Money locked first.
Work paid fast.
Escrow is what makes BNTY trustworthy. Creators prove their reward is real; Hunters compete knowing the money is already secured. Here's exactly how it works — and what you agree to when you fund a Bounty.
100%
Reward-backed
A Bounty only goes live after its full reward is verified on-chain in escrow.
Minutes
Typical payout time
Approved rewards are sent on-chain to the winner's verified wallet, not invoiced.
USDC
Stable, 1:1 with USD
Rewards are held and paid in USDC, a fully-reserved dollar stablecoin issued by Circle.
On-chain
Publicly verifiable
Every fund, release, and refund has a public Solana transaction signature plus an append-only audit ledger.
From posted to paid in four steps
Fund the escrow
01A Creator posts a Bounty and funds the reward by sending USDC from their connected Solana wallet to the BNTY escrow vault. The deposit is verified on-chain before anything else happens. Until it is funded, the Bounty is a private draft — not live, not listed, and unable to receive submissions, votes, or comments.
Funds are locked
02Once funded, the reward is locked and the Bounty goes live for everyone to see. Hunters can now submit proof, knowing the reward is fully backed. Locked means locked — the funds are committed.
A winner is chosen
03The Creator reviews submissions and approves the winner — or, in community-vote Bounties, the most-voted submission wins automatically at the deadline.
Reward is released
04On approval, the locked USDC is released from escrow and sent on-chain to the winning Hunter's verified wallet — usually within minutes. A 5% platform fee is deducted at this point; the winner receives 95% of the posted reward. The transfer is final and irreversible — once released, it cannot be undone.
The escrow lifecycle
Every Bounty's funds move through a clear, predictable set of states.
Unfunded
No funds committed. The Bounty is a private draft and is not live.
Funded
Reward is locked in escrow. The Bounty is live and accepting submissions.
Locked
A winner has been selected; the reward is queued to release.
Released
The USDC has been sent on-chain to the winning Hunter's verified wallet. Final.
Disputed
A dispute is open; funds are frozen pending review by the BNTY team.
Refunded
The Bounty was cancelled before any winner. The Creator receives 97.5% back; the 2.5% Creator fee is retained.
Connecting your wallet
Escrow runs on real USDC on the Solana blockchain. To fund a Bounty or receive a payout, link a Solana wallet — Phantom, Solflare, Backpack, or any compatible wallet — in your Settings. Verifying ownership is a free message signature: no transaction, no fees, and we never see or ask for your seed phrase. Payouts are sent on-chain to your verified wallet only — if you win before linking one, your reward waits safely in the queue and is sent automatically the moment you connect. New to wallets? Read our setup guide.
Community-vote Bounties
Some Bounties are decided by the community instead of the Creator. Submissions are public, anyone can vote, and the most-voted entry wins automatically at the deadline. If escrow was funded, the reward releases to the winner; ties are broken by the earliest submission. The same finality applies — once released, the reward cannot be reversed.
Disputes
If a Creator believes a submission doesn't meet the requirements — or a Hunter believes their valid work was wrongly refused — either side can open a dispute. The escrow is frozen and the BNTY team reviews the evidence from both parties before releasing the reward to the Hunter or returning it to the Creator. The outcome of the dispute process is final.
Cancellation & expiry
A Creator may cancel a funded Bounty and have the escrow (minus the 2.5% Creator fee) returned only while there are no submissions awaiting a decision. If submissions are pending, they must first be resolved. If a Bounty reaches its deadline with no qualifying winner, the escrow is automatically returned minus fees. Deadlines can be set up to 90 days out.
Platform fees
BNTY charges two fees, both deducted automatically on-chain — nothing is ever deducted manually or by any individual:
2.5%
Creator fee
Charged at escrow funding. Non-refundable, even on cancellation.
5%
Payout fee
Deducted when a winner is paid. Winner receives 95% of the posted reward.
7.5%
Total on success
2.5% at fund + 5% at payout. No other fees apply.
No refunds — locked means locked
Escrow is designed to be irreversible and final. By funding a Bounty you accept that:
- the 2.5% Creator fee is non-refundable once escrow is funded, even if the Bounty is cancelled or expires;
- once funds are locked, BNTY does not offer discretionary or “change of mind” refunds;
- once a reward is released to a winning Hunter, the transfer is final and cannot be reversed;
- on cancellation or expiry, funds minus the 2.5% fee are returned to a Creator — only through the defined mechanism and only while no submissions are pending review; and
- the result of the dispute-resolution process is binding and final.
This finality is what protects Hunters who put in genuine work. For the complete terms, see our Terms of Service.
Escrow settles on-chain: deposits are verified on the Solana blockchain before a Bounty goes live, and every release, refund, and fee deduction is a real USDC transfer with a public transaction signature. BNTY operates on a non-custodial basis — we never take possession or control of user funds; the escrow smart contract holds them, and they move only by its programmatic rules. Platform fees are collected programmatically; no one at BNTY can manually redirect or spend escrowed funds.
Reward-backed from the start.
Post a Bounty, fund the escrow, and let the best proof win.