# Introduction

PepFund is an onchain crowdfunding platform for decentralized science (DeSci) projects, built on Solana. It lets researchers anywhere in the world raise capital transparently from a global community of backers, with every transaction on-chain, every milestone verifiable, and every backer holding a real stake in what gets discovered.

{% hint style="info" %}
PepFund is currently in beta. Campaign creation is invite-only. Apply for researcher access at [pepfund.xyz](https://pepfund.xyz).
{% endhint %}

***

## Why PepFund Exists

Traditional science funding is slow, opaque, and politically biased. Grant cycles take 6 to 18 months. Researchers outside well-funded institutions are systematically excluded. When funding does arrive, there is no public record of how it is spent, what was achieved, or whether backers received anything in return for their support.

PepFund rebuilds this from first principles:

* **Transparent by default.** Every contribution, fund release, and milestone update is a public Solana transaction. Anyone can verify the full history of any campaign at any time.
* **Non-custodial.** Smart contracts hold funds in program-controlled escrow. PepFund never holds your capital.
* **Milestone-gated.** Research funds do not release all at once. Researchers define a milestone roadmap at campaign creation. Each tranche unlocks only after verified evidence is submitted and a community review window closes without dispute.
* **Ownership for backers.** Every campaign issues a unique research token. Backers receive tokens proportional to their contribution, carrying governance rights over milestones and first-mover IP access rights.

***

## How It Works

1. A researcher creates a campaign, defines milestones, and configures a research token.
2. The campaign is reviewed for scientific credibility and goes live.
3. Backers contribute USDC. Funds are held in a program-controlled escrow account on Solana. Backers receive campaign tokens immediately.
4. The researcher submits milestone evidence (stored permanently on Arweave). A review window opens.
5. If no quorum of token holders flags the submission within the review window, the milestone tranche releases automatically to the researcher.
6. If the campaign fails to reach its goal before the deadline, backers claim full USDC refunds from the escrow at any time.

***

## Key Concepts

| Concept        | Description                                                                                  |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Campaign       | A fundraising round for a defined research project                                           |
| Milestone      | A discrete deliverable that unlocks a tranche of campaign funds                              |
| Research Token | An SPL token issued by each campaign; received by backers proportional to their contribution |
| Escrow         | A program-derived Solana account holding campaign funds; controlled by program logic only    |
| ORCID          | The researcher identity standard used by PepFund for credential verification                 |

***

## Navigate These Docs

* New to PepFund as a **researcher**? Start with [For Researchers](/getting-started/for-researchers.md).
* New to PepFund as a **backer**? Start with [For Backers](/getting-started/for-backers.md).
* Want to understand the underlying mechanics? See [Core Concepts](/core-concepts/campaign-lifecycle.md).
* Looking for technical details? See [Technical Reference](/technical-reference/architecture.md).


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.pepfund.xyz/readme.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.