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OpenEscrow is a free, open source app for transparent and fair management of the rental security deposit, that builds trust and unlocks financial opportunity between tenants and landlords by using smart contracts to serve as a neutral 3rd party escrow agent.
Built as a digital public good — not for profit — OpenEscrow promotes financial inclusion, housing stability, and real-world trust without centralized control.
There is no company, licensing fee, or monetization model behind OpenEscrow — it is public infrastructure for tenants, landlords, developers, and governments to freely use and build upon.
This flow illustrates the full life cycle of a rental deposit agreement through OpenEscrow. It reflects a more transparent and tenant-centric logic, where the deposit is considered the tenant's property by default. A notice period is required before any release process can begin, and the landlord must submit a claim that is externally validated to override the default refund. The flow also includes optional integration with a yield module (for on-chain interest) and a read-only viewer contract to power the UI.
💡 Token Choice Note:
WYST is the default payment token, but users may also choose supported stablecoins such as USDC or USDY. As long as sufficient liquidity exists on DEXs or CEXs, no dedicated pool is required. Users without a balance in their selected token will be prompted to swap before depositing.
➡️ View full protocol flow — lifecycle, logic, and onchain events
OpenEscrow redefines how rental deposits are handled by aligning with the reality that the deposit legally belongs to the tenant until a valid claim proves otherwise.
This updated model:
- Promotes financial inclusion for underserved communities
- Prevents abuse of power by landlords
- Aligns with small claims court principles: burden of proof is on the claimant (landlord)
- Reduces stress and legal cost for tenants
- Provides programmable transparency through
rulesModule - Makes claims auditable, reproducible, and automated
Traditional models transfer the deposit unless the tenant proves otherwise. OpenEscrow inverts that logic to reflect real-world fairness: if there is no valid claim, the tenant keeps the deposit.
(Le reste du README reste inchangé : Project Overview, Roadmap, Technical Stack, Tests, Features, Funding Plan, Team Bios, Contribution instructions...)
- Escrow for rental deposits
- Transparent fund release logic
- Dispute flag system
- Optional validator flow
- Yield module placeholder
- Wallet abstraction
- Fiat ramps
- Reputation system
- IPFS document storage
- Multilingual support
We are seeking $60,000 to build, audit, and launch a secure, fully open-source MVP for OpenEscrow.
| Category | Estimated Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Full-Stack App Development | $45,000 | Solo delivery of core smart contracts and web app (Solidity + frontend) |
| Smart Contract Audit (basic/peer) | $7,000 | Community review or lightweight external audit |
| Community Onboarding + Documentation | $3,000 | Guides, contributor instructions, demo material |
| Infra / Testnet / Support | $3,000 | RPCs, testnet funds, hosting, basic tooling |
| Outreach + Ecosystem Alignment | $2,000 | Public visibility, collaborations, submissions |
Total Funding Requested: $60,000 USD
| Phase | Timeline | Milestones |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Core Smart Contracts | Q3 2025 | - Finalize smart contracts - Deploy to testnet - Initial audit and testing |
| Phase 2: Web and Backend Development | Q3–Q4 2025 | - Develop web app frontend/backend - Integrate escrow flows and notifications |
| Phase 3: Mobile Optimization and Feature Expansion | Q4 2025–Q1 2026 | - Mobile-first optimizations - Enable yield options and reputation system |
| Phase 4: Public Launch and Outreach | Q1 2026 | - Mainnet deployment - Open-source repository publication - Begin public sector and NGO outreach |
- Solidity (Smart Contracts)
- IPFS (Decentralized invoice/document storage)
- Chainlink (DeFi data oracles)
- React (Frontend web development)
- Web3Auth (planned wallet abstraction)
- Optional fiat onramp integration (e.g., Moonpay, NowPayments)
- Install Foundry (if not already)
curl -L https://foundry.paradigm.xyz | bash foundryup - Clone the repo and install
git clone <repo_url> cd OpenEscrow
- Run all testsl
forge test - Run a single test suite
forge test --match-contract RefundWithYieldTest - See gas usage
forge test --gas-report
All core flows (refund, release, yield, factory, viewer) are fully tested and should pass [PASS].
- Modular escrow contract with pluggable modules (rules, yield)
- Refund and release flows with tested yield split (tenant/landlord)
- Factory for multi-user/multi-vault management
- EscrowViewer for off-chain dashboard/analytics
- Core error handling and revert tests
- EIP-712 signature-based interactions (walletless UX)
- Factory advanced (clones, multi-chain, mapping)
- EscrowViewer: batch reads, indexer, pagination
- UI: Minimal testnet demo / Remix playground
- Partial refund logic (see contract TODO)
- Docs polish, NatSpec, audit pass, contributor guide
All core flows are tested and production-grade.
For a detailed breakdown of smart contract architecture, lifecycle logic, and developer references, see docs/technical-overview.md and docs/dev-reference.md.
Omri Gross
Founder of OpenEscrow | Housing Blockchain Specialist
Omri Gross is an outgoing Senior Clearance and Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with over 15 years of experience in regulatory compliance across multiple disciplines. He serves as Housing Work Group Lead for the Government Blockchain Association (GBA), is a founding member of the U.N. Dynamic Coalition on Blockchain Assurance and Standardization and recently authored a Housing Supplement to the GBA's Blockchain Maturity Model (BMM). Omri has been researching and using blockchain for more than a decade, operates his own Ethereum nodes, and boasts an extensive onchain footprint across dozens of chains, testnets, protocols and products, particularly in the DeFi space. Omri is the Founder and Principal Consultant for OG Consulting LLC, providing expert regulatory compliance and public-private strategy guidance for emerging technology solution providers. By combining his technical blockchain expertise with a public-sector career dedicated to advancing public trust, transparency, and equitable systems, Omri is focused on applying his skill-set to drive public-private adoption of blockchain and emerging technology.
Hanane Bendisari
Tech Lead | Solidity Developer | Hackathon Finalist @ Consensus 2025
Hanane is a Solidity developer with a multidisciplinary background in engineering, finance, and smart contract security.
After years in strategy and compliance roles, she pivoted to Web3 with a focus on building modular, auditable, and production-grade smart contract systems.
She led the development of ArtVault, a milestone-based escrow protocol for creative freelancers, which became a finalist at the Consensus 2025 hackathon.
Her work emphasizes composability, test coverage (Foundry), and gas efficiency, with a public focus on audit-readiness and open infrastructure for real-world use cases.
Hanane contributes to open-source EVM projects, is active in smart contract security circles, and is currently preparing for contributions across DeFi infrastructure, protocol tooling, and automation.
As Tech Lead on OpenEscrow, she is responsible for protocol design, core implementation, and test architecture.
We are seeking developers, testers, advisors, and ecosystem champions.
If you would like to contribute to OpenEscrow’s development, adoption, or public outreach, please reach out!
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- Fork the repo and open a Pull Request
- Suggest improvements or open issues
- View CONTRIBUTING.md
- View ROADMAP.md
OpenEscrow is released under the MIT License, encouraging open collaboration and unrestricted use.