xGov-48 Alright Peer-to-peer agreements app

Author Brian Whippo (@SilentRhetoric)

Category dApps

Focus Social

Open-Source Yes

ALGO Requested 100000

Abstract

Alright is a peer-to-peer agreements app to safely exchange goods & services with anyone through decentralized escrow.

It enables two people to lock in an agreement to buy or sell something, secure the deal with collateral as a security deposit, and release the payment when they are both ready. Alright is for any transaction that comes with some counterparty risk of non-performance, and it is faster, easier, and cheaper than using traditional middleman escrow services.

See the Alright pitch and all the details.

This grant proposal is for the first milestone in the roadmap, to launch the Alright app to TestNet.

Link for details

interesting proposal! sounds like a very useful protocol that could be used across multiple usecases

i wonder how it would work if one of the two parties doesnt fulfill their job, can you clarify what happens then?

Both parties would have a security deposit locked in the contract, so if Person A doesn’t hold up their end of the deal, the Person B won’t approve the release of the security deposits until the deal is fulfilled.

The security deposits being locked (and being a meaningful amount) is what keeps both sides honest.

Let me know if that makes sense! Happy to elaborate further.

ok if its a meaningful amount that makes sense. but that means if one of the parties is dishonest both loose their security deposit i guess since it will be locked forever?

So just to bring that back around, if someone is planning to be dishonest, they are not going to lock in a security deposit in the first place. Alright is for honest people, and will have a much higher deal completion success rate than other channels because dishonest people would self-select away from locking in deals they have no intention of completing.

true, tried to use it in an “evil” way but honestly doesnt make sense. thats good, thanks!

I really like this proposal. It’s actually a practical use of Web3, which is refreshing to see. My only question is, what happens if an “act-of-God” prevents a deal from being completed. Let’s say both members of the transaction make good-faith deposits with every intention to complete a deal, and (not to get extreme) one of the members dies. What happens to the deposits and transaction?

One of the things I have learned about explaining this concept to people is that everyone tries to “break it” somehow So far, though, the model is holding up well.

The short answer is that the same thing would happen as happens today in traditional dealings, which is that you would have probably a claim against the estate of the deceased. One of the reasons this project needs funding is to work with a lawyer to provide the right framework, guidance, and resources for Alright and its users to navigate such edge cases.

Thanks for the explanation! I might actually have a lawyer who can help you with that when the time comes. He’s an estate attorney (or that is my understanding, he is the husband of a former co-worker of mine) that has a particular interest in digital assets. Feel free to PM me about it! I have no affiliation with them, but I enjoy connecting people and helping out!