Escrow protocols for cryptocurrencies: How to buy physical goods using bitcoin

Author(s): Goldfeder, S; Bonneau, J; Gennaro, R; Narayanan, Arvind

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Abstract:	We consider the problem of buying physical goods with cryptocurrencies. There is an inherent circular dependency: should be the buyer trust the seller and pay before receiving the goods or should the seller trust the buyer and ship the goods before receiving payment? This dilemma is addressed in practice using a third party escrow service. However, we show that naive escrow protocols introduce both privacy and security issues. We formalize the escrow problem and present a suite of schemes with improved security and privacy properties. Our schemes are compatible with Bitcoin and similar blockchain-based cryptocurrencies.
Publication Date:	2017
Electronic Publication Date:	23-Dec-2017
Citation:	Goldfeder, S, Bonneau, J, Gennaro, R, Narayanan, A. (2017). Escrow protocols for cryptocurrencies: How to buy physical goods using bitcoin. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 10322 LNCS (321 - 339. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-70972-7_18
DOI:	doi:10.1007/978-3-319-70972-7_18
Pages:	321 - 339
Type of Material:	Conference Article
Journal/Proceeding Title:	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Version:	Author's manuscript