Topic: How to begin with becoming an escrow agent? (Read 2180 times)

why would i get neg rep for asking about a process? if you read above,


I was simply asking the advice of those who have been here longer then I, before attempting something that could turn out badly if not approached in the right way. (such as the masterP incident) As stated above I will be putting this mission on hold and begin by building trust amongst the community, by simply trying to be a larger part of it.

Id like to thank all of those who commented with helpful advice, all of which I will be taking with me from this point forward in my 'crypto-career'

I don't think OP need to be -neg
He was just asking on how to be escrow which is hard to be one especially on Bitcoin

firstly he need trust, don't try to be an escrow without it, even for a small deal
You will not get tipped but probably -neg

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Well said.  The list is down to a "Big Three" with no-one seemingly willing to break into the top five with a couple declining the nomination.  I think doing reasonable trades that aren't just buying to then resell will gain people's trust.

Saying this


will make people wonder.

That's >18,000 BTC now. 

By this are you referring to account sales?If so isn't this generally a shady area for this forum? I feel if I became involved in the account sales occurring here it may tarnish my already limited reputation. (Plus being against my personal belief that accounts should stay with the OG owner).

As for the thread with 'friends' posting good things, I have two small issues with that:
1) My family and friends have been scared away from BTC long ago, falling victim to many of the scams associated with crypto. I am the 'lone wolf' left of my original group of friends. This makes it rather difficult to have 'friends' posting nice things, as none are remaining users on BCT.
2)This goes back to my issues with shadiness. Having multiple users post nice things could easily be interpreted as one user with multiple accounts.... and fraudulent trust (or the implication thereof) is not what I'm after here.

However I would like to thank you, and all of the other posters, for taking the time to respond to my thread and give advice on this subject.

Probably a good idea to start one of those threads where your friends post about you (never made one, but there is a section here for it). A good starting point that is needed is account escrows. There is a lack of escrows for them and most are low in value (good starting area and potential niche market for you). Expect to not get tipped much or even thanked often for your hard work though.

The thread has no relation with being an honest escrow agent.He needs to be trusted enough and have some nice posting history on the forum in order to be in the eyes of the buyers & sellers as well,otherwise he is going to get neg-rep very soon.

OP also needs to start posting here https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcointalk-escrows-trade-safely-855778 to discuss his intentions and to introduce himself. (As well as signing wallets and other stuff)

I do believe you when you say you're the original owner, but you have to keep in mind that not all account sales are advertised using the name of the account being sold...
Most account sellers don't disclose the account they're selling.

That's why it's important to sign a message with an old, staked address

I have used many wallets, the one on my account here is simply the newest (an android wallet actually) if you also check my 'memeber since:' stat youll see how long Ive been a member here. Also if you checked the 'account sales' threads here, youll find my account has never been sold. So definitely not a 'newbie' who sprung to life in december lol

Yes 'NottaDev' is simply an inside joke between a few friends, In no way do I consider myself a dev..... yet . As you say, My dox would be very easily put together due to the fact I dont hide where I am or who I am, this is on purpose in an attempt at transparency. If you wanted to... my real name is also floating around here on another thread.

I have not yet decided to put my name out AS an escrow, I was simply inquiring about the  process to becoming one. From the advice given, I will likely be putting time into simply making useful posts and maybe making a few exchanges through the forum here.... basicaly business as usuall.

Maybe in 6-12 months my presence here, aswell as my trust rating, might be high enough to attempt this mission. Untill then, Id like to thank everyone for their advice. Especially those who are or were escrow agents themselves.

So, just to verify; your BTC address used is 1G2PTf59cYsWKoZjj3i3Cv1Bb8NuNaeho2 which has been in use since Christmas (when quite a few newbies sprung to life)

http://www.bctalkaccountpricer.info/?token=1igbtg8j


https://blockchain.info/address/1G2PTf59cYsWKoZjj3i3Cv1Bb8NuNaeho2 the outgoing wallets are inconclusive at first glance as they don't show up here.

Your info (available to anyone)


I discount


as being said in jest.

I don't disagree with @mocacinno but I would take a slightly different approach, I wouldn't for example give passwords to family and friends in a manor they could run away with the coins easily, nor would I for example revel details of my OS, firewall or similar - this would tell someone planning to attack you where and how to attack.

I haven't read anything from l8nit3 to make me want to use him as an Escrow, I think given the endevour he wants to embark on, he should be online more often to respond to our questions.

I'll keep following the thread to see what transpires.

I would start by having  0% fees and try to work you on your account:
- Do traders
- Upgrade in rank

Then you will see more people will trust you with low amounts of money.

I agree with all the points in your OP, one more thing i could think off:

A lot of companies and also escrow services (master-p) claimed to be hacked when they were running away with our coins. Next to having massive green trust, a self dox and giving some bitcoins as collateral, i'd like to see an escrow agent that is completely open about his/her security.

That way, people know how the escrow agent secures our coins, and any problems with the security precautions can be given to the escrow in the form of feedback.

security-wise i'd expect an escrow agent to:
- have both his address and PGP key staked in an old thread
- run up-to-date OS's (preferably linux or unix), or at least be open about his virusscanner/malware detection
- has a decent network setup in his office (routing, firewall,...), everything regularly updated (firmware-wise)
- either use a hardware wallet, or use an offline PC to sign all transactions, and have a watch-only client on his internet-pc
- store part of his funds on paper wallets, generated with the offline PC
- have a strong contingency-plan in case of an accident (for example, store an usb-stick with his/her encrypted wallet.dat in a safe with his bank, and give his wife and brother/sister a password to decrypt said wallet.dat).
- use a good password policy (Keepass) to have strong and regularly updated passwords on all his accounts


Personally, if i was buying a couple thousand dollars woth of goods, i'd rather pay 3% to an escrow agent that had massive green trust, could be doxxed by theymos, had some collateral with a second escrow agent and was 100% open about his security measures compared to a free escrow agent that is completely anonymous and with whom i have no idear about his security...

i am agree with WENGER,i also think that trust is everything,and not easy to get some trust from any user or member,i found some escrow fail on some forum because they can't hold the trust,yes because trust is not only hard to get,but hard to hold,make sure that you have many time transaction with some user,and have permit from any admin or post on macro thread.

I mean no offense by this, but I definitely would not use you as an escrow--not with the other escrow agents already available with positive trading history.  They got to be trusted by doing trades first and they've been around for a lot longer than you.  You're a senior member, which is getting there, but you still have a ways to go before being Legendary.

first you must be trusted member green trust and higher rank,
and usually makes people believe that you must be a moderator or a part of this forum

Five thousand, or even ten thousand dollars would be more the sum required in prior trades.

You don't even have a reply for this that you sent.

Farming trust , you mean? That is just wrong. Escrow should be someone nearly everyone mutually trusts, not someone who you have to keep on the toes, just because he had some 50 buck deals with DT members.

imo this should be the only reason someone starts openly offering their services as an escrow provider, its a very strong show of peoples' trust in an individual.

Op, I have pretty interesting method for you. I thought about it and here it goes: If you want to offer escrow services and you are 'newbie' escrow probably the best way for you to do it is to use another escrow.
In short: you deposit sum of money (say 1 BTC) with help of another very trusted escrow, and offer people your escrow services with the limit of 1 BTC. That is how you build up your trust and eventually you will be independent escrow.

Another tool of the trade would have to be having a set of PGP keys.

The BCT PGP/GPG Public Key Database: Stake Your PGP Key Here https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/the-bct-pgpgpg-public-key-database-stake-your-pgp-key-here-1159946

But Blazed is right, I'm wondering why you'd want the grief right now?

It takes years to build up trust and you have to start somewhere. Starting small and doing small escrows (~$20) is a good place to begin. I am curious why you wish to become an escrow? When I started it was due to so many people asking me to escrow...not from the desire to do extra work.

Found it -


I like the idea of the self Dox-ing.  The more transparent you are the more quickly we can hunt you down if / when you cock up the better...

Trust is the most important for escrow. Is really nice to be agent, but they are already a lot of people that they can trust to be a escrow. I think it will be difficult to go in.

becoming an escrow agent is somehow not an easy route this time especially because of what recently happen with masterp, i believe you already know that. it made a buzz here in the forum and somehow people thinks it is unsafe this time. its been resolved as far as i know but sure its not going to be the same anymore.

Let me see if I can help at all. I recently retired from the "Big 5" because frankly it sucks being an escrow here. The best way to start I suppose is by offering to handle small escrows. Do not try to go for big stuff until you have proved yourself trustworthy. I think a good idea moving forward after the Master-P thing might be to get vetted by someone trusted (basically hand over your dox). Probably a good idea to start one of those threads where your friends post about you (never made one, but there is a section here for it). A good starting point that is needed is account escrows. There is a lack of escrows for them and most are low in value (good starting area and potential niche market for you). Expect to not get tipped much or even thanked often for your hard work though. Definitely charge a decent fee because it is a lot of work once you get known!

Why do you want to be an escrow anyway?
We already have so much escrow currently that i don't think we need another one
But the mandatory requirements to be an escrow is a trust
Good luck getting trusts

Oh ok, I can't recall, no matter, I can only suggest you do trades here in the currency exchange section, but having said that, you could likely get tagged for attempting building trust.

craptsy, bittrex, poloniex, yobit, c-cex, and many more. However I was also quite active for a bit on HT during the XPY days. Im also occasionally on xda-dev for android..... usually asking for assistance in whatever project ive decided to attempt lol

What exchanges have you been on?

I've seen the name l8nit3 but can't recall where or under what circumstances.

that would be the classic pattern of a scammer, slowly building up the amount theyre trusted with. fact is, people wont look to random people to escrow their trades, assuming they understand the concept of escrow and the purpose an escrow service serves. for example. some time ago someone suggested using the user gkv9 (the horse / cricket thread spammer guy) as escrow, just a random user that happened to post in the thread and had zero trade history or known reputation, in the form of trust by other users or feedback left from trades.
the bad thing is, people take this to to their head and think that the solution is to 'build reputation' (farm trust) and gain fake reputation that is essentially bought. if people trust you enough to ask you to escrow their trades, itll happen at some point (example: i remember diamondcardz mentioned somewhere people came to him for escrow, despite not offering the service publicly). you might get a few deals here and there by inserting yourself into the equation (forcibly), but as a random 3rd party youd defeat the purpose of an escrow service, which is to serve as a mutually trusted third party to mediate and secure the trade. my advice, just forget about it.

This is the fairest way to be a trusted escrow and have more deals.

You can start offering your escrow service with a small amount.

And then increasing it time by time, i wish you best of luck in escrowing

Sounds like fair advice. However, that will take me some time to build my personal BTC stash to have 'collateral' so to speak. Come on solo.ckpool!!! lol

To be a successful escrow i would suggest you as a new escrow to deposit some money to administrator,

And escrow the deals up to this amount that you sent to administrator.

By this even if you try to scam the users the funds are covered and can be payed from administrator.

As I know,it is not Dark Trust but DT stands for Default Trust.

@OP : just an advice, better to trade wisely. Dont do many trades just to get positive feedback, but do it when you need it only. And never ask for positive feedback after successful trade/deal.

Wow thats intense! I guess I need to start making some deals here on BCT lol. I understand trust here works with 'risked BTC', so basically I need to make purchases from a few members here and have them supply a trust rating based on our transaction... correct?

I apologize for sounding so noobish on this matter, I simply would like to be sure I go about this in the right way and not shoot myself in the foot before I even start lol.

Ive seen this term DT many times here, what exactly does it stand for?? this means Dark Trust, this applies to those member with heavy green trust, they give valid trust whether negative or positive trust.

Thank you all for your advice! I also followed the masterP situation here, and definitely understand the current stigma attached to escrow agents here a BCT.
I am quite surprised how many senior and hero members took the time to advise

With all the current BS surrounding every escrow agent, including the most respected here, It seems I will have to 'tread softly' in my goal. As for sold accounts, the L8NIT3 / L8NIT3TR0UBL3 username will never be sold It is the same name I use everywhere and I refuse to have another person tarnish the very small reputation I have so far lol.

As for the DOX, is this something commonly done by the escrow agents here?? By the comments here, it would seem that a ~1% fee is a bit small for purposely handing out my full DOX.... goes against everything Ive learned about safety online lol. However, if thats whats required for gaining trust, and so long as its only given to an already reputable user.... I suppose it may be 'safe-ish'.

Can't expect others to trust me with their BTC, if I can't trust the forum owners with my DOX I suppose.


Ive seen this term DT many times here, what exactly does it stand for??

Since master-p incident, it's will be more difficult to be a good escrow agent since we can't predict even they have many green trust doesn't mean they can be scamming.
But if you're trying to be a good & honest escrow, maybe you can ask experience trustable escrow for more information ( like Ognasty )

Being an escrow may be a thankless job but there are instances why people wants to be an escrow. For example is my reaso why I want to is because I want to be able to help other people. And prove m honesty and credibility as a real human.

I support the thought that an escrow provider here should give out their dox and be known atleast by thestaffs so there will be deails to cling in to just incase.

Anyway, if you want to be an escrow. Prove your worthiness of other peoples trust. Be a good person and do no harm. Obey Gods' rule and you're good to go. There are tons of explanations and etc but if I will say you will have to follow Gods' commandments then I think you willnot do anything against it thus you meaning you will not do any harm to your people. No scamming for short. Lol. Gl mate.

Staying active, posting good content, and build reputation by trading here will be enough I guess. If you've got green trust ratings and a lot of users recognize you as a reputable member, I think you are good to go to start a escrow service. But with the recent scam incident involving a reputable escrow, I think providing your real-life identity will be needed. Good luck

The very first step is to gain peoples trust in your dealings with them, people will then give you green or positive trust, you can now go from there, remember that people will not send you their funds even if you are a Legendary member unless you go green.

You lack a solid trade reputation here. Account age doesn't matter because there are buying/selling accounts

What might actually help is giving your dox to theymos or badbear... In case you run with the money, at least the community will know who they have to hunt down . It might give you SOME credibility without having a lot of green trust.

Offcourse, fake info (id, drivers licence,...) can be bought pretty cheap nowadays, so theymos or badbear should actually verify your dox (sending a letter with a confirmation code to the addy you gave them + phoning you on the telephone number you gave).
I don't even know if they would be willing to do this (since they're quite busy nowadays).

Twister is completely right tough: i've followed the master-p debacle quite close, and it seems most escrow agents can only ask about 1% fee due to the competition between them... even if you escrowed 1000BTC a year, you'd only make 10BTC from the fees (minus the transaction fees, minus the fact you'd practicly HAVE to buy a HW wallet). Surely the hourly wage of an escrow agent is lower than the minimum wage of most countries

Why you want to do it? Its a thankless job and you don't even get paid enough and one fuck up can cause you to lose all the reputation you have gained so far.

So my suggestion is, forget it.

After master-p's incident, its hard for people to trust, even the members with so much green on their account that they can save the world from global warming, how can you expect them to trust unorganic account like yours?

But if you still want to do it, follow the advice of these nice people, like this one:



This would make you appear trusted in the eyes of the bitcointalk members. /sarcasm 

As been said before: you have no feedback whatsoever... At least do some trades with "normal" people and at least get a lot of untrusted positive feedback before attempting this. Even better would be to get some positive feedback from trusted members, but most of them use their +ve very sparingly. Also positive feedback from DT should be earned

Being long enough in the community is one thing but that shouldn't be the basis as trust is everything and after checking your rating, there's no indication of anything risky that as result have gained you any trust so far and I wouldn't recommend starting an escrow service as you haven't done trades and haven't been trusted with something valuable that put the other guy at risk of losing it so I doubt people would use you specially with all the trusted escrows available at the moment.

What I see a trustworthy escrow is begin from trade something like voucher steam, trade BTC to fiat/PayPal and then when you have at least 1 positive reputation you can open an ANN, also you can request your name list, listed to escrow list on Marco thread.

Hello again BCT members!
I am reaching out to all those with more knowledge then I currently have on the subject of escrow services. Being that I've become a 'Senior Member' here on BCT and have been a fairly active member since July 14, 2014, 11:03:00 AM, I have decided I would like to offer my services as an escrow agent to any who need one.

However, before actually releasing an ANN stating such (or similar advertising), I would like to do all of my research and know exactly what is required of all parties, specifically me of course. lol

I understand that I would need to have a valid and confirmed PGP signature (to essentially verify my 'online identity'), and would likely need to use a multisig setup for each transaction, however that is where my knowledge ends. (I understand how to setup the things Ive mentioned, I just don't know if more is required.)

So, if anyone here at BCT could shed some light on the subject for me that would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT#1
advice so far for anyone else who is looking into the subject:

1)from avatar_kiyoshi

2)from WENGER

3) from Shibashi Dogemoto

4)from prodigy8

and 5) from subSTRATA and twister

/EDIT#1