Dew, Decentralized escrow
Hello I'm Mr Perx. I'm looking for feedback on this proposal for funding a desktop application called Dew, Decentralized Escrow.
The Problem
I find it hard to trade online p2p without any sort of protection like an escrow service. All the escrows I find online are either with KYC and compromised privacy or they are darknet markets where illicit things are traded, they are not good for the p2p trade of normal goods or services.
The Proposal
I propose to create a Desktop Application with Electron using Monero, libp2p and Tor to create a decentralized escrow service anybody can use with maximum privacy. The escrow is based on multisig and works with 2-of-3 signatures. The application is similar to Bisq but instead of an exchange, this is a general escrow.
The escrow is ran by escrow agents who form a kind of DAO using multisig using arbitrary treshold accounts (M-of-N signers), more on this later.
The app is an electron application written in Typescript. One of the main features of the application is messaging over tor with PGP. Users are able to log in, add their PGP keys which will be their identity, and the app is also an XMR wallet, the xmr public keys are signed with PGP for verification. There is direct encrypted messaging and also escrow agent discovery, so the users are able to select who should be the arbiter of their dispute resolution if required and create an escrow with them.
The proposed way escrow agents join the application is by staking. They need to create an arbitrary treshold account together with other escrow agents and deposit there XMR as stake. They will be only able to access it if all the other agents agree and if the buyers or sellers report a lot of malicious activity or if they have pending disputes they are not resolving, they may loose their stake.
So the Escrow Agents will charge a small direct fee from buyers and sellers to create the escrow and for providing the dispute resolution service if required. The buyers and sellers they are able to use the escrow without messaging directly agents, but they will need to select one and pay a small fee each time they trade.
The application and the escrow agents by default have zero knowledge about the things that are traded, they can trade BTC or other crypto,NFTs, digital goods, physical goods or services.
About me
I'm a software developer with many years of experince using Typescript and writing blockchain apps. I will be the main developer of this project , while I expect to hire one more dev. I'm able to start working on the project from end of May.
Milestones
I do test-based iterative development, I will release a working version of the application at each milestone. The project will expire in July if It fails to gain interest from the monero community.
Desktop app with libp2p chat over Tor
For the first milestone, I will create the electron application, it will use libp2p with TOR transport for syncing a distributed database,messaging, pgp key support,key exchange and encrypted chat is added.
Monero Wallet, multisig
For the second milestone, a Monero wallet will be integrated into the application. Multisig support will be added and users will be able to exchange keys to create multisig accounts and the escrow functionality is implemented.
Decentralied Escrow Agent Registry
The third milestone will be about the escrow agents, it will involve signing up agents, arbitrary treshold account creation with other agents, and the apps will broadcast the list of available agents to peers (buyers and sellers) who will be able create the escrow, 2-of-3 treshold accounts, with them.
UI and UX
The application will have a UI and UX refactor, the UI from created during previous development will will be polished and the app will be tested for proper UX, feedback after actions performed, correct error messages etc.
Desktop app for Linux, Windows and MacOS
The app is available first for linux and then at the end it will have windows and macOS support. Installers will be created and for the specific platforms and the binaries will be available for download from a website which will be created at this point and will be hosted on TOR and clearnet addresses with the source code available.