Milestone-based crypto fundraising, explained

In a normal token sale the team receives the whole raise when the sale ends. In a milestone-based raise the money waits in a contract and is released in parts, each one after the team shows the work and the investors agree it's done. Here is how that works on ZASH.

The problem with paying up front

When a team gets all the money on day one, investors have nothing left to hold it to its plan. If the project stalls, there is usually nothing to get back. Milestone-based fundraising keeps most of the money where neither side can take it until the promised work exists.

How the money moves

The first milestone pays 10% of the vault, and the rest is split evenly over the remaining milestones. A project has 3 to 5 of them, and each is due within 90 days of the previous one, so a project that stops delivering can always be ended.

Share of each contribution	Where it goes
85%	The vault, paid to the team milestone by milestone
12.5%	The trading pool, created when the raise succeeds
2.5%	The ZASH platform fee

Who decides when a milestone is done

The team publishes proof and a vote opens. A milestone passes only if YES reaches at least 30% of the tokens that can vote and there are more YES votes than NO. If hardly anyone votes, it doesn't pass. The team's own allocation and the treasury's tokens never vote. Tokens a team member buys like anyone else still count, so it's worth looking at who votes.

On BNB Chain a passed milestone pays out after 48 hours, during which the platform's Ledger can veto it if the proof turns out to be fake. On Solana it pays out straight away.

When a milestone is rejected

The team has 120 hours to publish new proof and try again, and each milestone gets 3 attempts in all. If the last one fails, or the team misses a proof deadline, the project fails.

When a project fails

Investors claim a refund from the money still in the vault. If the raise itself missed its target, that is everything they put in except the platform fee. 180 days after a launched project fails, refunds close and anyone still holding the token can redeem it for a share of what is left.

What it means for investors

You still take the risk that a project fails or its token falls. What changes is how much a team can take before it delivers: only the milestones that token holders approved. Before you contribute, read the milestones, because they decide when the team gets paid, and check that each one is something you could verify yourself.

Writing milestones that work

Pick results anyone can check: a release, a live feature, a signed partner.
Avoid milestones like "marketing" or "growth", which nobody can verify.
Leave room in the dates. They can't be moved after launch.
Put the riskiest part early, while the amount at stake is still small.

Questions

Is milestone-based fundraising the same as a DAO treasury?

Not quite. The money is tied to a fixed list of milestones set at launch, and the only decision holders make is whether each milestone was delivered.

Can the team change the milestones later?

No. The milestones, their dates and the raise terms are final once the project launches.

Can a team vote on its own milestones?

Not with its team allocation: team and treasury tokens never vote. Tokens bought in the raise or on the market count the same whoever holds them. On Solana only the investors who took part in the raise vote, and on BNB Chain voting power uses the lower of two balances so tokens bought just before a vote don't count.