Trustless Work presents an escrow-as-a-service platform built on Stellar that enables freelance and gig platforms to offer Upwork-style escrow flows without custodial burden or high fees. The platform uses stablecoins and smart contracts to facilitate milestone-based payments between clients and workers at ~0.3% fees versus traditional platforms' 5-8%.
Trustless Work is a blockchain-based escrow service designed for freelance and gig platforms seeking to compete on distribution and UX rather than payments infrastructure. Traditional platforms like Upwork charge 5-8% fees because they must build and maintain custodial escrow systems in-house. Trustless Work eliminates this burden by providing non-custodial escrow via Stellar's Soroban smart contracts, allowing platforms to deploy per-contract escrows that hold stablecoins (e.g., USDC) and release funds upon milestone approval. The service reduces fees to ~0.3%, enables instant payouts, supports global transactions without banking friction, and provides APIs, SDKs, and a back-office dApp for incremental platform launches. The model works across freelance marketplaces, gig platforms, niche talent networks, and enterprise contractor management.
