arbiter/escrow agent for hire

17 Dec 2003

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I hereby offer to be arbiter and escrow agent for 
cypherpunks bet settlements.  My conditions:

1.  I won't deal in old-fashioned currencies.  Mark Twain
U.S. Dollar ecash or Merita Bank of Finland Finnish Mark
ecash or First Digital Bank cyberbuck ecash only, please.

2.  I don't handle bets larger than USD300.00, or 
FIM1500.00, or cyb300,000.00.  These are just my arbitrary 
comfort limits.  (It's also large enough to cover the kinds 
of things that go on here, IMESHO.)

3.  My fee per bet is USD5.00 or FIM50.00, or cyb7000.00.  
This is for "simple", winner-take-all bets.  For other
arrangements, make me an offer.

4.  I have to have an explicit description of how the bet
will be settled which is acceptable to me.  This will be
known as the "bet description".
 a.  It has a dearth of loopholes and ambiguities, both with
       regard to the subject of contention and with regard
       to the settling procedure, including settling agents
       and settling schedule.
 b.  It doesn't require me to be the "settling agent" who
       does the research or performs the experiment or
       whatever.

Before I am committed to the job I will require 3 items to
be submitted to me:

1. Acceptable digital signature upon the "bet statement" 
from each bettor.  (Note that PGP signatures from PGP key
pairs which are not connected to me via the Web of Trust, or
which are not verifiable by me via an out-of-band
connection, are not acceptable digital signatures.  This is
because of the MITM attack problem, not because  I need True
Names to be connected to the signatures.)
2. My fee.  (I don't care who pays it--  One or both bettors
or spectators.)
3. Amount of the bet from each bettor.  This chunk of money
will be known as the "ante".  Note that depending upon the
details of the "bet statement", each bettor may submit a
different ante.  (Yes, up front.  Yes, I get antes from both
bettors.  Yes, I keep them while the bet is being settled.  
Why do you think my fee is so low?)

Final Notes:

1.  I reserve the right to reject any bet for any reason.  
Although my fee is non-refundable, the antes are refundable
in this case.  If I exercise this right after the antes 
have been delivered, I will return them to their respective
owners.

2.  The bettors may _not_ unilaterally or unconditionally 
reserve the right to cancel the bet after having signed the
bet statement and submitted their antes.  Provisions for 
cancelling the bet after that point, if desired, should be 
written into the bet statement.

3.  I don't do currency exchange.  If your betting partner
submits his ante in Finnish Marks and you win then you are
getting Finnish Marks.  If you submit an ante in cyberbucks
and then I cancel the bet, you are getting cyberbucks
refunded to you.

Please contact me via e-mail (PGP preferred) if you wish to 
engage my services.

Cordially,

Bryce,
Escrow and Arbitration Agent Serving the cypherpunks Mailing
List Since 1996.

arbiter/escrow agent for hire

bryce＠digicash.com