as NGN, KES, GHS, MUR, UGX, bank transfer, and M-PESA-style methods
  • Documents a dispute-mediation model, no-KYC and KYC trade modes, and contract architecture pages rather than relying on homepage marketing alone
• Key claims:
  • The docs describe Onboard Protocol as a “non-custodial peer-to-peer (P2P) protocol” for secure exchange of assets without centralized custody
  • The protocol overview says deployment targets EVM-compatible chains such as Ethereum, Base, BNB Smart Chain, and Polygon
  • Onboard Connect claims over 100 local payment methods, low-code or native integration options, and seamless escrow powered by the protocol
  • The exchange docs claim users can get onchain in less than 3 minutes and can support micro-transactions as small as $0.5 at near-zero fees
  • The trade-flow docs make the real operating model concrete: counterparties are matched, crypto is locked in escrow, fiat is sent over local rails, then release is mediated by confirmations or disputes
  • The docs expose llms.txt, OpenAPI specs, technical-model pages, and contract lists, which makes this a strong docs-first primary-source target even without a canonical whitepaper
• Whitepaper: No classic standalone whitepaper was found in the official materials reviewed during this pass. The primary-source surface is the docs portal, llms.txt index, contract/architecture pages, exchange/integration docs, and public GitHub links surfaced from the docs; see ../whitepapers/onboard-primary-sources-2026-04-26.md.
• Sources:
  • https://www.onboard.xyz/
  • https://docs.onboard.xyz/introduction.md
  • https://docs.onboard.xyz/the-protocol.md
  • https://docs.onboard.xyz/protocol-concepts/architecture.md
  • https://docs.onboard.xyz/contracts/list-of-contracts.md
  • https://docs.onboard.xyz/onboard-exchange/connect/overview.md
  • https://docs.onboard.xyz/onboard-exchange/how-exchange-works.md
  • https://docs.onboard.xyz/onboard-exchange/supported-currencies-payment-channels.md
  • https://docs.onboard.xyz/llms.txt
  • https://github.com/OnboardGlobal

Internal linkages

• Company boundary for the current regulated dashboard, API, and payout-authorization shell: onboard.
• Embedded-ramp anchor with a much thicker hosted operator stack: transak.
• Direct-peer trading contrast where the market lives further away from app-embedded checkout UX: bisq.

Protocol / company boundary

• Keep this note on the mechanism and product surface: Smart Contract Escrow Accounts, mediator flow, local-rail matching, the Exchange marketplace, and the Connect integration layer that wraps the protocol into dapp and wallet integrations.
• Use onboard for the named operator shell: account approval, regulatory perimeter, business-dashboard access, API and webhook credential lifecycle, IP-whitelisted payout authority, merchant-network workflow, and direct stablecoin-to-cash settlement.
• That split matters because how does Onboard's escrow marketplace work? and which company currently decides who gets access and how the hosted settlement path behaves? are related but not identical questions.

Control surface

• At the project layer, the leverage sits in escrow release rules, mediator policy, payment-channel admission, KYC-vs-no-KYC mode design, routing defaults, and how much of the user journey gets tied to Onboard-managed dispute handling.

• The broader operator dependency sits one layer up in onboard: account approval, API-key issuance, payout-key IP allowlisting, webhook truth, and the direct stablecoin-to-cash shell now marketed under Onboard Business / Onboard Pay.

• Last reviewed: 2026-08-12 UTC