Stochastic – Create and manage contracts backed by Bitcoin
stochastic.xyz
stochastic.xyz
- BTC volatility makes the contract pricing (budget) and proof of funds a moving target.
- Its not even a semi-autonomous smart contract, so enforcement requires the same legal expense to enforce as a normal contract.
- Jury.io is a year ahead, and I've not checked recently but I believe Allegro is as well.
There is no innovation here. I wish there was b/c we could use a fully vetted product like this.
The jury.io that redirects to http://yourather.com/, a toy website? Or did you mean https://juro.com/? That's a website where "customers can generate, negotiate and sign contracts through one integrated platform and then learn from the rich data that contracts contain". That's great, but it doesn't seem to be at all what Stochastic wants to do, which is to keep money in escrow until the contract is fulfilled. (I guess you could combine those.)
> Allegro is as well
Have a link? I do find stuff when searching the web for "allegro contracts", but it turns out that the name is much too generic to guess what you mean.
We are currently only doing fixed price contracts. However, it is possible to create other types of contracts like a Fixed Price + Variable contract. The variable can be the USD/BTC exchange rate and Stochastic can act as an Oracle to the smart contract.
I agree escrow and contracting application aren't anything new in Bitcoin but so far no one has been able to make it work.
As for Jury.online, I wish them success, but I don't think we are in the same space. I see Stochastic closer to traditional contract management software like Conga and GateKeeper
Technically every Bitcoin transaction is a smart contract, the language of the contract is Bitcoin Script (Forth-like, stack-based language, https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Script).
Currently, we are only using P2WSH to create 2/2 and 2/3 Multi-sigs but in the future, we hope to create other types of contracts with different clauses and also an easy to use UI to accompany it.
> Transactions containing non-standard scripts like these will not be relied through the Bitcoin network but if they are included in a block they will be accepted by the standard client.
As far as I can tell, this is basically a job board for contractors who want to be paid in Bitcoin. There is a bit of innovation with the "proof of funds" meaning that the contractor can be sure-ish that the money they are meant to be paid actually exists. There are no further guarantees, and disputes are handled by humans.
As it stands we just handle processing of multi-sig contracts
As for the Bitcoin transactions, it is multi-sig 2/2 then a multi-sig 2/3
The reputation of the business will ultimately depend on how sound and fair that process is.
Our goal is to make tools and services around Bitcoin that showcase some of it's features. There is more to Bitcoin than just HODL and trading.
All code has bugs and unforeseen unhandled corner cases. When code is law, all bugs and unhandled cases become law too. Do you want your law to veer into unhandled territory because your developers didn’t consider some random edge case?
Ergo, smart contracts are a completely broken idea. Sorry.
We are not doing an ICO, we are not even holding people's Bitcoin we only hold part of the keys to a contract, how can you consider this application a fraud, it's currently free to use. We may add paid features later on but it's free right now.
I agree with you on the topic of code is law can be a bad thing. But it can also have some positive aspects, like removing trusted 3rd parties! We are using Bitcoin Script, which unlike Solidity (Ethereum's smart contract language) it is very dumb, very strict and limited for the exact reason you stated.
Sorry, smart contacts are pretty worthless. The only real use ethereum has is for creating ICOs, which are all scams. You could argue that ethereum is a world class platform for running scams. How will this be anything different? If the language is bastardized so it is not Turing compete and is thus impossible to build anything complex, what point does it have?
You should actually click the link. It's a job/contract board where you pay with Bitcoin. The only "smart" part is that you can lock up your funds to show that the money exist but the actual execution is still centralized and backed by the existing legal system you talk about.
Not saying the service is good or bad but your rant is off topic!
Technically you can still build a lot with Bitcoin's limited scripting language. The lightning network being one.
I love Bitcoin and the concept of decentralized currency, but a decentralized logistics system, media, files, etc... sound like it will run into major issues when disputes happen or changes need to be done.
Not to mention the cost of blockchain is far more expensive than having a centralized database.
> Needs Trusted third party
Ok
Is this system a joke? Not a single judge could decide based on this.
Contractors must login to place a bid on this contract with their public key.
Real contracts on the application have very thorough proposals.
This is just a proof of concept.
It's not an account that "belongs to them", but an account that belongs to multiple people (using multi-sig contracts) so that any single party can't decide to spend it.
The idea being that if you didn't fulfil the contract, you can't take the money and run. If I didn't fulfil the contract, I can't prevent you from taking the money, and if this service goes down, the 2 of us can still decide who gets the money on our own terms without them.
Basically this idea locks away money in an account "owned" by 3 people, and in order to send the money somewhere else, 2 of the 3 need to agree on where it's going.
This is a service that lets you write whatever you want as your "contract". Saying the system is a joke because some people write bad contracts is stupid.
P.S.
You have some small errors in the "Security first" section:
No Bitcoins of any of contracts will be withheld by Stochastic.I agree with you, we are exploring allowing law professionals join to become professional mediators and of course be compensated for their services.
The mediators could be spread around the world and they can even visit contract locations if it is required. These services already exist but for large transactions, think international trade.