Like every crypto enthusiast, the journey started for me with a lot of wide excitement. First was the need for non-surveillance by the authorities on how I spend my money.
Then the recklessness of most central governments and their monetary policies that keep devaluing currencies through mindless printing of new currency notes. This makes the poor poorer and the rich richer. Crypto was meant to be the panacea for this malady.
A global phenomenon of money by the people for the people governed corporately by us all and not some anointed few who at my last check barely know any better than most of us.
The craze of Defi even made it a lot more exciting. By 2020, several projects sprung up on the Ethereum blockchain and most crypto enthusiasts went chasing after the gold rush of the crypto era.
They make quick money in the shortest possible period even when the fundamental doesn’t seem to support the wild interests.
Under the hood of decentralization and anonymous developers, several teams were actually out to defraud the average Joe whose greed made it very difficult to see the danger in those investments.
We didn’t want unnecessary vetting by a few, however, many unsuspecting investors — skilled and unskilled became victims. Yours truly wasn’t exempted either.
A lot of these projects had ghost teams whose only intention was to defraud noobs (Freshmen in crypto) and greedy veterans in the space. In fact, the Squid game live rug pull was quite brazing.
Millions of dollars went down the drain without nobody being held responsible. Some of these teams regroup, re-engineer another scam and a lot of people fall over and over again for these scams.
Enters the new sheriff, Escrow protocols! In a largely uncensored environment with no controls, there has been no better time than now!
Escrow was born out of the pains of rug pulls and scams. Framed in the embers of pain and personal experiences, Dennis and Coco the CEO and CTO of Escrow couldn’t just bear the pain and watch our beloved space taken over by rogue developers and founders.
Leading by example, the team is completely doxed. These guys mean business to keep you and your investment safe.
Something has to be done. Like the popular axiom, he who pays the piper should dictate the tune. Return the power to investors, while creating the right environment for developers to thrive without the pressure for quick fixes that leaves projects susceptible to hacks.
What is Escrow Protocol?
It is a project incubation launchpad and a crowdfunding platform. Think of it as an investor-controlled project launching the application and the Kickstarter of the crypto world.
The startup funding side is extremely exciting because you can now participate in real-world businesses on the blockchain. A little more on this later.
What are the critical problems in Defi and crypto projects that Escrow is out to solve?
These are many and I hope I can do just a run-through in this short write-up.
First, why give money to a team that they don’t need?
I have wondered several times why teams raise so much money for just an idea? The concept of real investment in the regular world demands that at least you develop a minimum viable product (MVP).
The norm in crypto has been for teams to estimate what they need for product development, marketing, community rewards, etc.
They raise millions of USD with just an idea. Nobody ever gets to ask what happens to the money if they are unable to deliver even converting their idea to an MVP.
The team sits on a lot of cash from their launch with the investor just waiting hopefully that they deliver several months down the line.
Two issues arise from this practice; one, that cash sitting idle could have been making more money for the investor since just a fraction is required at the beginning of the project. Second, money can be pretty tempting.
It only takes a greedy few in the team to see the cash sitting there and choose to cause trouble within the project, break it up and have a runaway with the cash.
Escrow solves this problem by ensuring teams only have access to what is required per time.
They have developed a noble concept that ensures that though funds are raised at the beginning to guarantee funds availability for product development, such funds are held up in an escrow while being released on a milestone basis.
Investors have contract designed milestone agreement with developers that determines what is released to them per milestone. The benefits of this process are enormous.
By design, the investor can gauge the project's progress and the team’s delivery. This becomes a reward system to encourage a performing team.
Think of it as a 360 degrees appraisal system where you decide if your boss gets a pay rise or not. The investors at every milestone vote to decide if the team has met their obligations to them.
They also decide if more funds can be released to them for the next phase of the development. Power back to the people all the way!
Because you did not release all the raised funds to the team at the beginning, Escrow also provides you with another great benefit.
Your money can be working for you while waiting. Imagine millions of dollars locked up in wallets for future developments and team rewards that could have been generating rewards for investors.
Escrow ensures the unreleased funds are invested in a stable coin yield investment that is secured. The proceeds from these investments ensure you receive at least 80% of the rewards while the remaining is shared with the team. It can’t get any better! This is a double-edged investment platform. You win either way
Another non-obvious benefit but really cool one is that your risk exposure is limited to the milestone payment that has been released to the team as at the last milestone. From the statistics out there, most Defi projects fail in the first 6 months. I have been a part of several myself.
If the project fails, your remaining fund is released to you by the escrow team. This is taking risks in a measured way. You are SAFU with your funds.
As a launchpad platform, Escrow also seeks to incentivize long-term holders. No more pumps and dumps. Yes, you hear me right.
Investments are no casinos. They take time to germinate as no woman becomes pregnant and delivers in a day.
To achieve this objective, you can participate in the launching of projects based on your history of staking.
The longer you have stacked, the amount staked and your contribution to projects determines your access to quality launches in the future.
This is simple enough! Everyone can therefore participate with the right mindset.
What about the menace of unregulated Telegram crypto chats for projects? Where you cannot tell an investor from a non-investor.
How does everybody have a say whether they are invested or not? How does a one penny investor have equal say with someone with a 100k investment? Escrow just got you the right solution.
The team is implementing an investor chat room that is tiered on their platform for investors.
Project teams can then have different chat rooms with different levels of discussions and access to the development team.
This is a very cool feature I can’t wait to see implemented. Projects can be shielded from FUDS and attacks. The teams can become more comfortable discussing their plans with those really invested in them.
The rave and craze with NFTs have just begun. Most NFT projects barely have any real-world applications. Just wait to hear how Escrow is innovating in this space.
Coco and the team have ensured your vested tokens are coded into an NFT with all the vesting programs that release your tokens to you as at when due.
You can easily transfer this token to another wallet without the fear of losing it when your wallet is hacked. The NFT features codify most of the benefits I have mentioned above too… e.g., chat room access! Isn’t this so cool?
Another potential application of the NFT is that it can be sold to third parties who then earn all the benefits attached to the NFT.
I have saved the best for the last. Escrow is not just focused on crypto Defi projects, the team is looking to onboard real-world business into the token space. Yes, you hear me right!
Startups have a lot to benefit from this space. They have stepped out of the crypto space to expand the applications of crypto Defi for the real world.
The first two projects I hear from the grapevine to be launched by Q1 2022 are real-world businesses wanting to benefit from the advantages of blockchain. We are in for a real deal.
Partnerships all the way!
The success of every team is based on their backers. Several institutional investors and companies have partnered with Escrow because they have seen value.
A few include Fairum, GhafCapital, Ternoa labs, OIG, Polygon, StackOS, Fera Capital, Dutch Crypto Investors, AAVE, Alpha Hunt, Latitude Hub.
A strategic partnership like Ghaf Capital of Dubai brings a lot of real-world businesses, their management’s team experience, and exposure to the project.
Lastly, the very best now, they are launching with a working product and getting listed on a Dex, QuickSwap…. Wait for it…. and a top 15 centralized exchange. These kids are not joking.
Don’t take my word for it, check their website out at escrow protocols. Also their social media channels on Twitter, Telegram, and medium.
Industry-shifting opportunities only come in once in a while. This is one you don’t want to miss. I encourage you to do your own research and due diligence as this is not financial advice.
