California-based Agreed Escrow announce today it has partnered with GoCoin to become the first licensed Internet escrow service to allow clients to pay with Bitcoin and Litecoin through its site at Agreed.com.
“Agreed is licensed by the California Department of Business Oversight to act as an Internet Escrow agent in escrows involving goods and services.”
“Agreed’s clients are now able to make purchases on agreed.com using the two most popular digital currencies, Bitcoin and Litecoin, with additional cryptocurrencies to be added soon.”
“In order to facilitate its cryptocurrency integration, Agreed has partnered with GoCoin, the leading international payment platform enabling merchants to accept Bitcoin and Litecoin payments at checkout.
“With the recent public failings of the likes of Mt. Gox and others, Agreed’s escrow service offers a key element in rebuilding consumer trust in the burgeoning Bitcoin ecosystem,” said Steve Beauregard, Founder and CEO of GoCoin. “We are thrilled to partner with one of the powerhouses of the domain industry.”
“Payment flexibility, processing efficiency, and transactional security are key to a successful escrow transaction, all of which are core to the Bitcoin protocol. Agreed prides itself on finding new and innovative ways to handle online transactions, so we’re excited to empower the growing tide of early cryptocurrency adopters the flexibility to fund their transactions in whatever currency they see fit,” said Ammar Kubba, Co-Founder and CEO of Agreed. “GoCoin’s forward thinking and renowned co-founders, Steve Beauregard and Brock Pierce, are the ideal partners for Agreed as we continue to evolve the online escrow landscape.”
In addition to Bitcoin and Litecoin, Agreed accepts payments in more currencies than any other licensed online escrow service, including: United States Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), Japanese Yen (JPY), British Pound Sterling (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD) and Australian Dollars (AUD).”
Fair Question:
What happens if I use the service and do a transaction in USD – yet during that transaction some kind of legal inconsistency (laundering, tax evasion or otherwise) occurs with how agreed.com or its clients utilize a bitcoin transaction and everything is temporarily shut down or frozen or shut down or frozen for an extended time frame or forever ?
The second as ecop.com support bitcoins for months.
You don’t need escrow with Bitcoin or other crypto-currencies, you only need a mediator who never controls the funds. This is because “m of n” transactions are possible. If Joe is buying a domain from Frank they hire Mary as a “mediator” or “decider.” It works this way:
Joe creates a “2 of 3” transactions where 2 of the 3 people are needed to approve. When he does this he has committed the funds and all involved parties can see that.
Now if Joe and Frank transfer the domain as agreed both Joe and Frank agree to release the funds and Mary is not needed at all. If Joe and Frank run into a dispute they bring in Mary. If Mary decides the funds should be refunded then she creates a transaction with Frank to refund the funds. If Mary decides Frank is correct she creates a transaction with Frank to release the funds. At no time does Mary have control of the funds so it is not really escrow.