Become a Smart Contract Arbiter and Earn from Dispute Resolution —Without Coding

“Arbiter” may sound like an absolute authority, but they’re going to participate in only one special feature in Obyte: contracts with arbitration. Anyone can join as an arbiter today and earn fees from it, without coding or complex steps.

A contract with arbitration in Obyte is a type of smart contract in which the parties can write their own terms and lock the funds until conditions are met. In case of a dispute, they can resort to an expert arbiter.

To the final users, the process could be comparable to any dispute resolution system from online marketplaces like eBay or Amazon —but easier and faster.

In centralized companies, such as the ones mentioned above, their team has the authority to determine the allocation of funds or goods in the event of a dispute. They have total control of their platforms and the funds on them. In contracts with arbitration, that role is for an expert arbiter selected by both parties before signing the contract.

How Does a Contract With Arbitration Work?

The term “smart contract” could imply programming knowledge, but not this time. Anyone with an Obyte wallet can prepare a contract with arbitration by only following a simple path. In the first place, both parties need to have Obyte’s native wallet and pair them with each other.

That’s easy: just send a pairing invitation to a new device **(Chat Tab – Add a new device). \ Next, one of the parties offers a contract with arbitration to the other. As an example of Alice and Bob:

1. Alice and Bob discuss their contract and terms externally or in the built-in encrypted chat in the wallet. For a contract with arbitration, they need to select an expert and reliable arbiter from the recently launched Obyte’s ArbStore.

   
   

2. One of the parties (Alice or Bob) offers a contract with arbitration through the chat, by clicking on the other party’s address. If the other party accepts it, the involved funds (in USDC, GBYTEs, GBB, or any other token) will be locked in a smart contract until the terms of the contract are met.

   
   

3. If the buyer is happy with the goods/services provided by the supplier, the buyer releases the funds from the smart contract in favor of the supplier. In this case, the arbiter is not involved.

   
   

4. If one of the parties fails to fulfill their obligations, the other party can open a dispute and call an arbiter to resolve the issue. The arbiter ultimately decides who gets the funds. However, they can also be reported to the ArbStore moderators if they misbehave.

   
   

The arbiter doesn’t need programming knowledge either. Just enough knowledge in their area (legal, IT, real estate, collectibles, domains, export/import, etc.), some time to solve the case, and a personal Obyte wallet.

What Is the Process Like For an Arbiter?

After the claim is sent by one of the involved parties (buyer or seller), the arbiter receives a message in their wallet from the ArbStore Bot. That message includes links to check the written contract (not in a programming language, it’s a legal contract like any other) and to set the desired fee to solve the case.

At this point, the arbiter should check the text carefully, and decide if it is a contract type they indicated on their profile they can resolve disputes in. If it is not, they can refuse to take the case and communicate it to the plaintiff in chat.

The plaintiff can contact the ArbStore moderators if they disagree with the arbiter’s qualification of the contract, or if they have to resolve the dispute with the other party by themselves.

If the arbiter takes it, they should wait until the claimant pays for the requested fee. Then, the arbiter would start talking to both parties and gathering evidence to make their last decision.
Finally, who receives the funds is just a matter of choosing between two buttons: Plaintiff or Respondent. All of this is always done inside the wallet chat, without any other external middlemen. As a last resort, the plaintiff can report the arbiter to the ArbStore moderators.

However, they won’t be able to recover 100% of the funds. That’s why some basic requirements are recommended to become an arbiter, even if anyone can join the platform.

How to Become an Arbiter?

In case of a legal dispute on the terms of the agreement, a professional lawyer is the best option for an arbiter, but any other professional is welcome as well –in case the parties are disputing technical rather than legal matters. There are no applications, only registrations.

Nevertheless, the ArbStore moderators have the right to unlist the arbiters that don't add value to the store. And it’s important to note that becoming an arbiter has one small starting fee.

The fee goes for a real-name attestation process, which is available through the wallet. Users of contracts with arbitration are looking for reliable experts, so, arbiters must show they can be trusted with someone else's money.

That’s why revealing the arbiter’s verified real name to the ArbStore (and its users) is strongly recommended.

Even if arbiters don’t reveal their real name and stay anonymous to the ArbStore and its users, real name attestation is still required to prevent multiple arbiter listings by the same real person.

Of course, a verified real name doesn’t guarantee the arbiter’s integrity and expertise, but for many users, that would be a minimum necessary (but not sufficient) requirement.

A chatbot will guide registrants through the attestation process. It can be done with the services of Veriff (available worldwide), and the fee is $8 per attempt. If arbiters are attesting themselves for the first time, Obyte will refund them $8 afterward.

Other than this, just follow the instructions of the ArbStore chatbot in the wallet to sign up. It’ll be necessary for arbiters to share a detailed bio on the platform, including professional background, dispute resolution process, preferred topics, approximate fees, spoken languages, and how they are protecting their wallet.

How Much Can an Arbiter Earn?

That depends entirely on the arbiter pricing, how often the arbiter is selected in contracts, and the funds involved in the contracts. For example, an arbiter Carol can set 5% as her dispute resolution fee for Contract X, which involves $100,000 in USDC. That would be $5,000 for Carol (the arbiter).

She decided to set that percentage because it was a complex corporate contract, but she could take “simpler” contracts as well, with a better percentage for the plaintiff.

For example, let’s say she agreed to solve Contract Y, a one-page contract that only involves $1,000 between individual parties. This time, Carol decided to offer a 2% fee, and her gains would be $20 after resolution. However, it’s likely that most arbiters end up setting a price that sounds like “2%, min $50, max $1,000” to be adequately paid for their time.

One last important bit: the arbiter won’t get paid until they solve the dispute. The fee paid by the claimant is held by the ArbStore until the ultimate decision is made. Arbiters must protect their wallets and make proper backups.

If they lose access to their wallets, the disputed funds of others could be locked there forever. As Uncle Ben said: "With great power comes great responsibility."

Now, if you’re ready to step in, gain valuable experience for your career, and earn some cryptos in the process, the ArbStore is waiting for you. Sign up as an arbiter today!

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