Flow8 | Devpost

Inspiration

Freelancers globally wait weeks for payment. Clients worry about paying upfront for incomplete work. Traditional escrow platforms charge 5-10% fees and still require manual dispute resolution.

I've experienced this friction firsthand in the freelance market. Payment delays kill momentum, and trust issues prevent good collaborations from starting. I asked: what if blockchain smart contracts could automate escrow and make payments flow as smoothly as instant transfers, but without middleman fees?

What it does

Flow8 is a milestone-based escrow platform that demonstrates:

Smart Contract Escrow: Lock MNEE stablecoin funds tied to project milestones
Multi-Wallet Support: Users can also use emails.
Milestone Tracking: Break projects into verifiable chunks with individual payment amounts
Transparent Transactions: All escrow activity recorded on-chain for full auditability
Clean UX: Simple dashboard for creating projects, tracking milestones, and releasing payments

The goal: make crypto payments work for everyday freelance transactions without users needing blockchain expertise.

How we built it

Frontend Stack:

React + TypeScript for type-safe component development
Vite for fast development and optimized builds
Tailwind CSS for responsive, modern UI design
Lucide React for consistent iconography

Blockchain Integration:

Built WalletService to unify Leather, Xverse, and UniSat wallet APIs
MNEE stablecoin for stable payment settlements
Smart contract interactions for escrow deposit/release logic
LocalStorage for wallet session persistence

Architecture:

User connects Bitcoin wallet through unified interface
Creates project with milestones and MNEE payment amounts
Client deposits funds to escrow smart contract
Milestone completion triggers verification flow
Smart contract releases payment to freelancer wallet

Challenges we ran into

MNEE Integration: Integrating MNEE stablecoin mid-hackathon meant balancing speed with proper testing. The contract interactions work but need more real-world validation. Aslo there is no testnet for MNEE so its hard to test contracts

State Management: Managing wallet connection state, project data, and milestone status across components without external state libraries required careful component architecture.

Time Constraints: Balancing hackathon deadlines with building quality UX meant prioritizing core escrow functionality over advanced features like automated verification.

Testing Limitations: Limited testnet MNEE tokens made comprehensive end-to-end testing challenging.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

✅ Multi-Wallet MVP: Successfully integrated muiltiwallet support using privy

✅ Clean Architecture: Service layer separation for wallet and blockchain logic

✅ Type Safety: Full TypeScript coverage for maintainable codebase

✅ Responsive Design: Works seamlessly on desktop and mobile

✅ Real Problem: Solving actual payment friction in the gig economy

What we learned

Bitcoin wallet ecosystem needs better API standardization
Stablecoins like MNEE are crucial for crypto payments—volatility kills adoption
Smart contract security is non-negotiable—escrow requires multiple layers of verification
UX is everything—if users see "blockchain," they'll bounce
Building real-world products in hackathons requires ruthless prioritization