Why not decentralize the escrow system so that both buyer and seller have to agree upon a specific user (who will have a rating / reputation) to be the middle man?

I have seen some ideas being floated around and thought this worth discussing. There could possibly be a fee for anyone joining the site (to keep scammers out) and the escrow users would have to slowly earn reputation before they could be used for transactions of higher amounts. Perhaps this could be seen as a deposit which could be forfeited if they turn out to be a scammer. Financing / commission for the website admins could also be done based on a small % fee of transactions or simply through initiation fees.
Also perhaps there could be an option of having multiple users acting as escrow for a single transaction and they'd need to reach a consensus for each transaction.
Thoughts? Couldn't such a site be somewhat open-source so that if one iteration gets taken down by LE or they scam people, another one could be put up almost immediately?


Comments


[0 Points] bryanmicon:

I can't believe Mike Caldwells btc-address escrow utility hasn't gotten more action. Perfect for darknet escrow IMO


[-2 Points] budsterga5hcdxjn:

That is what we are doing at Budster, we have a ratings system implemented as well. What really needs to be designed is the proper client-end software with a built in p2p ratings system.

Everyone should also be migrating to i2p.