> In general the answer for consumer protection is to use any escrow service.
No, it's not, because the problem being addressed with consumer protection is power imbalance in the marketplace; mutually voluntary mechanisms cannot be the answer to it.
Also, escrow notionally solves exactly the same problem as cryptocurrency: providing the ability to rely on a transaction with an untrusted counterparty. If you need escrow for anything with cryptocurrency, the cryptocurrency is not doing the one thing that is it's defining purpose. So, why cryptocurrency at all?
No, it's not, because the problem being addressed with consumer protection is power imbalance in the marketplace; mutually voluntary mechanisms cannot be the answer to it.
Also, escrow notionally solves exactly the same problem as cryptocurrency: providing the ability to rely on a transaction with an untrusted counterparty. If you need escrow for anything with cryptocurrency, the cryptocurrency is not doing the one thing that is it's defining purpose. So, why cryptocurrency at all?