So clearly, exit scams and selective scams are still a really big problem.
One thought that I've been playing with lately is the idea of a "Premium" market that charges a very high vendor bond (perhaps 20 BTC or even more) in order to combat this. Of course, the market would have to be run by trusted operators, or very few vendors would take the plunge - perhaps it could be a second category of vendors on an existing, popular market like Agora or Evolution. Or, a new market could start with no or low vendor bond, then slowly increase the bond amount up to a high level (say, 0 BTC the first week, then 1 BTC the next week, 2 the week after, and so on up to 20+), allowing some vendors to get in early for less, but still cost quite a bit if they wish to "re-invent" themselves later after a scam.
There would definitely be fewer vendors, but they would be big players, with strong reputations - and strong incentive to preserve them. Perhaps it would be like eBay's "Top Rated Seller" designation or similar.
Buyers could purchase from these high-bond vendors with confidence, and vendors who engaged in the program would probably get a lot more sales.
So, what are the reasons why this wouldn't work? Should we start thinking about increasing the vendor bond on some or all the markets, or creating some exclusive, new markets with a very high bond?
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