Date: September 19th, 2018 12:27 PM
Author: Beady-eyed self-absorbed boistinker
Service would work like this.
Party A (a consumer) wants to transfer money to Party B on a certain set date in the future (eg. in 9 months) but wants a third party to hold this money in the meantime. The twist is that Party A and Party B both want Party A to have the ability to withdraw some or all the money from the third-party at any time for any reason such that some or all of it may never end up being transferred to Party B.
Service X lets Party A deposit the money with Service X to be passed on to Party B nine months in the future. Party A can take back some or all of that money at any time before the nine months is up, any any money remaining after nine months is sent to Party B. Party B is on board with this arrangement. This need to scale to thousands of Party As and dozens of Party Bs.
I know it could be structured as an escrow, but escrow regulations are such that the fees would need to be too high to scale properly. Also, structuring as an escrow would not allow Service X to use the money as "float" in the meantime. So that's not an option.
It could be structured like a bank depository account, but that would require a bank charter, following bank regulations, etc.
It could be done with Ethereum smart contracts, but this needs to use normal fiat money so that's not an option.
Could Service X just offer this service, hold the money combined with many such transactions, in its bank accounts -- all without running afoul of banking / escrow regulations? Or would the government insist on stiffling this innovation?
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4081318&forum_id=2#36840494)