From: "E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 18:02:49 +0800
To: unicorn@schloss.li
Subject: Re: anonymous companies
Message-ID: <01I4WV3W0UHO8Y5FKU@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


From:	IN%"unicorn@schloss.li"  "Black Unicorn" 18-MAY-1996 11:16:57.48

> At 06:42 PM 5/16/96 -0700, Wei Dai wrote:
> > Solution: smart contracts.  This is Nick Szabo's idea of building
> > contractual obligations into cryptographic protocols so that the parties
> > have no choice but to fullfil them.  But again we don't know whether this
> > will actually work for this problem.

>But what happens when there are nuances or circumstances which contracts
>do not anticipate?  This "complete" reliablity is also a curse for
>flexibility which fast moving entities need to survive.

	That's an argument for combining them with escrow agencies. If the
escrow agency is less likely to need to intervene, then they'll charge less...
the principle of insurance company risk estimation.
	-Allen