What is kotae-monad?

KOTAE is an online marketplace built on the Monad Testnet blockchain where someone who needs a piece of finished work, such as a poster, landing page, short video, or small tool, pays for the actual result rather than paying up front and hoping for the best. The idea is to fix a common problem: when hiring for small creative or AI-assisted tasks, the buyer usually either pays one person before seeing anything, or has to sift through a pile of speculative attempts. KOTAE tries to shift that risk. A requester locks a budget in a digital currency called AUSD before any work starts. Creators then submit finished files along with a deposit called a bond. An automated checker verifies basic facts about each submission, such as file type, size limit, and whether it is a duplicate, and records this information on the blockchain. This checker cannot judge the creative quality of the work or pick a winner. Only the requester makes that final call, and the smart contract then pays everyone out automatically according to fixed rules: 85 percent to the winner, 5 percent split among other eligible creators, and 10 percent to the platform. If a requester cancels before anyone submits work, they get a full refund. The project includes a working demo app, and the underlying code shows real wallet sign-in, real locked funds on the test network, and a live database, with an honest empty state when there is no data rather than fake placeholder listings. To run it locally, you need Node.js version 22 or newer, then install dependencies and start the development server, which by default runs entirely offline without sending any real transactions. The project also includes automated tests covering payout logic, refunds, and timeout handling. This repository was built during a hackathon called Spark, running from July 13 to July 19, 2026, and includes documentation for the submission, demo video, and related social posts.