Author: Joel Kaartinen 2014-03-07 18:07:57
Published on: 2014-03-07T18:07:57+00:00
Joel, a member of the Bitcoin-development mailing list, proposed a simple method for each individual user to mark certain merchants as trusted. This would involve a notification from the device upon receiving an untrusted payment request, asking the user to authorize the payment and adding the merchant to a trust list. The lack of chargebacks presents a clear risk to the customer, so Joel suggests the need for a third party that can keep the merchants honest, opening up markets for transaction insurance companies. Such an insurance company would have a strong incentive to make sure the merchants they insure for behave and offer coverage in the event of fraudulent charges. This would result in an equally trustworthy but more decentralized system than with credit cards. A reputation network was also discussed, but it was deemed too complicated and a separate project altogether. However, the idea of several different networks with different curators, similar to the US credit score system, was suggested.
Updated on: 2023-06-08T14:22:27.090895+00:00