# Escrow Milestones proposal type for Nouns Builder DAOs

## Summary

This project focuses on enabling escrowing milestones in the Nouns Builder DAO proposal builder flow, enhancing all Nouns Builder DAOs ability to manage and release funds through a milestone-based approach. The use of escrowed milestones in Nouns Builder proposals will allow the respective DAOs to be more lenient in reserving funds for efforts without sacrificing the ability to ensure deliverability of proposal goals.

The Vercel test deployment of the application is live at:
[https://nouns-builder-gamma.vercel.app](https://nouns-builder-gamma.vercel.app)
_Pending PR merge and assets migration._

## Context

Nouns Builder has excelled at retroactively supporting builders within and around the Nouns community, however, retroactive grants limit the ability of Nouns Builder DAO to proactive direct and steer development activity. For builders to complete larger scopes of work, a roadmap and milestones are needed to reassure the contributors and provide Nouns Builder the power to intervene, should milestones not be delivered.

To that end, we’ve added an alternative proposal type for the Nouns Builder proposal creator, where proposers can choose to escrow milestones using SmartInvoice. The pull request with the initial features are pending review and deployment. These will be made available as Builder DAO takes over the nouns.build domain and this becomes the primary deploy.

## Proposal

We seek a total of **12 ETH** for the entire project comprising retroactive funding of the built and version 1 integration, two further milestones for a customized feature set, and a one year long support and maintenance contract.

1. Built milestone proposal type described under the section [Features](#heading=h.14hcd5439iic) – **7 ETH**
2. Documentation of features and technical documentation – **1 ETH**
1. Extended network support and delegator safe deployment
3. Milestone-based scope for customized feature set – **3 ETH**
1. Similar reporting functionality to [https://www.propdates.wtf/](https://www.propdates.wtf/)
2. Notifications for updates
4. One year (1 year) maintenance and support contract – **1 ETH**

**TOTAL: 12 ETH**

## North Star Check

Escrowed milestones allow Nouns Builder DAOs to level up their ability to attract and retain service providers by getting service providers and the DAO on the same page. Proposals become more granular, ensuring everyone involved knows what’s being proposed.

By unlocking the ability of Nouns Builder DAOs to take on larger, long-lived, and complex proposals, the integration will allow the ecosystem of DAOs to proliferate their causes and bring in additional revenues and community members.

### Roadmap

* **01/2025:** Integration of version 1 integration with Nouns Builder frontend
* **03/2025:** Delivery of final milestone for budget item 2
* **~03/2026:** Completion of maintenance and support contract (starting from integration into nouns.build)

## Accountability

### Milestone 0: Escrow Proposal type

Add another proposal type for escrowing milestones for proposals. DAOs will be able to nominate a designated release entity (multisig) or create proposals to release milestones.

* Extended Smart Invoice Core Functionality for Full Feature Compatibility
* Proposal Milestone Wireframes & Designs
* Milestone-Based Transaction Bundling & Metadata
* Milestone Management Interface
* Proposal Submission & Community Engagement
* Deployment Support

### Milestone I: Proposal Updates

Allow service providers to comment on proposal milestones to notify releasing parties of their completion status.

* Additional ability to create updates pertaining to milestones
* Indicate number of updates for a milestone
* Inline most recent update with option to view any additional updates
* Notifications for new updates to subscribers

### Milestone II & III: Support Contract

Nouns Builder can contact Smart Invoice any time over the next year, while Smart Invoice agrees to be actively supporting the functionality provided to Nouns Builder and auxiliary to Nouns Builder’s mission for the same period. Nouns Builder DAO receives a dedicated Discord channel for support requests with 24 hour response time. Extending enhancements to the features won’t be included.

* Milestones 2 & 3 to be released after 180 and 365 days, respectively

## Treasury Impact

The proposal will have a treasury impact of 8%.

With escrow proposals, Nouns Builder DAOs will be empowered to reach to the heights of their ability to execute by holding service providers accountable to delivering on intended goals. No more will proposals go uncompleted and fall to the wayside. Enable bigger and better proposals with accountability.

## Team

Smart Invoice is an open-source, non-custodial escrow protocol designed to address payment insecurity in the Web3 ecosystem.

Developed initially for RaidGuild, Smart Invoice emerged from countless stories of freelancers left unpaid, despite completed work. Smart Invoice has been battle tested over the last 3 years with over 1 million dollars escrowed for clients and service providers.

### benedictvs – Project Management

Ben is a RaidGuild member and an expert on decentralized identity and Web3 infrastructure, who also reads for a PhD in DLT-based decentralized governance of small jurisdictions. As an entrepreneur, he successfully launched two Web3 consultancies in the past three years and received funding backed by the European Union on multiple occasions. His overarching objective is to bring DLT networks and society closer together.

### Sayonara – Full-Stack Developer

Sayonara is a designer turned full-stack developer, hailing from India. He is specialised in user experience software development in Web3. His passions are decentralised finance (DeFi) applications, while he successfully drove development for a wide range of decentralised applications. As an active participant of RaidGuild, he currently focuses on stakeholder-driven development in the ever changing landscape of decentralised digital technologies.

### Dan13Ram – Full-Stack Developer

Dan (Dhanwanthari) OneTree is a software developer focused on Web3 technologies, leading development at Smart Invoice and contributing to open-source projects. Passionate about blockchain, DAOs, and NFTs, he aims to drive positive change through technology.

### Ian – UI/UX

Ian is a product designer focused on building delightful interface experiences. Currently, he runs Space Pirate Labs, a design agency designing Web3 and other verticals. In addition to his work, he sits on the faculty at University of Iowa, where he talks at the intersection of UI/UX & product led growth.

### Scottrepreneur – Advisor

Scott is a builder, and advisor, building at the intersection of coordination and incentives. He has fostered ecosystem growth through contributions at Hats Protocol, Raid Guild, and Purple, among others.

## Transparency

At the time of writing no conflicts of interests are foreseen. The proposing team will be working on the implementation and is going to be remunerated accordingly.

## Transactions

### Proposed Release Schedule

We propose to unlock the proposed amount over a release period of one year and through four milestones. DAO proposals will be created to release the future milestones.

1. Milestone 0 – is released immediately for work-done upon acceptance of proposal
2. Milestone I – is released upon completion of the milestone update features being implemented. A tentative date of completion is January 2025\.
3. Milestone II – the first payment tranche for the support contract is due 90 days after the contract commenced.
4. Milestone III – the last payment tranche for the support contract is Milestone 3 – the last support contract payment is due 182 days after the contract commenced.

---

# Appendix

## Tax

The responsible entity for revenue generated from this proposal is DVCTVS UAB with the company code 306421087, duly registered in Kalvariju St. 125, LT-08221 Vilnius, Lithuania. It is registered as a VAT payer according to the directive 2006/112/EC.

## Background

### Results of Proactive Build

Enabling escrow and arbitration for the Nouns Builder DAO proposal builder enhances the proposal management, creating an elevated user experience and giving the community more control over builds. This integration allows proposals to be escrowed using Smart Invoice with milestone tracking and release, giving Nouns Builder DAO members a transparent way to monitor project progress and release funds only when specific milestones are met.

This functionality also positions Nouns Builder as a more flexible and organized platform, accommodating grant and funding processes that require step-by-step accountability. The integration elevates the DAO’s operational efficiency by simplifying complex proposal flows and provides a template for future collaborations with tools like Smart Invoice.

Overall, this partnership expands our ecosystem’s capabilities, attracting more contributors and reinforcing Nouns Builder DAO's reputation for supporting innovative, reliable solutions.

#### Features already delivered to Nouns Builder

##### Extended Smart Invoice Core Functionality for Full Feature Compatibility

* Flexible release functionality through Safe delegation or DAO vote
* Usability improvements for Nouns Builder DAO members using Safe Apps
* Updated subgraph on Goldsky to allow Smart Invoice feature on Nouns Builder DAO frontend

##### Proposal Milestone Wireframes & Designs

* End-to-end custom user flow to allow milestone creation, description, and customisation
* Design components adapted from BuilderDAO interface for consistent user experience

##### Milestone-Based Transaction Bundling & Metadata

* Bundled transactions to streamline invoice and proposal creation are displayed for user review on frontend
* Metadata fields for milestones, including title, description, estimated delivery date, and images for detailed tracking

##### Milestone Management Interface

* Detailed milestone view with transaction statuses and progress indicators.
* "Submit Release Proposal" feature for members, enabling easy milestone updates.
* "Execute Proposal" button integrated with treasury or governor selection for direct action on proposal submission and release

##### Proposal Submission & Community Engagement

* Seamless on-chain proposal submission for Nouns Builder DAO with milestone and maintenance information
* Integrated community engagement tools for Q\&A sessions and community calls on proposals

##### Deployment Support

* Supporting Nouns Builder DAO in merging the pull request
* Assisting the Nouns Builder Engineering resident with deploying the updated subgraph to Goldsky

### Escrow Proposal Selection

### Milestone Definition

![][image1]

### Smart Contract Disclosure For Proposal Submission

![][image2]

### Proposed Transaction

![][image3]

### Milestone View

![][image4]

### Milestone Release

![][image5]

## Requested Features

[Incorporating additional feedback from the Nouns Builder DAO we will establish a clear link between completing milestones and prompting release for the Nouns Builder community. We analyzed the Nouns integration with](https://s3.amazonaws.com/charm.public/user-content/a803894a-36be-4473-a441-18415e5087db/692fd58e-c6e9-4018-93a6-12a3bd3953c2/411c0ed0-7b99-411f-b446-b55dc3659d34.png) [propdates.wtf](http://propdates.wtf) and propose Nouns Builder to use a solution that replicates the mechanism with newer infrastructure, i.e. the Ethereum Attestation Service EAS), and provide more flexibility for milestone update and release functionality.

In order to release a milestone, DAOs can expect proposers to share updates about the milestones they have completed. Therefore, we are proposing to include a notification system using the Farcaster protocol that allows signers on the release multi-sig or DAO members to subscribe to a channel of milestone updates for specific or all proposals, which propagates the updates published to EAS by the proposal fund recipients on the Nouns Builder frontend.

### Background

This is an extension milestone on the original Nouns Builder Escrow proposal, which is outlined in the section [Features of Proactive Built](#heading=h.14hcd5439iic). In that proactive milestone, we have completed the work that allows proposers to add milestones to their proposals via a SmartInvoice escrow that can be released via the DAO or a representative, such as a multi-sig.

#### Schema for Proposal Updates

{
	"escrow": "0x"
	"milestone": 0,
	"body": "{MARKDOWN CONTENT}",
}

* Leveraging EAS allows a couple of advantages
* Flexibility for clients showing appropriate updates
* Leaves this system to a future iteration if needed
* Clients can restrict showing or enable showing in desirable scenarios
* No additional infrastructure on either **side**
* Leverage existing EAS subgraph(s)
* Additional interoperability
* Builder DAO (milestone) propdates would be easily consumable in other systems

![][image6]

###### *Submit a new update modal*

* show details about the related milestone
* text area (markdown editor, if available)

![][image7]

## Background on [Smart Invoice](http://smartinvoice.xyz)

Smart Invoice is an open-source, non-custodial escrow protocol designed to address payment insecurity in the Web3 ecosystem. Developed initially for RaidGuild, Smart Invoice emerged from countless stories of freelancers left unpaid, despite completed work. By combining a smart contract-powered escrow with optional arbitration, it enables secure payments for freelancers, DAOs, and Web3-native organizations.

Unlike traditional escrow services, Smart Invoice leverages blockchain technology to provide a transparent, automated, and decentralized payment solution. Funds are held in smart contracts, accessible only when predefined project milestones are met. Clients and freelancers enjoy a familiar payment flow, yet with Web3's enhanced speed and security. The protocol integrates dispute resolution through three arbitration providers:

* In-house arbitration as cost-effective option for low value transactions
* Kleros for multi-network production grade and specialized arbitration support
* LexDAO as a battle tested legacy arbitration option

Taken together, SmartInvoice offers a comprehensive framework for risk management without the need for custodial accounts.

Smart Invoice addresses payment pain points for freelancers, project teams, and grant-based contracts across multiple blockchains. The protocol supports Polygon, Ethereum Mainnet, Gnosis Chain, Arbitrum. Optimism, and Base. The core features are:

* Milestone-based payments
* Dispute resolution and arbitration
* Safety valve for fund recovery
* Seamless invoicing and payment tracking

### High-level Smart Contract Architecture

![][image8]

### Further Reading

* Joint arbitration policy of Kleros and Smart Invoice
* [https://docs.smartinvoice.xyz/arbitration/kleros-arbitration](https://docs.smartinvoice.xyz/arbitration/kleros-arbitration)
* Outline of arbitration infrastructure
* [https://docs.smartinvoice.xyz/arbitration/arbitration-infra](https://docs.smartinvoice.xyz/arbitration/arbitration-infra)
* File for arbitration
* [https://docs.smartinvoice.xyz/tutorials/arbitrator/notify-arbitration-decision](https://docs.smartinvoice.xyz/tutorials/arbitrator/notify-arbitration-decision)