Bitrated has announced the launch of its online trust platform, Bitrated.com, which it says overcomes the main obstacle to mainstream adoption of bitcoin: a lack of consumer protection mechanisms.

According to the company, Bitrated gives every user a bitrating score based on their online presence on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. The number is influenced by a "trust relationship with friends" based on past transactions.

The company also said is uses a secure payment system via multi-signature transactions, to allow settlement of disputes and reverse transactions through a third-party "trust agent."

The company detailed how the service works in a press release:

The buyer makes the payment to a multi signature deposit address, which is locked until two of the three parties- buyer, seller and the trust agent agree to release it. If everything is satisfactory, the buyer and the seller agree, and the payment is released. If a dispute arises, the trusted third party can intervene and make an unbiased, binding decision, while not being able to control funds on his own. In order to do that Bitrated utilizes Bitcoin's inbuilt multi-signature transactions feature. This means that the strict escrow regulations, licensing requirements and associated high costs are not applied, and every expert can offer trust agent services.