@gogodr (I'll ping you on slack about this) and all the rest who might still be reading this...
I understand that the hard part is going to be the disputes.
Still I believe that if it can't all can be automated, at least I can provide part of it automated.
How about a free system(free as in the fee is a miner's fee for the trades) That can handle disputes. Once a dispute is called, a trusted user can mediate the dispute requesting information to both parties.
The way to get a trusted user is to offer the service,I would have to get a couple of escrows interested in the platform and they could mediate the disputes for a fee.
I think this is the best and potentially only route we can take. I'd be more than willing to help build an automated system which gives a super super simple platform for escrow parties to charge a fee for their services. Something that can be standardized (same docs for all users, etc..), easily accessible, and easy to implement by the escrow individuals & exchanges (perhaps we build out a large SaaS type service?).
The 2 / 3 multisig seems to be the way to go, I think where us devs come in is facilitating this process to be as streamlined and "easy" as possible. At the same time, there's nothing from stopping us on embarking on a commercial type side of it too. Perhaps we could focus some efforts on reaching out to the different escrow servicers, exchanges, blogs, etc.. and let them know of our service. A super easy product that we provide for a small (incredibly nominal i'm talking) fee.
We could even open source the entire platform, and only charge (my entrepreneur side talking) for some easy to use web-portal or advertising. I mean there's a million ways to go with this. But yeah, I do think this fits the requirements for what the coinbase hackathon is looking for.
-J
https://github.com/jxm262 nodeslackers.io
