Backing a project
What happens to your pledge after you back a project?
Your pledge sits in an escrow account the program controls, not in a CoFunders account. Under the program's rules, only the creator can claim a campaign's funds once it reaches its goal, and only you can take your pledge back if it misses. The program can still be upgraded, and today one key we hold can upgrade it (see /security).
When can the creator take the money?
As soon as the amount raised reaches the goal, even before the deadline. The campaign keeps collecting until its deadline, and the creator can claim what comes in later the same way.
From then on, the money is there to make what you backed, and you can't take your pledge back.
What if the campaign misses its goal?
Then the creator never gets it. Here's exactly what happens to your pledge:
If the goal isn't met by the deadline, you take your pledge back from escrow with one tap, and nobody has to approve it. What comes back is the amount held for you: your pledge minus the fees taken when you backed (the platform fee, the flat fee, any tip and any share reward the campaign pays).
In the app, a Take your pledge back button appears on the campaign's page once the deadline has passed. Campaigns run in USDC, a digital dollar, so that's what lands in your balance, and you see it in your own currency.
Can you take your pledge back before the deadline?
The app doesn't let you take a pledge back before the deadline. So only back what you're happy to leave in place until the deadline, and read the campaign before you tap, not after.
Before you back is also the best time to ask the creator anything. How to check a campaign shows what to look for.
What happens after the creator claims it?
It's theirs to spend on the project, and what they owe you is the reward. Good creators post updates, about problems as well as progress. If one goes quiet, ask in the comments or send them a message.
If a funded project fails, no escrow covers it, here or anywhere. What you can still do sets out your options.
Your next step
See it for yourself. Open a campaign in the app, tap Financials and protection, and paste its escrow link into the escrow checker. It reads the goal, the deadline and what the escrow holds, straight from the chain.