A cryptographic alternative to escrow agents (Matts' half coin)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Black Unicorn wrote (was: Why does the state still stand)
. What if a company does not pay as expected - other than adopting Assassination Politics, what method could an employee use towards getting their expected remuneration for work done?
If payment is made weekly, it should be made in advance to an escrow agent who would issue a certificate that the payment for employee r2dd54 has been received. The payment would then not be released to anyone without the consent of the corporation and the employee.
Obviously the escrow agent would have to be trusted.
It should be possible to avoid that trusted escrow agent using blinded ecash and Matts' half coin algorithm. Bob wants to buy a $100 service from Alice. Alice wants to get paid if she performs the service. Bob and Alice each create half of a $300 ecash coin. They send their half coins to the ecash mint for signing, with instructions to withdraw $200 from Bob's account and $100 from Alice's account for the signing of a $300 coin. When the mint has received both half coins, it signs the complete coin, withdraws the money and returns the signature to both Alice and Bob. Nobody can now use the coin alone because they don't know the other half of the random coin number. Next, Alice delivers the service to Bob. If Bob is satisfied with the service, he and Alice write a message to the mint requesting that the complete coin be credited with $100 to Bob's account and $200 to Alice'. Alice has now been paid. If Bob refuses to pay, Alice will never give him her half coin and he loses $200, but he got a $100 service, resulting in a net loss of $100. If Alice refuses to deliver the service, Bob keeps his half coin and she loses $100. Both participants lose $100 each if they don't complete the deal. That way they have the same incentive to come to an agreement. To simplify the messages to the mint you could use two coins. One for $100 and one for $200. That way there would be a one-to-one relation between deposits, withdrawals and coins. The algorithm described above (Matts' half coin) is copyrighted by yours truly Matts Kallioniemi. Patents pending. Matts Kallioniemi <matts@pi.se> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQEVAwUBMZzMVBVFhWUyiUQRAQHs8Af/TQf8zLYfwictsXoqvOahCvQ1aJ4F6Dem w6PARUXIhb0XWIFYRZSiXGsRoUVpWiWtupSIf7PHG/dkGfAamvq0wgQpEJm3+7IP 6qSaOYovKnY19GxTo9QHkyHQ8LFu+CSVJMMPoZtX6tCJX62VkFuJapI1CLQOPb78 Ntqf8kNiX1/IpOfrqiF0Fx1YV2nTno417q4vaJYnZWQFJ+sYf5q0NG0xahDPlwUx I11AtFcpIGOCHek3GGAgH9KYSt6UpAOmk57bSne5+zMN5U78cGDsizLYm+MDtzAx Nt4FYoeYxM0gKs529ruUgTdfZNqVtsXjjeNlbVBi4hyfczs3b3I7ug== =oLLR -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Fri, 17 May 1996, Matts Kallioniemi wrote:
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Black Unicorn wrote (was: Why does the state still stand)
. What if a company does not pay as expected - other than adopting Assassination Politics, what method could an employee use towards getting their expected remuneration for work done?
If payment is made weekly, it should be made in advance to an escrow agent who would issue a certificate that the payment for employee r2dd54 has been received. The payment would then not be released to anyone without the consent of the corporation and the employee.
Obviously the escrow agent would have to be trusted.
It should be possible to avoid that trusted escrow agent using blinded ecash and Matts' half coin algorithm.
Bob wants to buy a $100 service from Alice. Alice wants to get paid if she performs the service.
Bob and Alice each create half of a $300 ecash coin. They send their half coins to the ecash mint for signing, with instructions to withdraw $200 from Bob's account and $100 from Alice's account for the signing of a $300 coin.
When the mint has received both half coins, it signs the complete coin, withdraws the money and returns the signature to both Alice and Bob. Nobody can now use the coin alone because they don't know the other half of the random coin number.
The mint is the escrow agent. It still (obviously) needs to be trusted. --- My preferred and soon to be permanent e-mail address:unicorn@schloss.li "In fact, had Bancroft not existed, potestas scientiae in usu est Franklin might have had to invent him." in nihilum nil posse reverti 00B9289C28DC0E55 E16D5378B81E1C96 - Finger for Current Key Information Opp. Counsel: For all your expert testimony needs: jimbell@pacifier.com
participants (2)
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Black Unicorn -
Matts Kallioniemi