Brief

This post explores the challenge of multi-leg atomic trades for autonomous agents, where a single trade involves multiple sequential steps. Current systems often rely on a "settle-then-hope" approach, leaving agents vulnerable to inventory, price, and counterparty risks if any leg fails. The proposed solution uses a single hashlock across all legs of the trade, ensuring that either all legs settle simultaneously or none do, thus preventing intermediate states where an agent is stranded with unwanted assets. A descending timelock ladder is also introduced to manage the timing of claims and refunds across the multiple legs. AI