I was brainstorming last night about how to find a way to solve the byzantine generals problem when exchanging green pieces of worthless paper (in the physical form) for units of corn 😉 in a peer to peer transaction.
Currently the only viable solution has been to use an escrow*, which doesn't satisfy the aforementioned problem because they are a single point of failure.
So it got me thinking about that retail behemoth we are all thinking of, which has a worldwide coverage of lockable security boxes.
Could there be a way of utilising this network of secure lockers to facilitate the exchange?
The solution would need a solution to the 'digital key exchange' in my example one party would need to disclose their 'code' to the other first, creating the risk of foul play.
If anyone sees a potential in this and can expand on a cryptographically secure solution for key sharing without the need for an escrow service, please let me know.
If I'm just trying to reinvent the wheel and disrespecting Satoshi, I apologise and retract the idea.
*In hindsight the use of escrows is normally for digital pieces of worthless green paper and not physical, the latter usually in a face to face setting, which carries obvious risks. Further reinforcing my idea of a remote exchange scenario