So we know that bitcoin is secure up to the point of basically proving P=NP. (Its an open question)
So bitcoin is secure. But I feel it still suffers one problem, as with all transactions(not just bitcoin). One person must either send their stake in the barter first or receive the others and be trusted to return the payment if no escrow is involved.
I am paraphrasing and hopefully not destroying the idea, but when I read the bitcoin whitepaper it seemed like it was aimed so that no escrow needs to be involved to transfer funds online.
So no escrow means we all must trust one another if we want to do transactions with one another? Because one person must receive or send the goods first, and must do so on good faith that they will receive the compensation.