Terms of Service

Sovereign Protocol (“Sovereign”, “we”, “us”), operated from Switzerland, is a settlement protocol for bilateral over-the-counter (OTC) and shipping-linked trades on the Bitcoin/Liquid Network. Sovereign helps two counterparties lock funds into an on-chain smart contract and settle it when agreed conditions are met. Sovereign is not a bank, broker, exchange, or investment adviser, and does not hold your private spending keys.

You must be at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract to use Sovereign. You are responsible for ensuring that your use of the service is lawful in your jurisdiction. If it is not, do not use Sovereign.

You sign in with a magic link sent to your email or with “Sign in with Google.” You agree to:

• provide an accurate email address and keep access to it secure;
• maintain one account per person and not share your sign-in access or let others use your account;
• be responsible for all activity under your account. Because sign-in relies on your email or Google account, anyone with access to those can access Sovereign — protect them.

You bring your own Liquid wallet. To use the protocol you connect a watch-only wallet descriptor, which lets Sovereign derive your receiving addresses. Sovereign does not hold your private spending keys. Funds are locked in on-chain smart contracts on the Liquid Network; Sovereign’s agent participates in settlement per pre-agreed contract terms, but cannot unilaterally move funds outside those terms.

You are responsible for the descriptors and addresses you provide. If you supply an incorrect address, we cannot recover funds sent to it. On-chain transactions are irreversible.

Sovereign facilitates bilateralOTC and shipping-linked deals between two counterparties. When conditions are met — a counterparty delivery, an on-chain timeout, or an attested real-world event such as a vessel’s arrival — the underlying smart contract settles on-chain, and that settlement is final.

• Sovereign is not a party to your deal and does not guarantee that any counterparty will perform, fund, or behave honestly.
• Settlement is executed by smart contracts and an automated agent/oracle. Once a contract settles on-chain, the result cannot be reversed by us.
• You are responsible for evaluating your counterparty and the terms of each deal before committing funds.

Sovereign can run against a testnet or mainnet. Testnet is for testing only: it uses valueless test coins and involves no real financial commitment. Mainnet involves real assets (such as L-BTC and USDT on the Liquid Network) with real value. Confirm which network you are using before you fund anything. Mainnet activity is at your own risk.

You agree not to:

• use Sovereign for any illegal activity, money laundering, or fraud;
• use Sovereign in violation of applicable sanctions, export controls, or if you are a sanctioned person or in a sanctioned jurisdiction;
• attempt to exploit, probe, or disrupt the protocol, its smart contracts, or its infrastructure, or gain unauthorized access to any account or system;
• send automated, scripted, or abusive volumes of requests to ATLAS or any Sovereign endpoint;
• infringe others’ rights or impersonate anyone.

The Sovereign interface, code, branding, and content are owned by us or our licensors and are protected by intellectual-property laws. You may not copy, modify, or redistribute them except as permitted by their licenses. Content you provide (such as deal data and wallet descriptors) remains yours; you grant us the limited rights needed to operate the service for you.

Sovereign is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, that settlement will always occur as expected, or that third-party data (such as vessel tracking, block explorers, or price feeds) will be accurate or timely. You use the protocol at your own risk.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Sovereign and its operators will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages, or for any loss of funds, profits, or data. In particular, we are not liable for a counterparty’s non-performance, for on-chain transactions, or for the accuracy of third-party data. Our total liability for any claim relating to the service is limited to the greater of USD 100 or the amount you paid Sovereign in the prior 12 months.

These terms are governed by the laws of Switzerland, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute will be subject to the courts of that jurisdiction, unless applicable law requires otherwise.

We may update these terms as the protocol evolves. When we do, we will revise the “last updated” date above and, for material changes, take reasonable steps to notify you. Continuing to use Sovereign after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Questions about these terms: [email protected].