␀ Reframing — OTC / P2P. Trading PoPC staking contracts (buy/sell/split positions, sell reward rights) is disabled (POPC_DEX_ENABLED=false) in the current release (V30000); the signed-offer SOST-layer DEX is NOT ACTIVE (deferred / fail-closed on mainnet, see protocol-status.json) and admin-gated at consensus (S14 RESTRICTED DEVELOPER MODE) with public access disabled. PoPC is a non-tradeable native SOST bond — see PoPC Bond Staking. This surface is OTC / P2P coordination only (signed offers, encrypted deal channels); it provides no settlement, custody or security guarantee, and public atomic swaps are not currently authorized.
OTC / P2P COMMUNITY

SOST OTC / P2P — Community Board

User-to-user discussion area for voluntary SOST offers. Not an exchange. Not escrow. Not custody. SOST does not intermediate trades, custody funds, provide escrow, or guarantee counterparties. Admins never DM first. Use small test transactions and verify all addresses independently. It is separate from SOST DEX.

SOST DEX

Preview only. Public atomic swaps are not currently authorized: the HTLC atomic swap contracts have been retired following a security finding (H-01). No pair is offered for public settlement.

SOST DEX status (PREVIEW) →
COMMUNITY OTC / P2P

Manual negotiation · user-to-user discussion only · no platform custody, escrow, settlement or security guarantee. You are on this page.

Open the OTC / P2P Board →
// COMMUNITY OTC / P2P BOARD LIVE

The active community discussion board for SOST OTC / P2P talk lives inside SOST Talk. Users post voluntary offers (such as WTB 100 SOST / WTS 50 SOST) and coordinate trades among themselves. SOST does not intermediate, custody, or escrow any trade posted there. Use small test transactions and verify all addresses independently.

  • SOST does NOT intermediate trades.
  • SOST does NOT custody funds.
  • SOST does NOT provide escrow.
  • SOST does NOT guarantee buyers, sellers, price, liquidity, settlement, or safety.
  • Admins never DM first. Anyone claiming "official escrow" or "guaranteed buyer/seller" is a scam.
  • Report suspicious messages; use small test transactions first.
// THREE RULES THAT STOP MOST OTC SCAMS
  1. Screenshots are NOT proof of payment. A screenshot the counterparty sends you can be edited, faked, or come from a different account. Until the money is in your bank or wallet, you have not been paid.
  2. Verify funds DIRECTLY in your bank or wallet — log in and check the balance/transaction yourself. Do NOT trust SMS notifications, email alerts, or push notifications alone (they can be spoofed and they lag the actual settlement).
  3. Beware payment methods with chargeback / reversal risk. Settlement finality and reversal risk depend on the payment method, provider and blockchain — reversible rails (cards, PayPal, some bank transfers) can be clawed back long after they appear settled, while on-chain crypto is final only after enough confirmations. Verify receipt independently and wait for finality before releasing SOST.
Open SOST Talk → OTC / P2P Board Community Rules
// PATTERN RECOGNITION

Scammer vs Honest Counterparty

Quick visual reference. If your counterparty is doing things in the left column, stop the trade.

⚠ SCAMMER BEHAVIOUR
  • Sends a screenshot of payment and pressures you to release SOST immediately.
  • Wants to move chat to Telegram / Signal / WhatsApp / DM right away.
  • Claims "I'm verified", "I'm an admin", "I work with SOST".
  • Asks YOU to send SOST first — "I'll send the payment after".
  • Uses urgency: "release fast", "order is about to expire", "hurry up please".
  • Offers a price MUCH better than market (red flag by itself).
  • Pays via PayPal F&F or instant SEPA and tells you "you can release now, it's settled".
  • Claims an "official SOST escrow" exists. (There is none.)
✓ HONEST COUNTERPARTY
  • Tells you they paid and lets you verify in your bank/wallet at your pace.
  • Continues talking in the public OTC / P2P Board chat (no rush to leave).
  • Makes no "official" claims; presents the trade on equal footing.
  • Agrees to a small test transaction first OR a mutually-trusted third-party escrow.
  • Respects the chargeback clearing window for the chosen payment method.
  • Offers a price close to the prevailing market.
  • Uses irreversible settlement (cash in person, on-chain USDC/USDT with confirmations).
  • Acknowledges that SOST does not intermediate or escrow.
// NON-CUSTODIAL BY DESIGN

What the OTC board does — and does not — do

The OTC / P2P board is a manual community space, separate from SOST DEX. Trades happen directly between users; SOST is not a party to them.

⚠ THE OTC BOARD DOES NOT PROVIDE
  • Custody of funds
  • Custodial escrow
  • Payment verification
  • Counterparty guarantees
  • Dispute resolution or outcome guarantees

On escrow. SOST does not operate a custodial escrow service. Public atomic swaps are not currently authorized: the HTLC atomic swap contracts have been retired following a security finding (H-01) — do not lock or send funds to them. Anyone who offers to "hold your money until payment clears" on behalf of SOST is not SOST.

✓ WHAT THE BOARD DOES AGAINST FRAUD

Non-custodial does not mean "do nothing". It means "arm the user, do not intervene":

  • SOST Sentinel — an automated chat-moderation bot that flags messages matching known scam patterns (release-first, hurry-up, move-to-DM, screenshot-as-proof, fake-admin claims, advance-fee fraud). Sentinel warns; it does not seize funds, decide disputes, or block trades.
  • Pre-trade safety checklist — shown when a user first opens the OTC room; acknowledged before posting.
  • Three tactical rules — screenshots are not proof, verify funds directly, beware reversible payment methods (above).
  • Scammer-vs-honest reference & annotated scam examples (below) so users can recognise an attack in practice.
  • Community OTC Reputation room — opt-in; users share experiences with past counterparties. SOST does NOT verify these claims; reputation here is community-curated, not platform-attested.

Regulatory posture. A non-custodial architecture reduces custody and counterparty exposure, but does not by itself determine the regulatory classification of the service. Applicable obligations depend on jurisdiction, functionality and how the service is operated. Users remain responsible for their own compliance.

// SETTLEMENT

Atomic swap settlement — RETIRED, not authorized

Public atomic swaps are not currently authorized. The HTLC atomic swap contracts have been retired following a security finding (H-01); do not use them or send funds to them. The OTC / P2P board is a discussion space only: it provides no settlement mechanism, custody, escrow or security guarantee.

⚛ Atomic swap settlement — RETIRED

Public DEX trading is NOT ACTIVE: the SOST-layer DEX is deferred / fail-closed on mainnet and admin-gated at consensus (S14 RESTRICTED DEVELOPER MODE); public atomic swaps are not currently authorized. Live technical status lives on the DEX page and in protocol-status.json — not duplicated here. This OTC page is a non-custodial community board; SOST never custodies funds, escrows, or guarantees counterparties.

// LEARN BY EXAMPLE

Real scam examples

Anonymized transcripts of actual scam attempts seen on similar P2P boards. Red annotations point at the moment the user should have stopped the trade. Read these before your first OTC trade.

EXAMPLE 1 — The screenshot scam
SELLER (you): Hi, I have 500 SOST listed at 0.0001 BTC each.
BUYER: Great, I'll take all 500. Send BTC to bc1q...?
SELLER: Yes, my BTC address is bc1q.... Please confirm when sent.
BUYER: Sent! Here's the screenshot. [image: blockchain explorer showing 0.05 BTC] Please release my SOST now, I have another trade waiting. <- RED FLAG #1: pressure + screenshot
SELLER: Let me check.
BUYER: Hurry please, my other trade expires in 5 min. <- RED FLAG #2: urgency
⚠ WHAT WENT WRONG

The screenshot was either edited or showed a transaction to a different address. The seller logged into their wallet directly and saw no incoming transaction. The buyer kept pressuring until the seller realized the scam and stopped.
The rule that would have stopped this: never release SOST based on a screenshot. Verify the transaction directly in your wallet / blockchain explorer using the txid you control.

EXAMPLE 2 — The move-to-DM + fake admin
BUYER (you): WTB 200 SOST at 0.0001 BTC each, paying USDT TRC20.
SELLER: Hi, I have 200 SOST. Let's move to Telegram to coordinate faster. @sost_admin_official <- RED FLAG #1: move-to-DM + impersonates official handle
BUYER: OK (messages on Telegram)
SELLER (Telegram): I'm a SOST official seller, I have inventory at warehouse. Send USDT to TXkS..., I release SOST through the official SOST escrow. <- RED FLAG #2: claims "official SOST escrow" (there is none)
⚠ WHAT WENT WRONG

Two compounding lies. First, the seller moved the chat off-platform to escape Sentinel (which would have flagged the false-admin claim). Second, the seller invented an "official SOST escrow" that does not exist. The buyer sent USDT to the seller's address and never received SOST.
The rule that would have stopped this: SOST admins never DM first. There is no "official SOST escrow". The only official SOST channels are the public website, the public BitcoinTalk thread, and the public SOST Talk rooms. Anyone who initiates contact via DM claiming to be official is a scammer.

EXAMPLE 3 — The advance-fee / "activation fee" scam
BUYER (you): Interested in your offer for 1000 SOST.
SELLER: I have 1000 SOST locked in the SOST official escrow. To release them, you need to pay a 0.005 BTC activation fee first. Once paid, the escrow releases automatically. <- RED FLAG: pay something small first to unlock something bigger = advance-fee fraud
BUYER: That doesn't sound right.
SELLER: It's the standard SOST procedure, you can verify with the admin. <- compounds with fake-admin reference
⚠ WHAT WENT WRONG

Classic 419-style advance-fee fraud, adapted to crypto. The "activation fee", "escrow unlock fee", "tax fee", "processing fee" do not exist. There is no SOST escrow. The buyer would have lost the 0.005 BTC and received nothing.
The rule that would have stopped this: SOST has no fees, no escrow, no "procedure" that requires you to pay first to unlock anything. Anyone asking for an up-front fee to release a trade is running an advance-fee scam.

EXAMPLE 4 — Wallet-verification phishing
SCAMMER (DM to you): Hi, I'm from SOST support. To trade on the OTC board you need to verify your wallet first. Please visit sost-verify[.]net/wallet and connect your wallet. <- RED FLAG #1: SOST admins never DM first, lookalike domain
SCAMMER: If you don't verify, your wallet will be flagged and you won't be able to receive SOST. <- RED FLAG #2: fake threat, no such system exists
⚠ WHAT WENT WRONG

The lookalike site (sost-verify[.]net instead of sostcore.com) is a phishing page that asks for the wallet seed phrase or private key under the guise of "verification". The user's wallet gets drained the moment the seed is entered.
The rule that would have stopped this: the ONLY official SOST domain is sostcore.com. Any other domain that looks SOST-related is a scam. NO legitimate process EVER asks for your seed phrase or private key. There is no "wallet verification" system on SOST.

⚠ IF YOU HAVE BEEN SCAMMED

SOST cannot recover funds because SOST never held them. What you can still do, in order:

  1. If you sent fiat by reversible method (PayPal F&F, SEPA, Wise, Revolut, credit card): contact your bank / payment provider IMMEDIATELY and file a fraud reversal. Reversal windows vary by provider and method, so act immediately — the sooner you file, the better your chances.
  2. If you sent crypto on-chain: the transaction is irreversible. Document the scammer's address, the txid, the conversation logs, and report to chain-analytics providers (Chainalysis, Elliptic) who may flag the address for exchanges.
  3. If you entered a seed phrase or private key into a phishing site: assume the wallet is fully compromised. Move any remaining funds to a brand-new wallet (new seed) immediately. The old wallet is permanently unsafe.
  4. Report the scammer in the OTC / P2P Board chat using the report button. The Sentinel bot logs the offender. Share the lesson in the OTC Reputation room (community-curated, unverified) so others know.
  5. File a police report in your jurisdiction. Crypto fraud is increasingly investigated. Your report adds to the pattern.
  6. Do NOT pay any "recovery agent" / "fund-recovery service" that contacts you afterwards. That is a follow-up scam — they take a fee and recover nothing.

© SOST — sostcore.com

🎮
// IMPORTANT

SOST does not determine the legal or regulatory status of a user-to-user transaction. Users remain responsible for applicable laws, taxes, payment-provider rules, and counterparty verification.

SOST OTC / P2P disclaimer. SOST Community OTC / P2P Board is a user-to-user discussion area for voluntary SOST offers. SOST does not intermediate trades, custody funds, provide escrow, guarantee counterparties, or guarantee liquidity. Admins never DM first. Use small test transactions and verify all addresses independently. No direct founder sale is currently active. SOST is not a broker, exchange, trading desk, escrow service, market maker, or official liquidity program.