Due to that recourse, it is unlikely to be used as an escrow mechanism 
Really? Do you think people won't be able to understand the benefit? (If your response is an argument that there's no benefit at all, I guess that will reinforce the case that people won't be able to understand it.)Existing mechanisms of online escrow (escrow.com, for example) provide more user-friendly methods of recourse.
I just don't think "burn the money" is an attractive recourse, nor a natural reaction, for the average human. Ask any salesman to add that to their sales pitch, and gauge their reaction