Grant Carpenter
Grant is an internet lawyer located in Los Angeles, California.
Does duup sound like something brand new?
That's because it is.
Avoid Headaches
With your duup rainy day fund, you will already have money set aside for those rage-inducing expenses that can pop up sometimes. Think parking tickets.
Donate to Charity
Any money from your duup rainy day fund you don't use by December 31 of that year is automatically donated to charity.
Decentralized
Your duup rainy day fund is actually a smart contract on the Ethereum network. Only you and your charity will ever touch your money.
About duup
Is duup out yet?
duup is in progress but not ready yet. Check back here for updates.
How does it work?
duup is simple. You send Ether into duup’s smart contract through our website and your MetaMask wallet. The smart contract will automatically send your Ether to the charity of your choice at the end of the year unless you choose to withdraw some or all of it back to your MetaMask wallet before then. You can use this as a “rainy-day” fund to put towards annoying expenses that can pop up — like parking tickets — so you won’t be so bothered when these types of expenses pop up.
So, if you end up getting that parking ticket, you can withdraw your Ether from the smart contract at any time before the end of the year to pay for it. Since that money had already been allocated to go to charity that year, you won’t be so bothered by paying the parking ticket — or whatever other annoying expense that pops up.
Any of your Ether left in the smart contract at the end of the year is automatically donated to charity.
Is duup a bank? Does it accept or hold money in deposit?
duup is definitely not a bank or a depository institution and it will never have possession or control of any of the Ether in the smart contract. The duup backend is a decentralized Ethereum smart contract that only you can interact with using the Ethereum address you sent the Ether from.
All duup does is put the smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain and facilitate your interaction with it through your MetaMask wallet. All you can do it add Ether to it, withdraw Ether from it or just wait until the end of the year and let it get sent to the charity assigned to that smart contract.
How will duup make money?
The goal of duup is not to make money — just to do something interesting and socially beneficial that’s never been done before. But there will be a small service fee involved to cover some of duup’s expenses when you transfer Ether in or out of the smart contract.
Can I just send duup normal money instead of Ether?
When duup initially launches, your only option will be to send Ether and withdraw Ether.
How did you think of duup?
Back in 2012 I was trying to think of socially beneficial business ideas and had the idea of creating a more complicated service similar to duup, but using fiat currency. But there were were too many laws and regulations in the way. Was it a bank? A non-bank depository institution? An insurance company? I didn’t want to commit to the project when I felt the government could sue me or shut it down at any moment, so I shelved the idea.
In early 2017 I got involved with Ethereum, but was very underwhelmed by the use-cases for Ethereum decentralized applications and smart contracts out there. So, I tried to think up some of my own ideas. It was quickly obvious that Ethereum was the perfect way to implement my old idea from 2012 without all the regulatory headaches.
Who's behind duup?
