# Milestone-Gated Funding PepFund does not release campaign funds all at once. Researchers define a milestone roadmap when creating a campaign, and each milestone unlocks a percentage of the total funds raised. Funds only release after the researcher submits verifiable evidence of completion and a community review window closes without a valid dispute. This mechanism protects backers from capital misuse while giving researchers clear, structured access to their funding. *** ## Defining Milestones Milestones are defined at campaign creation and become immutable once the campaign passes the review stage. Each milestone requires: * **Title:** A short label for the deliverable (e.g. "Preclinical data collection complete") * **Description:** A specific, verifiable description of what constitutes completion * **Evidence type:** What the researcher will submit as proof (e.g. dataset, preprint, protocol log) * **Fund release percentage:** The proportion of total raised USDC this milestone unlocks (all percentages must sum to 100%) * **Estimated completion date:** An expected date; not a hard deadline, but used to flag campaigns that are significantly behind schedule **Minimum requirements:** * At least two milestones per campaign * The first milestone must not exceed 40% of total funds (to ensure continued accountability) * No single milestone can exceed 50% of total funds *** ## The Submission and Release Process When a researcher completes a milestone, the process works as follows: ### Step 1: Researcher submits milestone evidence The researcher uploads evidence to Arweave (a permanent, decentralised storage layer). The content hash of the uploaded file is submitted onchain as part of the milestone transaction. This creates an immutable, permanent link between the Solana state and the underlying evidence. Evidence may include: * Published or preprint papers (PDF, DOI) * Datasets (CSV, HDF5, or similar, uploaded to Arweave) * Protocol logs or lab notebooks * Computational results or model weights * IRB/ethics approval documents ### Step 2: Review window opens Once submitted, a time-locked review window opens. During this window, campaign token holders can review the evidence and, if warranted, flag the submission for dispute. **Review window duration:** * Milestone 1: 7 days * Milestones 2 and beyond: 5 days The window duration is defined in the program and cannot be shortened by the researcher. ### Step 3: Resolution Two outcomes are possible when the review window closes: **No quorum of flags:** The milestone is approved automatically. The USDC tranche transfers from the escrow to the researcher's wallet without any further action required from PepFund or any third party. **Quorum of flags reached:** The milestone enters a dispute state. In the beta period, disputed milestones are reviewed by the PepFund team, who assess the evidence against the milestone description and issue a resolution within 72 hours. Post-beta, this process will migrate to fully onchain governance. *** ## Flagging a Milestone Any campaign token holder can flag a submitted milestone during the review window. Flagging requires: * A wallet holding at least 0.1% of the campaign token supply * A written rationale submitted onchain (stored on Arweave) * A Solana transaction to record the flag Flags are weighted by token holdings. A quorum is reached when token holders representing 10% or more of the circulating backer token supply have flagged the submission. {% hint style="info" %} The quorum threshold is calculated against the backer token allocation only, not the total token supply. Researcher and protocol token allocations do not count toward quorum. {% endhint %} *** ## What Happens if a Milestone Is Disputed and Rejected If a milestone submission is reviewed and rejected: * The USDC tranche for that milestone remains in escrow * The researcher is notified with the specific reasons for rejection * The researcher may re-submit with additional or corrected evidence * Re-submissions trigger a new review window of the same duration There is no limit on the number of re-submissions, but backers retain the right to flag each submission independently. *** ## What Happens if a Researcher Stops Responding If a researcher does not submit a milestone within 90 days of the estimated completion date, campaign token holders can initiate a **stale campaign review**. If the review confirms the campaign has been abandoned: * The remaining escrowed funds are split proportionally and returned to backers * The researcher's campaign is marked as abandoned on their public profile This threshold and process is enforced by program logic and does not require PepFund intervention. *** ## Milestone Best Practices Milestones that are specific, verifiable, and scoped to concrete deliverables are funded faster and face fewer disputes. **Strong milestone example:** > "Complete preclinical efficacy data collection. Evidence: anonymised dataset of n=50 murine trials uploaded to Arweave, with summary statistics showing >80% target gene knockdown." **Weak milestone example:** > "Complete research phase 1." Write milestones as if you are writing acceptance criteria for a software deliverable. 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