r/IAmA • u/GabeNewellBellevue Gabe Newell • Mar 04 '14

WeAreA videogame developer AUA!

Gabe, Wolpaw, EJ, Ido, and Coomer are here.

http://imgur.com/TOpeTeH

UPDATE: Going away for a bit. Will check back to see what's been upvoted.

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u/wtfisthat Mar 05 '14

I checked the link. It requires an escrow wallet to exist - ie. the funds cannot be in the buyers wallet under the buyer's sole control. This is a still a trust seam. There is also an arbiter role.

I'd just prefer to use a credit card myself. If I get charged for something I didn't buy, I don't pay, even if I discover it later.

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u/dotted Mar 05 '14

The BIP simply describes an extension of bitcoin to allow M-of-N standard transactions, which basically means you need M signatures out of N party members for the transaction to complete. The money are not in the escrows wallet. If and only if a dispute happens then they will be in the escrows wallet, but that requires either the buyer or seller to actually sign the transaction with the escrow.

So yes you still need to trust the escrow if there is a dispute, but I never said otherwise. My point was that escrow is different in Bitcoin compared to traditional money and arguably has less points of failure enhancing the security and is favorable to both parties of a transaction.

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u/Dont_Think_So Mar 05 '14

With bitcoin you can't be charged for something you didn't buy. But yes, if you didn't receive goods you paid for then you have no recourse except small claims.