[dredmorbius]

If I'm reading this correctly, there are a few ways IPFS could be used in support of distributed, fraud-resistant, commerce.

First: publishing the catalog isn't the same as processing the shopping request. Online commerce is largely an update to catalog + mail-order shopping as it existed from ~1880 - 1990. If someone else wants to print and deliver your (PKI-authenticated, tamper-resistant) catalog, that's fine.

Second: The catalog isn't the transaction interface, it's the communications about product availability. The present e-commerce world is hugely hamstrung on numerous points, but one of these is the idea separating the catalog and product presentation itself from ordering. So long as you're controlling the order-request interface, you're good. A payment processing system which authorised payments via the bank rather than from the vendor would be helpful. Also a move away from account-info sharing.

The key is in knowing who the valid merchant is, and in establishing that the fraudulent merchant has misrepresented themselves as the valid merchant. Perhaps authentication within the payment system would help.

Taking the shopping cart's payment mechanism out of the shopping cart would help.