The Solution: Escrows
With a great problem identified and a motivated team in place, it was time to explore the solution. Alberto presented his research and findings, laying the foundation for what would become Trustless Work.
The Core Idea
Escrows have long been a trusted mechanism for securing payments, but traditional systems are inefficient, costly, and inaccessible for smaller contracts.
💡 The Insight Trustless Work introduces decentralized escrow contracts—an agile, blockchain-based solution that ensures transparency, security, and fairness for all parties involved.
Escrow Benefits
Using Escrows to Mitigate Risks
Guarantees payment for service providers.
Protects clients from incomplete or subpar work.
Builds trust in transactions by holding funds securely until conditions are met.
Traditional Escrow Limitations
Conventional escrow systems come with significant drawbacks:
🏦 Reliance on Banks and Lawyers: Intermediaries introduce high costs and delays.
💸 High Fees: Escrow services are often prohibitively expensive for smaller transactions.
⏳ Slow Processing: Settlement times can stretch into days or weeks.
Examples of Escrows in Action
Escrow solutions are already solving critical problems in established platforms:
🛒 eBay: Escrow mitigates risks between buyers and sellers in e-commerce.
💼 Upwork: Escrow protects freelancers and clients in service-based transactions.
Trustless Work builds on this proven concept but leverages blockchain to eliminate the need for centralized intermediaries.
A Focused Approach
Our team recognized that milestone-based payments would be the best starting point, especially for clients and service providers. This targeted solution provided a clear path to:
Demonstrate feasibility.
Showcase the potential of blockchain-powered escrows.
Develop a scalable product.
🎯 The Result This focus on milestone-based payments and a clear value proposition helped us secure a spot in the Astro Hacker House program, where our journey truly began.
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