GigVault

GigVault Giggles

Inspiration

Freelance work often breaks down due to trust issues: freelancers risk not getting paid, while clients risk paying upfront for unfinished or low-quality work. Existing platforms act as custodial middlemen, adding fees, delays, and centralised trust.

GigVault is built to enforce trust at the infrastructure layer, not through intermediaries.

What it does

GigVault enables freelancers and clients to work using milestone-based payments enforced by XRPL escrow. Each milestone is funded upfront, locked on-ledger, and released or refunded based on delivery, reducing trust and payment risk without platform custody.

How we built it

Frontend: React (Vite) for gig creation, milestones, and proof submission
Backend: FastAPI for marketplace logic and escrow orchestration
Blockchain: XRPL Testnet with per-milestone escrow and RLUSD-based demo settlement
Database: SQLite

Challenges we ran into

Managing XRPL wallets and secrets safely during development
Ensuring escrow actions are only triggered in valid workflow states
Making the system easy to test and demo

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a fully running MVP that integrates a React frontend, FastAPI backend, and XRPL Testnet
Successfully implemented per-milestone escrow flows on XRPL
Demonstrated release and refund logic tied to real delivery states
Integrated RLUSD IOU flows for stable-value demo settlements
Delivered a testable, end-to-end workflow from gig creation to escrow release

What we learned

Escrow can be used as a workflow enforcement primitive, not just a payment mechanism
A clean separation between off-chain metadata and on-chain enforcement is critical