Abstract

In the wake of centralized exchanges, early decentralized exchanges led the DeFi movement using order books and liquidity pools. Yet DeFi users still lacked a fully decentralized way to onramp from fiat to crypto and offramp back to fiat.

P2P Protocol reflects a departure from fiat escrows and traditional custodians by using zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs for non-custodial KYC, making on/off-ramps privacy-preserving and governed by users' collective interests.

Currently deployed on the Base network (coming soon to solana), P2P Protocol trustlessly matches buyers and merchants on-chain based on staked USDC, settles trades with on-chain coordination, and resolves disputes through on-chain admin settlement rather than platform custody. Deployment on Solana is on the roadmap within six months. This paper formalizes design goals, protocol flows, reputation, dispute resolution, pricing, security and privacy models, governance, and token economics in preparation for a Token Generation Event (TGE) planned for March 2026.

The end-state is a credibility-based DeFi ecosystem where peers transact, save, and build services on top of an open Proof-of-Credibility graph—useful, easy to use, privacy-first, and not reliant on over-collateralized mechanics for every everyday action. This paper lays out that vision, the principles guiding it, what works today, and the path to a mature, protocol-neutral, global network by and beyond 2026.

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