Agora: a minimal distributed protocol for electronic commerce

Agora is a Web protocol for electronic commerce, which is intended to support high-volume of transactions each with low incurred cost. Agora has the following novel properties: • Minimal. The incurred cost of Agora transactions is close to free Web browsing where cost is determined by the number of messages. • Distributed. Agora is fully distributed. Merchants can authenticate customers without access to a central authority. Customers with valid accounts can purchase from any merchant without any preparations (such as prior registration at the merchant or at a broker). • On-line arbitration. An on-line arbiter can settle certain customer/merchant disputes. • Fraud control. Agora can limit the degree of fraud to a pre-determined (low) level. Agora is authenticated secure and can not be repudiated. It can use regular (insecure) communication channels.