Disputes

With any type of agreement comes disputes. Ultimately, a dispute is a disagreement about a state change. This comes in the form of one party refusing to sign a state change.

The possible reasons for disagreeing on a state change include disagreement about:

• Rules outlined in an agreement
• State of a booking

Disputing Rules

Both parties must digitally sign the agreement before transacting, enabling non-repudiation.

Disputes about rules are quite objective. Either each party signed an agreement or they didn't. Because agreements can change over time, there could be disagreements on what the latest version of an agreement is or room for data withholding attacks.

An example of a disagreement about rules is one party believing the cleaning fee is $25 and the other party believing the cleaning fee is $50.

Disputing State

The parties may agree about the rules of an agreement, but disagree about the state of the booking.

For example, the parties may agree that the cleaning fee is $25, but disagree on how clean the vehicle is upon return and thus whether the fee applies.

Optimistic State Changes

In many scenarios, the state changes can be so well-defined and objective that it is irrational for parties to ever disagree. This is why state changes are optimistic. That is, oracles are not needed until there is a dispute, because both parties are heavily incentivized to agree on what the oracle will say.