Multisignature escrow addresses are the key to managing risk for trades between peers on OpenBazaar. These addresses mathematically ensure that a single agent is incapable of stealing funds from an address using their private key alone. Furthermore, multisignature addresses can be designed to accommodate several parties within a voting pool as previously discussed.
In a typical 2-of-3 multisignature transaction in OpenBazaar, the first two signers are the buyer and seller. The third signature is a 'trusted' third party who has the power to sign a transaction in combination with the buyer or seller in the event of an accident, key theft, or dispute. The third party signer, a notary, in OpenBazaar also acts as the third signer of Ricardian contracts for the sale o