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by Zak 2637 days ago
Several people have built escrow systems for Bitcoin. Whether you trust those people is another matter.
1 comments

Using escrow systems also detracts from a core appeal of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies - being able to exchange money online with little trust in a third party intermediary.

There are still the monetary policy trust issues that Bitcoin resolves (not having to trust a central bank) if you are particularly libertarian or whatever, but I don't think that's really a driving cause for any sort of adoption in any other countries other than Venezuela and maybe Cyprus 5 years ago?

The Bitcoin script language allows you to create escrow systems without any trust in a third party intermediary.

A working example of this is the lightning protocol which is implemented on top of Bitcoin script. It uses time-based escrow written in Bitcoin script to eliminate the need for trust or third party intermediaries.

This is an important benefit that isn't very well known.