Author

Topic: Automated Bitcoin Escrow (Read 1282 times)

newbie
Activity: 11
Merit: 0
December 04, 2013, 05:39:46 AM
#13
Quote
So, a certain amount of trust/good faith is always neccesary when filling in any form or sharing any information with anyone.

I sure wish there is a way that we don't have to rely on such "trust/good faith" in the era of Bitcoins.

Are you sure there is no escrow service out there that does not require a guy trusting the escrow provider? I think such a service would be really useful. If there's nothing out there, maybe I should look into building something and offer to everyone? Will be great to hear if anybody here thinks there's value in doing that.
W-M
full member
Activity: 210
Merit: 100
In Crypto we Trust.
November 30, 2013, 06:46:38 AM
#12
Well, I thought the whole idea is that you DON'T HAVE TO trust the escrow providers.

In the CoinGuard case, it seems that each party will hold some secret to themselves and the escrow provider (E) is only needed if the buyer and seller have a dispute. And the escrow provider cannot take the BTC funds, except to give it to either the buyer or the seller. That's how I understand it works, not sure if the CoinGuard web site explained this clearly.

With regard to the GGDice service, I think it's theoretically possible that the private key is stored on the server, that would be a critical flaw in the scheme, to me anyway.
This is correct. However, both CoinGuard and GGDice seem to create the keys on the server. This makes the service easier to use, but of course has a lower security than the 'raw' approach of Alice and Bob creating a key separately on their own computer and then sending both public keys to the other.


Just like with any site, behind the scenes your data could be saved/used/manipulated in any way. But this is true for every kind of website. So, a certain amount of trust/good faith is always neccesary when filling in any form or sharing any information with anyone.
newbie
Activity: 11
Merit: 0
November 30, 2013, 05:12:46 AM
#11
Well, I thought the whole idea is that you DON'T HAVE TO trust the escrow providers.

In the CoinGuard case, it seems that each party will hold some secret to themselves and the escrow provider (E) is only needed if the buyer and seller have a dispute. And the escrow provider cannot take the BTC funds, except to give it to either the buyer or the seller. That's how I understand it works, not sure if the CoinGuard web site explained this clearly.

With regard to the GGDice service, I think it's theoretically possible that the private key is stored on the server, that would be a critical flaw in the scheme, to me anyway.
hero member
Activity: 490
Merit: 500
November 30, 2013, 04:13:27 AM
#10
Sorry but I will use trusted ecrows on here for the moment if I have the need

full member
Activity: 210
Merit: 100
Crypto News & Tutorials - Coinramble.com
November 30, 2013, 01:16:14 AM
#9
I like the illustration in the home page  Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1050
Merit: 1004
November 30, 2013, 01:05:30 AM
#8
This Split Key automated escrow service has also just been set up.

https://ggdice.com/webescrow_nm#

https://github.com/knowitnothing/webescrow_nm
hero member
Activity: 742
Merit: 502
Circa 2010
November 29, 2013, 08:58:54 PM
#7
Your site does not work. Also, why should we trust you?

There is no real reason to trust him, he's new and he's offering a service that could well be simply an elaborate scam. Much more advisable to use some of the more well-known forum members for escrow purposes.
hero member
Activity: 896
Merit: 527
₿₿₿₿₿₿₿
November 29, 2013, 08:51:47 PM
#6
Your site does not work. Also, why should we trust you?
full member
Activity: 182
Merit: 100
November 29, 2013, 06:27:45 PM
#5
You are new. How can we trust you and your website?
hero member
Activity: 619
Merit: 500
November 29, 2013, 06:26:01 PM
#4
Just wanted to test it and got:
Code:
Something went wrong please try again. [Status: 500 Internal Server Error]
newbie
Activity: 29
Merit: 0
November 12, 2013, 10:34:23 AM
#3
How does this differ from bitescrow.org ?

In the case of bitescrow.org there still needs to be a human third party to create the transaction. Alice and Bob can't conduct a bitescrow.org transaction themselves without one of the two parties knowing both escrow keys.
full member
Activity: 196
Merit: 100
November 12, 2013, 02:43:53 AM
#2
How does this differ from bitescrow.org ?
newbie
Activity: 29
Merit: 0
November 11, 2013, 02:23:05 PM
#1
What is CoinGuard:

In a nutshell CoinGuard provides an automated bitcoin escrow service that allows two people to transact with each other while protecting both parties involved from scams.

How do you intend on doing that?
Ok let's walk through the hypothetical example with Bob and Alice:
Alice wants to buy a new phone from Bob using nothing but bitcoin, but obviously as she's never done business with Bob before she hesitates to send Bob coins without some sort of protection in place in case things don't go as planned.

What's it like to create a new escrow?
Alice heads to Coinguard.org to start an escrow transaction; she enters her email address and the email address of Bob to begin the escrow.
The two escrow keys and a new bitcoin address are created for the buyer and seller. Both Alice and Bob are notified by email that an escrow has been initiated and Alice is prompted to send her coins to the corresponding escrow address.

How does Bob know when his funds are there?
Once the payment has 6 confirmations, Bob receives an email notifying him that the coins can now be redeemed. Now Bob is protected by the fact that as long as he upholds his end of the transaction the funds will be delivered to him.
Alice has somewhat more confidence in the fact that if Bob is indeed a scammer then the coins are retrievable back to her.

How does Bob retrieve his coins?
Upon successfully sending the new phone to Alice and providing a package tracking #, Alice can send her escrow key to Bob to unlock the escrowed funds.
Bob provides his escrow key, Alice's escrow key, and the address where he wants the funds paid out to.

How are disputes handled?
In the unfortunate event of a dispute, all evidence will need to be submitted on both parties’ sides to prove their case items such as a package tracking #, receipt of acceptance, or other circumstantial evidence can be provided. All matters will be examined and CoinGuard will make the best decision based on the items provided to strengthen either party’s case. In the future we will be looking at building a global dispute agent network based around ratings and community feedback when mediating escrow transactions.

How much is the escrow fee?
The escrow fee is only 1% per escrow and is deducted from the bitcoin address in the redemption phase. Both the buyer and seller will need to work out who is responsible for the escrow fee.

How did you come up with this?
Well we had been looking at a number of services that offered escrow. Casascius offers an escrow utility based on his escrow draft scheme but it still needs a trusted human third party to create the transaction and hold the keys to the wallet. Bitescrow.org is the web version of this implementation, but like the original tool still needs a trusted human third party to generate and create the transaction, and can be hard to use for many people who aren't steeped in bitcoin on an everyday basis. We took the concept even further by removing the need of a human third party to create the transaction for you and be available online when the purchase is successful to complete the escrow proceedings.

How can I trust you?
This is a valid concern, and one we would have as well of a new service. It’s a very natural human response that really only comes along with having the infrastructure’s best interest at heart and gaining the trust of the community. It won’t happen overnight and that we know and all we can say is you have to start somewhere.

We’d love if you gave us a spin and getting any suggestions and feedback to make the service better.
https://coinguard.org
Jump to: