ChainGig

Inspiration

as students ourselves, we're frequent participants of the gig economy. one thing that struck all of us when we used platforms to find these gigs were that the payments always took too long, which may not be ideal, depending on circumstances. there was also counterparty risk, and hidden platform fees that we sometimes were not aware of. hence, we decided to utilise the technology behind blockchain to make the experience seamless, efficient and transparent.

What it does

Client posts a job and defines optional milestones
Client funds the job using RLUSD
Backend creates XRPL Escrow transactions
Freelancer submits work
Client approves work
Escrow is finished and payment is released instantly
Freelancer receives an on-chain credential

Here are some of the XRPL features and their implementations in our project, and why we used them.

1) XRPL Testnet & Wallets The application connects to the XRP Ledger Testnet using a JSON-RPC client. Two on-chain wallets are programmatically created and funded via the XRPL faucet: Client wallet (payer) Freelancer wallet (payee)

This project demonstrates real, self-custodied wallets and on-ledger identities without financial intermediaries. While traditional platforms rely on corporate policies to ensure users get paid, this system uses on-chain escrows to cryptographically guarantee proof of funds. This replaces the need for blind trust with mathematical verification.

2) On-Chain Escrow The client locks funds in an XRPL Escrow object using EscrowCreate. Escrow parameters: Destination: freelancer wallet Amount: fixed payment amount FinishAfter: earliest time funds can be released CancelAfter: deadline for refund if the job fails

Escrow ensures funds are pre-funded and trustlessly locked, removing payment risk for freelancers, solving counterparty risk.

3) Escrow Completion & Instant Settlement Once the finish condition is met, the client submits an EscrowFinish transaction. Funds are released instantly to the freelancer’s wallet.

This achieves instant payment upon task completion, directly addressing delayed freelancer payouts, highlighting the ability of on-chain transactions to be fast and seamless.

4) On-Ledger Transparency & Verifiability All actions produce real XRPL transaction hashes. Balances before and after escrow execution are retrieved from the ledger. Transactions can be independently verified via the XRPL Testnet Explorer.

Payments are auditable, irreversible, and trust-minimized, showing validity and transparency, mitigating potential hidden platform fees.

Overall, we believe that the incorporation of XRPL features in the gig economy would greatly enhance the current state of it, fixing its biggest flaws. By making payments fast, transparent, and secure, we can protect freelancers and create a fairer system for everyone, without needing a middleman to manage the money.

Google Drive video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nBtsplKbgAmP-DzH67bN0KvjIDT_ZcjR/view?usp=share_link