StackStarter: Decentralized Crowdfunding on Stacks

StackStarter is a decentralized crowdfunding protocol powered by the Stacks L2 blockchain and secured by Bitcoin. It enables trustless campaign creation, transparent fund management, and community-driven governance.

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📌 Table of Contents

• Overview
• Features
• Architecture
• Smart Contracts
• Installation & Deployment
• Usage Examples
• Security
• Roadmap

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🚀 Overview

StackStarter empowers project creators to launch blockchain-based fundraising campaigns with automated escrow, contributor voting, and transparent settlement on Bitcoin via the Stacks protocol.

Key highlights:

• 🔒 Bitcoin-secured STX escrow
• 🛠️ Custom campaign configuration
• 🗳️ Contributor governance with weighted voting
• 🔁 Automatic refunds for failed campaigns
• 🧠 Fully programmable via Clarity

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🌟 Features

🧱 Core Functionality

• Campaign Lifecycle Management Create, fund, and finalize campaigns with custom parameters (goal, deadline, min. contribution).
• Secure Escrow & Payout STX funds are escrowed and automatically distributed upon success or refunded upon failure.
• Community Governance Optional voting system where contributors can approve or reject fund release proposals.
• Transparent State Tracking On-chain milestone status, voting results, and fund flow.

🧩 Advanced Capabilities

• Platform fee configuration (default: 2.5%)
• Emergency campaign pause (admin-only)
• Campaign cancellation (by creator)
• Contributor allowlist (max 500/campaign)
• Extendable voting periods

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🏗️ Architecture

graph TD
    A[Frontend DApp] -->|Interacts via SDK| B[StackStarter Smart Contract]
    B -->|Escrows & Records| C[Stacks Blockchain]
    C -->|Finality| D[Bitcoin Network]
    B --> E[Governance Module]
    B --> F[Fund Escrow & Refunds]

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Modules

• Campaign Manager: Initializes and tracks campaign status.
• Fund Escrow: Handles STX contributions, fee processing, payouts/refunds.
• Governance Engine: Manages voting logic with weighted contribution-based votes.
• Access Control: Role-based permissions for creators, contributors, and contract owner.

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🔐 Smart Contracts

Core Functions

Function	Description	Access
create-campaign	Start a new campaign	Public
contribute	Contribute STX to campaign	Public
claim-funds	Withdraw raised funds if goal met	Creator
request-refund	Get refund if campaign fails	Contributor
vote	Cast vote on fund disbursement	Contributor
cancel-campaign	Cancel active campaign	Creator/Admin
set-platform-fee-rate	Update fee rate (default: 2.5%)	Owner
emergency-pause-campaign	Halt campaign activity	Owner

Data Structures

(define-map campaigns
  uint
  {
    creator: principal,
    title: (string-ascii 64),
    goal: uint,
    raised: uint,
    deadline-height: uint,
    status: uint,  // 0: Active, 1: Success, 2: Failed
    voting-enabled: bool,
    votes-for: uint,
    votes-against: uint
  })

(define-map contributions
  { campaign-id: uint, contributor: principal }
  {
    amount: uint,
    refunded: bool,
    voting-power: uint
  })

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⚙️ Installation & Deployment

Prerequisites

• Clarinet
• Hiro Wallet
• Node.js v18+

🧪 Usage Examples

Create a Campaign

await callPublicFunction('create-campaign', {
  title: "Web3 Social Network",
  goal: 500_000,          // 500 STX
  duration: 4320,         // ~30 days (144 blocks/day)
  votingEnabled: true,
  minContribution: 100    // 0.1 STX
}, creatorAddress);

Contribute to Campaign

(contract-call? .stackstarter contribute 1 10000) ;; 0.1 STX to campaign ID 1

Withdraw Funds (if successful)

(contract-call? .stackstarter claim-funds 1)

Request Refund (if failed)

(contract-call? .stackstarter request-refund 1)

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🔐 Security

Considerations

• Input sanitization & validation
• Anti-replay & double-spend protections
• Role-based access control (creator/contributor/owner)
• Time-locks for campaign deadline enforcement

Example Checks

(asserts! (is-eq tx-sender (get creator campaign)))    ;; Only creator
(asserts! (>= (get raised campaign) (get goal campaign))) ;; Goal met
(asserts! (not (get refunded contribution)))           ;; Prevent double refunds

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🛣️ Roadmap

Coming Soon

• ✅ Milestone-based payouts
• 🎨 NFT rewards for contributors
• 🌉 Cross-chain support (e.g., BTC via sBTC)
• 📱 Mobile SDK & UI components
• 🧠 DAO governance extensions

Research Directions

• Privacy-preserving donations
• Insurance pools for failed campaigns
• Reputation & trust scoring
• DeFi integrations (escrow yield)