In this short article, I briefly look at the challenges facing contemporary marriages and explore how using multisig Bitcoin wallets can mitigate these issues. By aligning incentives and preventing fraud, this approach can correct the distortions caused by the welfare state. Furthermore, I briefly discuss some issues pertinent to this mechanism.
Problems:
A marriage with separation of assets means that both parties keep an exit door open, the spouses do not trust each other, and the woman will never interrupt her career to have and raise children, as she will be a slave to work for 10 hours a day.
In marriages with community property, one of the spouses can defraud the other, something called misappropriation or property violence, stealing the values that should belong to the couple, leaving the other destitute in the event of separation.
Even in a marriage with community property, spouses can hide values, when there is no trust, using asset hiding mechanisms, such as oranges.
Solution:
Multisig 2/2 bitcoin wallets serve to align incentives in a marriage, as they are non-confiscable and provide security for both parties. Funds can only be moved if both parties sign the transaction. This protects against misappropriation by either party and ensures that the funds truly belong to both parties.
This provides security for women to leave their careers and dedicate themselves to their children or domestic work, serving as collateral. The biggest risk is that neither party will withdraw the funds if there is no consensus between them.
As it becomes impossible for one spouse to defraud the other, this aligns the incentives so that both spouses will not seek to engage in adultery or fraud.
Timelock transactions guarantee inheritance in the event of the death of one of the parties, and there may be a trusted oracle that would sign a transaction in these cases.
Transactions signed but not transmitted may allow for an emergency withdrawal of funds if necessary (example: Paying the bail of one of the parties who was arrested for tax evasion).
Questions about this mechanism:
It does not replace the need for total trust between spouses, which is a fundamental pillar. In other words, on the one hand, this mechanism can bring a feeling of lack of trust.
It is not flexible if one spouse needs to have quick access to funds in an emergency situation, this could be partially resolved using signed but not transmitted transactions, allowing for an emergency withdraw in an emergency.
As a personal opinion, I would add that, in addition to multisig, it is important that each party has their own keys, outside the multisig scheme, thus avoiding 100% of the funds being frozen in this mechanism.
Conclusion
Using multisig Bitcoin wallets in a marriage offers an innovative approach to aligning incentives between spouses, providing asset security and encouraging collaboration and mutual trust. However, additional research is needed to explore the practical implications of this approach.
The specific way to implement this mechanism (whether as a 2/2, 2/3, or 2/5 configuration) and the associated operational rules are important technical details. While these may seem like minutiae, exploring these aspects in depth can be valuable in illustrating concrete examples of implementation and providing a clearer understanding of how the system might work in practice.