Frescrow

Inspiration

The global freelance economy is worth over $1.5 trillion, yet freelancers and clients still face fundamental trust and payment problems. Freelancers risk non-payment and long settlement delays, while clients risk incomplete or low-quality work. Existing platforms solve trust with intermediaries, but at the cost of high fees, slow payouts, and custody risk. We wondered, what if trust was enforced by the blockchain instead of a platform?

What it does

Frescrow is a decentralized, milestone-based freelance escrow platform built on the XRP Ledger. Clients lock funds on-chain, and freelancers receive instant payments as milestones are approved. Users authenticate via wallet-based, DID-style identity, with on-chain history providing transparent, verifiable trust with no intermediaries, no platform fees.

How we built it

We built Frescrow using a simple but robust architecture: Frontend: React.js with React Router for wallet login, project creation, and milestone tracking Backend: Node.js and Express, using xrpl.js to interact with the XRP Ledger Blockchain: XRPL Testnet, leveraging native EscrowCreate, EscrowFinish, and time-locked conditions Escrow Logic: Large contracts are split into milestone escrows, enabling partial, conditional releases Identity: Wallet-based authentication (DID-style), using transaction signing instead of accounts

The system ensures that funds are locked on-chain, released only when conditions are met, and fully auditable via the XRPL explorer.

Challenges we ran into

Handling XRPL testnet faucet rate limits during development
Ensuring wallet balances accurately reflect escrow releases in real time due to ledger validation timing
Balancing hackathon simplicity with real-world financial correctness and security considerations

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Implemented trustless, on-chain escrow using XRPL’s native features
Enabled near real-time freelance income through milestone-based payouts
Eliminated platform and escrow fees entirely
Built a transparent system where all payments and escrow states are publicly verifiable

What we learned

XRPL’s ledger-level features are sufficient to implement trustless escrow and conditional payments without deploying custom smart contracts.
Wallet-based identity enables authentication and reputation without centralized user accounts.
Even simple financial flows require careful handling of timing, approvals, and failure states.

What's next for Frescrow

Deploy to XRPL Mainnet and onboard real freelance use cases
Implement on-chain reputation scoring based on completed escrows
Replace seed-based flows with wallet adapters (e.g. Xaman / Crossmark) for production security
Include job matching features to provide one-stop freelance solution