Title: US based Escrow/Dispute resolution legality Post by: vdek on August 21, 2013, 01:50:38 PM I'm currently developing a services based site where one major feature is an escrow service to connect a buyer and a seller in order to guarantee the safety of funds.
My Scenario is essentially User A requests to buy an Item/Service from User B User A sends 1BTCto my Escrow address, User C Now it branches -> If User A successfully receives the Item/Service from User B, User A clears the funds. User C sends the 1BTC -fee to User B If User A does not successfully receive the Item/Service he files a dispute User C investigates the issue and sends the 1BTC-fee back to User A or to User B depending on the findings. That's the jist of it, a fairly basic Escrow/dispute system. However my main concern is with the FinCEN ruling interpretation: http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-law-what-us-businesses-need-to-know/ Quote
In my view I'm essentially offering a service, but technically I am transmitting BTC from one user to another... How would I stand? My business idea could survive without the escrow service, but it would negatively harm the service IMO. If I could use multifactor authentication, I could probably avoid the notion that I'm sending money from one user to another, but I'm not sure how I would do web based multifactor transactions... I'm currently planning on using the blockchain.info API for handling transactions. I saw this https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=275397.0 thread, however im not looking into cashing out specifically and will be working entirely in bitcoins/litecoins. Title: Re: US based Escrow/Dispute resolution legality Post by: NewLiberty on August 21, 2013, 02:47:31 PM For escrows, some state licencing may be advisable, for example:
California http://www.corp.ca.gov/Laws/Escrow_Law/License.asp Michigan http://www.michigan.gov/statelicensesearch/0,4671,7-180-24786_24826-81555--,00.html Washington http://www.dfi.wa.gov/cs/escrow/escrow_act_info.htm Each US state is different, depends on your location. |