arbitrator

Smart contracts leverage distributed ledger technology (DLT) to automate and secure transactions, offering numerous benefits to final users. They are self-executing digital agreements with the terms directly written into lines of code. These contracts are stored and executed on a decentralized network, ensuring transparency, immutability, and security. 
They eliminate the need for intermediaries, such as banks or lawyers, reducing costs, and enhancing efficiency. Traditional contracts are vulnerable to fraud and breaches due to their reliance on trust in counterparties. Smart contracts, on the other hand, leverage cryptographic algorithms and decentralized consensus mechanisms to provide enhanced security. The distributed nature of DLT networks makes them highly resistant to hacking and data manipulation. 
However, the mere concept may sound intimidating to those without programming knowledge —that is most people. There’s good news about that though: you don’t need to code to be capable of using smart contracts for a wide range of applications. You can even create your own customized smart contracts without programming knowledge in user-friendly platforms like Obyte. 
What smart contracts can do for average users?
A lot of things, actually. You probably wouldn’t even know that you’re using smart contracts. Final users can interact with existing contracts without needing to create their own. These contracts can be accessed through decentralized applications (DApps) that provide user-friendly interfaces for numerous DLT-based services. 
Users can participate in token sales, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, games, NFT marketplaces, payment channels, donations, decentralized social media, prediction markets, and much more by simply connecting their wallets to the preferred platform and following the instructions provided. 

According to DappRadar, there are around 14,290 Dapps available for any user worldwide. They’re within 51 ledgers, built with 382,200 smart contracts, and divided into at least nine categories (games, DeFi, collectibles, marketplaces, exchanges, social, high risk, gambling, and others). Ultimately, it’s just about users with connected devices engaging in friendly apps for mobile or desktop systems.
Beyond this, you can also make your own smart contracts, and be sure that the other party fulfills their part of the deal. Again, without coding. 
Smart contracts in Obyte + ArbStore
When creating a smart contract with someone else, you agree to lock your funds inside the contract shared between your Obyte wallets until the established terms are met by the other party. After downloading and backing up the wallet, you should connect with the other party through the encrypted chat in the Obyte wallet. The users need to be in the “Contacts” list of each other, so, the next step is to “Add a new device” and send or accept an invitation to connect.
Once done, you can start a chat to discuss the contract conditions and exchange your Obyte addresses. By clicking on the other’s address (Alice’s, for example), you’ll have the option to offer a smart contract (see the screenshot below). If the result of some real-world event (like an asset price) is required to complete the agreement, then you should type a selected oracle address (a data feed) from the list available on Obyte. 

When no such oracle exists, another option is, instead of selecting a simple smart contract, offering a contract with arbitration. The process is almost the same, but with an important addition: both parties must agree to pick an expert (human) arbiter from the ArbStore and include this arbiter’s Obyte address when writing the contract. The funds will be locked until the conditions are met. In case of a dispute, the offended party can call the arbiter and provide evidence to solve the issue. In the end, only the arbiter will be able to release the funds to the winning party. 

As you can see, smart contracts are no longer limited to developers and coding experts. User-friendly platforms like Obyte and the ArbStore have made it possible for final users without coding skills to create and interact with these useful tools. With the democratization of smart contract usage, final users have the opportunity to participate in a decentralized future and unlock the potential of secure digital transactions.

Featured Image by vectorjuice / Freepik
Originally Published on Hackernoon

#SmartContracts #Arbitrator #DAppDevelopment #defi #Obyte

#FraudAlert #Arbitrator #CS #CS_is_Bot #P2P
I have recently been robbed by a merchant who has very good customer feedback and a very large number of successful P2P trades. I myself have a number of successful trades with him.
Here I share the story, how a tricky trader is fooling the whole Binance customer service (CS) system.
In our latest P2P trade, the seller refused to acknowledge funds transferred to his account. Instead, he said he has not provided me with an account for transfer of funds. Actually, he did in the P2P Chat.
When I approached him on a private channel. He asked me to cancel the trade because of his lost bank account access and assured me that he will return the funds in a few days.
I was alarmed and didn't concede to his request. Instead, I filed an appeal for release of almost PKR 65000 worth of USDt. Because, I suspected him for telling lies and making stories.
He proved my suspicion very right. All of sudden, the merchant (seller) started abusing me with fraud allegations on P2P chat and started threatening me with dire consequences. He threatened me to block on Binance and much more.
My appeal is under review since 23rd April and Binance arbitrator is disappointing me too. For the last three days the seller has been presenting irrelevant information to customer service representatives (CS) and not showing transaction history of 23rd April instead showing transactions of 24th and 25th of April in screenshots and recorded videos.

It is pretty obvious to catch cheating on behalf of the seller but CS has concluded that the transaction is yet not received in the seller's account. (This seller is actually presenting fake credentials to the Binance also, changes accounts very often. One of his accounts is under investigation by cyber crime wing of FIA Pakistan. I have also reported him to FIA, but such cases take very long time in Pakistan due to hefty bribe by such fraudulent gangs.)
Because of his poor arbitration when I suspected the CS if he is a real person or a computer program; he did not responded to my query. I suspect Binance CS representative is a bot and the seller knows it because of his vast experience in P2P trading. That is why he is presenting irrelevant material as a proof which can't be judged by a bot. On the other hand, I have presented all the evidence clearly but CS still concludes that funds are not received in the seller’s account. Only a bot can be fooled by inconstant data.
I don't know what will be the final decision by the Binance arbitrator but one thing is clear. It is a computer program or bot, not a real person because a real person will take no time to fix this trivial issue and conclude judiciously based on presented facts.
Share it to save traders from Merchant Fraud on Binance!
(I will keep updating you on this peculiar fraud as it progresses.)
Final Thought!
The seller has finally released the USDt and apologised on private channel. But Binance arbitrator is not a real person. It is biased towards the Merchant and did not bother to evaluate the proofs presented by both of us.

Be cautious while P2P trading. Traders usually threaten the buyer and can potentially freeze accounts on Binance but the can not deal with banking system of Pakistan. Bank complaint can save you from tricky merchants. Just complaint that you are victim of online fraud and freeze the account of seller instead wasting your time on Binance arbitration. On Binance, the merchants have advantages over buyers.
#FraudAlert #Arbitrator #CS #CS_is_Bot #P2P