Founded by Kickstarter serial crowdfunding veterans Jae Choi, Eddie Lee, and Sam Pullman, the San Francisco company is trying to change the current crowdfunding model with a Backer Insurance escrow model that uses smart contracts. Pledgecamp uses a blockchain-powered platform that creates a decentralized market where incentives are aligned. Creators can make campaign deposits where providing transparency to backers through items such as identification documents, business plans and intellectual property registrations help earn their deposit back. Rather than centralized platform control, the ecosystem of participants governs the curation of campaigns, reducing barriers to entry and improving scalability. Assurances for backers (investors) are accomplished through Backer Insurance smart contracts that hold the native token in escrow for funded projects. Backers subsequently can vote on the approval of pre-determined milestones and can receive a portion of their funds back if the project fails to deliver.
James Murphy, founder and chairman of Murphy & McGonigle, said he wouldn’t settle any crypto case with the current SEC before seeing how the election turns out.
