# Protocol general properties

* **Permissionless** - the protocol is public infrastructure for commerce which anyone can use.
* **Simple** - the protocol is simple enough for end users and understandable enough for developers.
* **Reliable and available** - in order to be used as ubiquitous commerce infrastructure, the protocol is built natively in the Web3 ecosystem.
* **Open and fair** - the protocol has been designed and built to enable progressive decentralization. As a result all early design decisions have taken decentralization into account.
* **Efficient** -the protocol minimizes the cost and number of on-chain transactions.
* **Optimistic** - the protocol makes optimistic assumptions that the happy path will be followed.
* **Automated** - the main dispute resolution payload is handled by the Mutual Resolution game theoretic mechanism, with escalation to a semi-trusted third party (sTTP) Dispute Resolver by exception only.
* **Trust-minimized** - involves, for escalated disputes only, an Escalated Dispute Resolver (EDR) who is a commoditized service provider with minimal market power.
* **Cost-mutualized** - the cost of the escalated disputes is mutualized across multiple Seller transactions to reduce the cost impact, especially on low value transactions