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Atomic swap chaining flaw leaves agents holding unintended assets

By PulseAugur Editorial · [1 sources] ·

A common design flaw in agent-based trading systems involves chaining atomic swaps, where each leg is individually atomic but the overall path is not. This can leave an agent holding an unintended asset if a counterparty becomes unresponsive or a chain congests, as the agent's funds are locked in an intermediate asset. The solution, borrowed from payment channel networks, involves using a single preimage for all legs and implementing strictly descending timelocks to ensure that an upstream party has sufficient time to claim its funds after a downstream party reveals the secret. AI

IMPACT Highlights a critical vulnerability in agent-based trading systems, emphasizing the need for robust path atomicity over individual leg atomicity.

RANK_REASON The item discusses a technical flaw in agent settlement designs related to atomic swaps, offering a solution based on existing payment channel network principles.

Read on dev.to — MCP tag →

AI-generated summary · Google Gemini · from 1 sources. How we write summaries →

Atomic swap chaining flaw leaves agents holding unintended assets

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2 / 100
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The item discusses a technical flaw in agent settlement designs related to atomic swaps, offering a solution based on existing payment channel network principles.
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COVERAGE [1]

  1. dev.to — MCP tag TIER_1 English(EN) · Baris Sozen ·

    Chaining Two Atomic Swaps Gives You Two Atomic Swaps, Not One Atomic Trade

    <p>Yesterday's post ended on a question we did not answer: what happens on the failure path when nobody is watching. Here is the concrete version of it, and it is the most common mistake we see in agent settlement designs.</p> <p>An agent needs to end up holding asset C. It holds…

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