What are Pledges?

Pledges are a fun new way to make credible commitments to your goals using real monetary value. When you make a Pledge, you lock up your funds in a escrow that will disburse those funds depending on the result of your goal.

Here is a quick overview of a Pledge's life cycle:

1. Choose the type of goal you want to commit to (for example: running 2 miles, finishing an online course on Rust fundamentals, keeping your daily language learning streak).

2. Connect your wallet and data source (e.g. Strava, Coursera, Duolingo)

3. Determine the Pledge goal, deadline, amount, and beneficiary that will receive the funds if and only if you are not successful.

4. Send the Pledge onchain and start working towards your goal!

Pledges serve a Dual Purpose: Accountability and Data Ownership

Pledges are an excellent accountability mechanism because they raise the stakes on your goals with real money on the line. But Pledges also serve another important function of enabling data ownership.

By connecting to an offchain data source when making a Pledge, users provide a clear path to taking full control over the data they produce and own. Pledges are unique applications because they provide an explicit means for users to monetize on valuable representations of their data. Read more about the data that is produced from Pledges, and how it might be monetized, in the pledges & data ownership section.

Learn how to make a Pledge, the types of Pledge applications, a technical overview of Pledges, and frequently asked questions (FAQ) related to Pledges.

Pledges FAQ

Pledges are a beta product. Users should be comfortable with some risks noted here.