<blockquote>
<p>What happens if funds are sent to the multi-sig address and say the seller is hit by a bus before posting the adorable Hello Kitty™ mug that you bought?</p>
<p>Does the 3rd party simply sign a transaction returning the coins to the buyer?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, if your address has a public key for 3 users, and you have problems receiving your goods, you can ask the arbitrator to sign review the situation and maybe create a transaction which pays you the money in the address. You sign, he signs, you get a refund. It's at the whim of the arbitrator.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What about the general case of an address where n == i? Are the coins lost?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, if anyone loses their key, and the address requires same number of sigs as public keys, you cannot recover the funds.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-09T09:34:55.700Z
2014-08-09T21:57:42.993Z
2020-06-16T11:10:03.350Z
karimkorun
<p>I know that multisig (n of i) transactions provide a decentralised escrow mechanism. Let's say we have a 2 of 3 address. What happens if funds are sent to the multi-sig address and say the seller is hit by a bus before posting the adorable Hello Kitty™ mug that you bought?</p>

<p>Does the 3rd party simply sign a transaction returning the coins to the buyer?</p>

<p>What about the general case of an address where n == i? Are the coins lost?</p>

<multi-signature>
Aborted escrow transaction
Avram
# Aborted escrow transaction

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-03-06)

I know that multisig (n of i) transactions provide a decentralised escrow mechanism. Let's say we have a 2 of 3 address. What happens if funds are sent to the multi-sig address and say the seller is hit by a bus before posting the adorable Hello Kitty™ mug that you bought?

Does the 3rd party simply sign a transaction returning the coins to the buyer?

What about the general case of an address where n == i? Are the coins lost?

**Tags:** multi-signature


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-08-09. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

> What happens if funds are sent to the multi-sig address and say the seller is hit by a bus before posting the adorable Hello Kitty™ mug that you bought?
>
> Does the 3rd party simply sign a transaction returning the coins to the buyer?

Yes, if your address has a public key for 3 users, and you have problems receiving your goods, you can ask the arbitrator to sign review the situation and maybe create a transaction which pays you the money in the address. You sign, he signs, you get a refund. It's at the whim of the arbitrator.

> What about the general case of an address where n == i? Are the coins lost?

Yes, if anyone loses their key, and the address requires same number of sigs as public keys, you cannot recover the funds.


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