The Mag — Diaspora

Paying for your build from abroad: banking channels, BCT and escrow.

Your build money deserves better than suitcases and middlemen. Here is the safe route your funds take, from your bank abroad to the escrow account — and why, on PontBat, not one dinar leaves without proof.

General information article: foreign exchange rules evolve, and your bank remains your reference contact.

Escrow account — Villa YasmineDemo
Deposited180 000 TND
Released on verified milestones117 000 TND
Protected balance63 000 TND
The money's journey

From your account to your site: four steps, zero grey areas

Every dinar follows a traceable, documented path. At no point do your funds pass through anyone's pocket.

Step 1

The transfer from your bank

From your account abroad (EUR, USD, CAD…), you transfer the funds through official banking channels, in compliance with Tunisia's foreign exchange regulations (BCT). Traceable end to end: no cash, no middleman, no “arrangement”.

Step 2

KYC/AML before the first dinar

Identity verified and source of funds documented before any deposit: the KYC/AML check is blocking. Until it is complete, no money comes in — it protects you as much as it protects the platform.

Step 3

The deposit into ring-fenced escrow

Your funds land in a dedicated, ring-fenced escrow account, separate from the operating cash of every party — platform included. The company knows the money exists; nobody can touch it.

Step 4

Release on verified milestones — only

Money only leaves milestone by milestone, after the 4 locks: milestone reached, on-site check, your approval, invoices reconciled. Nothing else triggers a payment — never someone's word, never an emergency.

Traps to avoid

The mistakes that cost dearly

Four habits, still widespread, that turn a life project into a dispute with no evidence.

  • 1Cash and informal channels: untraceable, with no recourse, and outside foreign exchange regulations. The day something goes wrong, there is no proof of anything.
  • 2Massive advances outside the contract: a large sum paid “to get started”, and the balance of power flips — you no longer have any leverage over the rest of the build.
  • 3Entrusting the money to a relative: a cousin's or friend's goodwill replaces neither a ring-fenced account, nor contractual authority, nor proof of payment.
  • 4Paying without a reconciled invoice: a payment not reconciled with an invoice and a milestone, dinar by dinar, is a payment nobody will be able to justify later.
🔐

Zero upfront

Your money waits in escrow, visible but untouchable: the company knows it exists and works with peace of mind — you know it will only leave after verification.

💱

Multi-currency without nasty surprises

Build amounts are in dinars; equivalents in your currency are displayed for guidance only (indicative rate of 3,35 TND to the euro). The platform is never a counterparty to currency exchange.

Your protections

What protects your money, in black and white

Four combined mechanisms, designed so the worst-case scenario stays a scenario.

🏦

Ring-fenced escrow

A dedicated account, separate from every party's operating cash. On our demo build Villa Yasmine (450 000 TND, 8 milestones), 63 000 TND wait there, protected, for the next milestones to be verified.

🔒

The retention

5 to 10% of every payment stays in escrow until final acceptance: enough to fund the repair of defects if the company fails to fix them itself.

🛡️

The performance bank guarantee

The company commits its own bank to the proper completion of the works: if it abandons the site, the guarantee is called. Your security no longer rests on its word alone.

⛓️

The chained audit log

Every movement of money, every approval, every document is written into a chained audit log: nothing erasable, nothing silently editable. The proof exists — for you, and for a judge if needed.

Your money has a safe route. All that's left is to start.

Escrow, verified milestones, vetted professionals: the guarantees described in this article are built into the platform — not promised on paper.