How Backable protects you
5 min read · Updated Oct 2026
Backable is a place where anyone on the internet can raise money for a company, and anyone on the internet can back them. There is no application, no review committee, and, this part is important, nobody checks whether the teams are real, honest, or capable.
Three program rules govern the flow of committed funds: escrow during the raise, claimable refunds after a missed goal, and a monthly spending limit after funding.
Rule 1, Commitments remain in escrow
When you back a raise, your money doesn't go to the team. It goes into escrow, a program that holds it until the raise ends. The team and Backable cannot withdraw it during the window.
MetaDAO still retains the upgrade authority, because the protocol is subject to change.
Rule 2, If a raise misses its goal, you can take your money back
Every raise sets a goal. If it ends below that goal, your money is still yours: you come back to the raise page, press claim, and the escrow program releases it to your wallet in full.
The claim is a transaction you send yourself, so nothing lands in your wallet until you ask for it. That is the required step. The claim does not require approval from the team, Backable, or support. There is no deadline or expiry.
Rule 3, If a raise succeeds, the team gets a budget, not the money
When a raise succeeds, the money goes into the treasury, and the team can only draw a fixed monthly budget from it, an amount they published before the raise opened, enforced onchain.
Want to spend more than the budget? Issue new tokens? Sell the company's brand? Every one of those needs a proposal. Proposals are decided by decision markets, traders putting real money on whether the idea helps or hurts the company, not the team.
MetaDAO is structuring a committee for the rejection of proposals which do not follow the rules of the protocol.
One number that confuses everyone: committed vs raised
Popular raises get more commitments than their goal, sometimes wildly more. A raise with a $240K goal can attract millions in commitments. The company does not receive millions. Here is how that money resolves.
| What | Amount |
|---|---|
| Committed during the raise | $15,300,000 |
| Raised, received by the company | $240,000 |
| Claimable back by backers | $15,060,000 |
Committing more than the goal doesn't hand the company more money, it competes for a share of a fixed allocation, and the excess stays yours to claim. That's why Backable headlines the raised number once a raise closes. Full explainer.