Why per-intent vaults
Two consequences make the design useful: Funding is just a transfer. The vault address can be computed offchain from the intent hash. Cold wallets, hardware devices, multisigs, exchanges, and PSPs can fund an intent with a standard ERC-20transfer to the vault, no EIP-712 signature, no permit, no contract interaction.
Funds release only on proof. No private key controls withdrawal. The source-chain Portal will only release funds after a registered prover confirms fulfillment. If the deadline passes without fulfillment, a permissionless refund service returns the funds to the depositor.
Resource locks vs escrow
The vault model is sometimes called a resource lock: instead of escrowing funds in a shared protocol account, each operation reserves its own resource container. This eliminates protocol-level risk concentration and lets the funding flow look exactly like a payment.Determinism in practice
- Display “Send USDC to
0xVaultAddr” before the intent is even published - Pre-fund a vault, then publish the intent later when ready
- Verify funding by checking onchain balance, with no protocol coupling
