PunchStarter is a blockchain-powered platform that reinvents crowdfunding by minimizing fraud and maximizing transparency. By leveraging milestones and a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), PunchStarter ensures that funds are only released when predefined project goals are achieved.
In general, the life of a project will follow this order:
- Get created by an author
- Recieve enough "Up-punches" (up votes)
- This a social vetting system; projects are only promoted to funders if enough people are interested
- Authors can now setup Milestones with a deadline
- If a project gets the requested funding before the deadline, it is then considered funded.
- Funded projects cannot recieve additional funding
- Funded projects are required to complete milestones.
When an author has completed a Milestone, they can request a vote from the DAO. The author provides proof (such as GitHub links, and demos). The funders can then decide whether or not a milestone is completed. If voters have decided that the milestone has completed, then the author can redeem the funding for that milestone.
Authors often will create a Starter Funding milestone without any deliverables. This is useful for projects who need some funding to get started, without requiring work to be completed.
If funders decide that something fishy is going on, then they can call a vote to freeze the project altogether. If a vote to freeze a project is completed, the funders are refunded all of their funds that were left in the contract. For example, if 1 milestone was completed, that funding will stay in the author's wallet, but the funders will get all other funds.