Dovizir

What Dovizir is

Dovizir is an open protocol for hawala-style payments. It is a set of smart contracts on an EVM blockchain. The contracts hold deposits, issue a backed token, and escrow payments. No company sits between the parties. No one — including Dovizir's developers — holds user funds.

The components

The token

Money in Dovizir is a token issued by a money-changer (sarraf). Each unit is backed one-to-one by USDT the sarraf has deposited on-chain. The token is a claim on that deposit. It transfers peer to peer, in seconds, like cash.

The reserve pool

The contract that holds each sarraf's USDT backing. It enforces the one-to-one rule: a sarraf can issue no more tokens than they have deposited. Any holder can redeem tokens for USDT from the pool. The backing is on-chain and verifiable at any time.

The escrow

Payments with a delivery leg — an online purchase, or a token-for-cash trade — go through escrow. The buyer's tokens are locked in the contract until the trade settles. While locked, neither party can move them.

The insurance fund

A small per-transaction fee accrues to an on-chain fund. The fund compensates users for proven losses, such as goods that never arrive. It is held and paid by contract, not by a treasurer.

The sarraf registry

Certification is enforced on-chain. A sarraf must maintain sufficient backing over time — measured as a time-weighted average — to keep issuing. If backing falls below the floor, the registry de-certifies them automatically.

The actors

Customer

Holds and spends the token through a wallet the app creates. No bank account, no prior crypto experience.

Money-changer (sarraf)

Deposits USDT as backing, issues tokens, and handles cash in and out. Registers the sellers and customers who transact in their name.

Seller

Accepts the token for goods and services through a QR code or a payment link.

The contracts

Hold the backing, the escrowed payments, and the insurance fund. They release funds only by their published rules. There is no admin key over user balances.

How settlement works

  1. The buyer pays. The amount is locked in the escrow contract. The seller can verify the lock on-chain.
  2. The delivery leg happens off-chain: the goods are handed over or shipped.
  3. The buyer confirms receipt. Confirmation is an on-chain transaction, and it releases the escrow to the seller. This is what "settled" means: the contract has proof that the other leg completed.
  4. If the buyer never confirms, the escrow does not release. Disputes go to arbitration — ruled by a neutral party, not by the sarraf who earns from the sale, with a backstop arbiter so no dispute can be stranded. Funds move by these rules only.
Held by code. Released on settlement. No one can divert it.

The contracts (Base Sepolia testnet)

The proof-of-concept contracts are deployed on the Base Sepolia test network. Inspect them on a block explorer, or read the source:

Source code →

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