Blockchain Bets Really Need Smart Contracts

Hey, I tried. I gave the guy several chances to honor the bet he made, and pay up when he lost, but there was no smart contract to enforce it.

Trust only works if the other guy is trustworthy.

Nothing earth-shattering, just a 20 HBD bet about who would be sworn in as President on January 20th. Since it wasn’t Orange Man, I won the bet. But if the other party to the bet decides to renege, what’s a wombat to do?


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In this post, @joeyarnoldvn made some reckless statements:

If Trump is not reelected on the 20th of January of 2021, then make sure I pay up the money to each person who enters the bet for the amount they put in.

and

Yes, Biden will have a fake online inauguration virtually. But never mind that, Trump will have a real inauguration in DC in front of many millions of people. But you can bet all the money in the world that does not happen and I will pay each one of you that money when I lose the bet. This is gambling, like a lottery. Don't worry, you'll win and I will have to pay you all of that money.

Who am I to not want to take some money from someone that clueless? So I proposed a bet of 20 HBD payable on January 21st and Joey accepted.

The bet was made on 12/12/2020, well after the election but before the insurrection of January 6th.

Inauguration Day came and went, Trump flew off to Florida to sulk, and Biden was sworn in. Time for Joey to pay up. Instead, he reneged, still insisting that Trump had won (a well-worn lie, but not what the bet was about) and that Biden had not been inaugurated. Never mind that millions of people saw it happen.

“Well, who you gonna believe? Me or your own eyes?”
— Chicolini, in Duck Soup

Meh, that’s twenty bucks I’ll never see.

On the Hive blockchain, reputation is about a lot more than the little number next to your name.

Me, I’m just some random guy who got stiffed twenty bucks. But in other posts, @joeyarnoldvn boasted about several $1,000 bets about the election that he made with folks on FB. Has he reneged on those bets too?

I’ve got to admit that when we originally agreed on the bet, I knew that there was a non-zero chance I’d not collect on it. With no smart contract between us, either was free to be a deadbeat.

But at least I knew that the blockchain never forgets.

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Badge thanks to @arcange

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