Terms of Service

Terms of Service

v-1, 28.08.2024

1. Scope

These terms of service (as amended from time to time the "Terms") apply to the access and use of the website at aquapatina.com (including all subdomains the "Website"), the front-end interface at app.aquapatina.com (the "App") as well as any services, content, documentation, tools, features and functionalities as may be provided by Avado AG (the "Company") from time to time in connection with the AP Protocol (collectively the "Services"). The Company may offer services and products other than those described in section 2, and your use of, and participation in, such other services and products may subject to additional terms ("Additional Terms"). Such Additional Terms, where applicable, will be presented to you before your use of or your participation in such other services or product.

These Terms govern your access to and use of the Services. Please read these Terms carefully, as they include important information and disclaimers. Each time you access or use the Services, you agree to the then-applicable version of these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms without limitation or exclusion, you may not access or use the Services.

THE AP PROTOCOL IS NOT LEGALLY OR FACTUALLY OPERATED OR CONTROLLED BY THE COMPANY, AND THESE TERMS DO NOT APPLY TO YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE AP PROTOCOL. PLEASE REFER TO THE AP PROTOCOL DISCLAIMER AT aquapatina.com/blog/disclaimer.

2. Services

The services of the Company are strictly limited to the following Services:

  • Website: The Website provides informational content and documentation regarding the functionalities of a set of decentralized and open-sourced smart contracts that facilitate the non-custodial restaking of natively staked Ether (ETH) for holders of ETH ("ETH Holders") and node operators ("Node Operators" or "Validators") on the one hand, and operators of actively validates services ("AVS(s)") on the other hand (these smart contracts collectively the "Aqua Patina Protocol" or the "AP Protocol", and the different users each a "Protocol User" and collectively the "Protocol Users").

    The AP Protocol is not part of the Services, and your use of the AP Protocol as a Protocol User is entirely at your own risk. Please refer to the bullet points below and the AP Protocol Software Disclaimer at aquapatina.com/blog/disclaimer.

    ‍    You understand and acknowledge that any content, including any references to the AP Protocol or accompanying documentation published on the Website is of a purely informational nature. None of the content of the Website is to be understood as any kind of professional or non-professional advice, including but not limited to financial, investment, legal, or tax advice by the Company or any third-party. The Company does not warrant the completeness, actuality, accuracy, and suitability for any specific purpose of the content of the Website. You are solely responsible for any actions you take based on such content.
  • App: The App is a proprietary off-chain user interface that displays data, designed to simplify Protocol Users the autonomous interaction with the AP Protocol and enable Protocol Users to visualize their digital assets by connecting with their Third Party Service (as defined below). The App is a piece of software distinctively different from the AP Protocol. The App merely allows Protocol Users to express their intended interaction with the AP Protocol as a transaction payload by drafting transaction messages, which the Protocol User may use independently with a Third Party Service. Protocol Users must then review and sign themselves with their private keys, inaccessible to the Company or the App, after which the transaction message is broadcast to the Ethereum settlement layer through the Third Party Service. As the AP Protocol is open and permissionless, the use of the App is entirely optional, and Protocol Users may interact with the AP Protocol in various other ways. The functioning of the AP Protocol does not in any way depend on the functioning of the App, and the App does not grant the Company or any third party access to any assets or tokens of the Protocol Users. There is no fee, payment or similar for using the App, and the Company does not intend to establish any sort of one-off or ongoing business relationship with Protocol Users based on the usage of the App.

    From time to time, there may be third parties offering additional user interfaces to the AP Protocol, which are not part of the Services. The Company will not conclude any due diligence on such third parties, and does neither control nor endorse any user interfaces offered by such third parties.
  • Eligibility and Participation:
    To engage in the AP Protocol as a Validator or AVS, individuals or entities must meet specific eligibility criteria. Validators can apply for a Key Share, which is allocated based on their position in the Node Operator Score queue. AVS participation is determined through a governance process where AP Points holders can propose and vote on candidates. Eligibility and selection are guided by initial indicators developed by the Company, ensuring an objective and fair process for participation. The Company has no further control of or involvement in eligibility of specific persons.
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  • Other Services: The Company may, from time to time, provide additional services that aim to facilitate the interaction with the AP Protocol in similar ways as the Website or the App. No such additional services are designed to exercise control over the AP Protocol or assets or tokens of the Protocol Users. If a license is required for the provision of any such services, the Company will obtain the relevant license prior to providing the service.

You acknowledge and understand that all the above Services are offered merely ancillary to facilitate the interaction with the AP Protocol. The AP Protocol's functioning does not depend on any of the Services, none of the Services grant the Company any control over the AP Protocol or the Protocol Users' assets, tokens, or interactions on the AP Protocol, none of the Services are remunerated, and none of the Services are intended to construe any sort of (permanent) business relationship between you or the Protocol User and the Company. In particular, the Company or the App are not agents or intermediaries of the Protocol Users and do not store, have access to, or control any tokens, private keys, passwords, or accounts. Your use of the AP Protocol is entirely at your own risk.

3. Third Party Services and Materials

The Services may rely on the functioning of third-party services and technologies, such as the Ethereum network, third-party digital wallets, and other external protocols (collectively, "Third Party Services"), as well as third party content, data, information, applications, materials, or may provide links to third-party websites (collectively, "Third Party Materials"). The Company does not control, endorse, recommend, or have any responsibility for the performance, availability, security, or content of Third Party Services and Third Party Materials, which may be essential for the proper functioning of the Services and which are distinctly different from the Services themselves. By using the Services, you acknowledge that the functionality, reliability, and compatibility of Third Party Services and Third Party Materials are beyond the Company's control, and the Company disclaims any liability for any issues, losses, disruptions, errors, or damages arising from their use, malfunction, or failure. Your access and use of such Third Party Services and Third Party Materials are governed solely by their respective terms and conditions, and you waive any claims against the Company related to these third party interactions. The Company makes no representations or warranties regarding the security, operation, accuracy, completeness, availability, or legality of Third Party Services or Third Party Materials. Any reliance on the privacy practices, data security processes, or other policies of such Third Party Services or Third Party Materials is at your own risk. Third Party Services and Third Party Materials are provided solely as a convenience to you, and the Company reserves the right to remove any of them from the Services for any reason, including but not limited to, any AVSs or Validators.

4. Prohibited Use and Excluded Jurisdictionssome text

4.1. Prohibited Use

You may access or use the Services only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms. You specifically agree to not use the Services:

  • In any way that violates, or could (assist in) violate (violating), any applicable domestic, foreign, or international law, statute, ordinance, or regulation, or any sanctions programs administered in any relevant country or in any way which would involve proceeds of any unlawful activity;
  • For the purpose of exploiting, harming, or attempting to exploit or harm minors in any way by e.g., exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable information, or otherwise.
  • To transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional material, including any "junk", "spam", or any other similar solicitation.
  • To impersonate or attempt to impersonate the Company, a specific individual contributor of the Company, another Protocol User, or any other person or entity.
  • To take any action that may be reasonably construed as fraud, deceit, or manipulation.
  • To damage the reputation of the Company or the AP Protocol.

Additionally, you agree not to:

  • Circumnavigate, by any means, any restriction the Company may have implemented to prohibit impermissible access to citizens and residents of, or participants physically located in, any Excluded Jurisdiction.
  • Be likely to deceive or defraud, or attempt to deceive or defraud, any person, including (without limitation) providing any false, inaccurate, or misleading information (whether directly through the Services or through an external means such as through any frontend) with the intent to unlawfully obtain the property of another or to provide knowingly or recklessly false information, including in any way that causes inaccuracy among the role of the Company, the content on the Website or the Services or on the functionalities of the AP Protocol.
  • Give the wrong impression that any services, offerings, or functionalities other than the Services as outlined in provision ‎2 are offered, provided, or otherwise endorsed by the Company.
  • Use the Services to manipulate or defraud any blockchain network, technology, or protocol, or the users thereof.
  • Promote any illegal activity, or advocate, promote, or assist any unlawful act.
  • Give the impression that they emanate from or are endorsed by the Company or any other person or entity if this is not the case.
  • Use the Website in any manner or with the use of any tool, device, or software that could disable, overburden, damage, impair, or interfere with any other person's use of the Website.
  • Introduce any viruses, trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful to the Services, the Protocol Users, any underlying blockchain, or any of the Service’s related utilities or functionalities.
  • Encourage or induce any third-party to engage in any of the activities prohibited under these Terms.
  • Otherwise interfere with or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website or the Services in any way.‍

4.2. Excluded Jurisdictions

Access to and use of the Services is strictly prohibited if you:

  1. Reside in, are located in, are a citizen of, are incorporated in, or have a registered office in the United States or any country subject to sanctions or trade embargos imposed by Switzerland, the United Nations, the European Union, U.S. authorities (including OFAC), or any other relevant authority.
  2. Are under the jurisdiction of a country identified by the FATF for strategic AML/CFT deficiencies.
  3. Reside in a jurisdiction where the Services are prohibited or restricted by law or regulation.

5. Liability and indemnity

5.1 Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, THE COMPANY IS NOT LIABLE TO ANY PROTOCOL USER FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE, IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF THE DIGITAL ASSETS OR TOKENS, ALLOCATION OR NON-ALLOCATION OF FEES, LOSS OF DATA, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR OTHER LOSSES SUSTAINED BY A PROTOCOL USER OR THIRD-PARTIES RELATED TO THE SERVICES AND/OR ANY ACTIVITY RELATED TO ANY DAPP OR A FAILURE OF THE SERVICES TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARE). The Company will not be held liable for the inaccuracy or incompleteness of the Services, or the incompatibility of the Services with any specific objectives that you are hoping to achieve.

The Company is not liable or responsible to you for any failure or delay in fulfilling or performing any obligation under these Terms or in providing the Services, when and to the extent such failure is caused by or results from any events beyond the Company's ability to control, including flood, fire, earthquake, epidemics, pandemics, tsunami, explosion, war, invasion, hostilities (whether war is declared or not), terrorist threats or acts, riot or other civil unrest, government order, law, or action, embargoes or blockades, strikes, labour stoppages or slowdowns, or other industrial disturbances, shortage of adequate or suitable Internet connectivity, telecommunication breakdown or shortage of adequate power or electricity, and other similar events beyond the Company's control.

5.2. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold the Company harmless from and against any loss, damage, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses, made by any third party due to or arising out of (i) any breach of these Terms or any law or regulation by you, your affiliates, your employees or any other persons acting your behalf; (ii) any breach of your representations and warranties set forth in these Terms, or (iii) your violation of the rights of a third party.

6. No representations and warranties by Company

You expressly understand and agree that you use the Services at your own risk. THE COMPANY MAKES NO AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICES. THE COMPANY SPECIFICALLY DOES NOT REPRESENT AND WARRANT AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF TITLE, NONINFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, USAGE, SECURITY, SUITABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR AS TO THE ABSENCE OF ANY DEFECTS IN THE SERVICES. THE COMPANY DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES AND ANY RELATED INFORMATION ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, CURRENT, OR ERROR-FREE. THE COMPANY FURTHER EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES REGARDING ANY THIRD-PARTY TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING ALL BLOCKCHAIN INFRASTRUCTURES AND DAPPS, WHICH MAY BE USED BY THE PROTOCOL USER IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE SERVICES.

The AP Protocol is a DeFi application, and any third-party can easily integrate the AP Protocol into its own protocol, application, services, or similar. Any reference to such integration as part of the Services is made for informational purposes only. The Company is not involved in, does not control, support, endorse, audit, or monitor such third party integration.

The Services are provided on an 'as is' and 'as available' basis and may from time to time be subject to improvements, modifications, or updates. Your continued access and use of the Services is subject to such improvements, modifications, or updates.

THE COMPANY FURTHERMORE DOES NOT REPRESENT AND WARRANT AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, THAT THE SERVICES WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE IN ANY JURISDICTION WHERE THEY ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AND DO NOT REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT THE COMPANY CAN GUARANTEE THE LEGALITY OF THE SERVICES IN ANY SPECIFIC JURISDICTION.

7. Representations and warranties by you

By using the Services you hereby expressly represent and warrant that

  • You have read and understood these Terms.
  • You are at least eighteen (18) years old or of the legal age to enter into an agreement as determined by the laws of the country or territory where you live. If you are legal entity, you must be duly organized and in good standing.
  • You are not subject to Excluded Jurisdictions.
  • You do not use, reproduce or remove any copyright, trademark, service mark, trade name, slogan, logo, image, or other proprietary notation displayed on or through the Services, unless applicable laws or regulations prohibit this restriction or you have the Company's written permission to do so.
  • You do not exploit the Services for any commercial purpose, including without limitation communicating or facilitating any commercial advertisement or solicitation.
  • You do not access or use the Services in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, disrupt or impair the Services or interfere with any other party's access to or use of the Services or use any device, software or routine that causes the same.
  • You do not submit, transmit, display, perform, post or store any content that is inaccurate, unlawful, defamatory, obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, pornographic, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, harassing, threatening, abusive, inflammatory, harmful, hateful, cruel or insensitive, deceptive, or otherwise objectionable.
  • You have sufficient knowledge and experience in business and financial matters, including a sufficient understanding of blockchain or cryptographic tokens and technologies and other digital assets, storage mechanisms, blockchain-based software systems, and blockchain technology, to be able to assess and evaluate the risks and benefits of the Services and will bear the risks thereof.
  • You do not violate any applicable law or regulation in connection with your access or use of the Services.
  • You do not access or use the Services in any way not expressly permitted by these Terms.

8. Intellectual Property

You understand and acknowledge that certain aspects or parts of the Services may be published under an open-source license or may use, incorporate, contain, or link to components under an open-source license. Your use of the Services is subject to, and you will comply with, any such applicable open-source licenses as indicated on the Services. You may not use the Services in a manner that violates any applicable open-source license.

Unless expressly indicated otherwise on the Services, each party retains all rights, titles, and interests to its own intellectual property, including all copyrights, inventions, trademarks, designs, domain names, know-how, trade secrets, data, and other intangible property rights ("Intellectual Property Rights"). Unless expressly indicated otherwise, all Intellectual Property Rights in the Services or any part of it remain vested in the Company.

By submitting any ideas, suggestions, documents, or proposals to the Company through any form of communication ("User Feedback"), you do so at your own risk, and the Company assumes no obligations regarding the User Feedback. You acknowledge and agree that your submission of User Feedback does not grant you any rights, titles, or interests in the Services or the User Feedback. All User Feedback becomes the exclusive property of the Company, and the Company may use and disclose it in any way and for any purpose without further notice or compensation to you, and without you retaining any proprietary or other rights or claims. You hereby transfer to the Company any and all rights, titles, and interests (including, but not limited to, any patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, know-how, show-how, moral rights, and any other intellectual property rights) that you may have in and to all User Feedback.

9. No fiduciary duties

These Terms and your use of the Services are not intended to create any fiduciary duties between the Company and you or any third party. The Company never takes possession, custody, control, ownership, or management of any assets, tokens or other property transmitted by you. To the fullest extent permissible under applicable law, you agree that neither your use of the Services causes the Company or any other person to owe fiduciary duties or liabilities to you or any third party. Further, you acknowledge and agree to the fullest extent such duties or liabilities are afforded by applicable law, those duties and liabilities are hereby irrevocably disclaimed, waived, and eliminated, and that the Company and any other third-party will be held completely harmless in relation thereof

10. Miscellaneous

Entire Agreement: These Terms and the Privacy Policy, incorporated by reference herein, constitute the entire agreement between the Company and you, and supersede all prior agreements, relating to the subject matter of these Terms.

Changes: The Company may modify these Terms from time to time in which case the date at the top of these Terms will be updated. If there are material changes, the Company may use reasonable efforts to try notifying you. However, it is your sole responsibility to review these Terms from time to time.

Privacy: The Company collects and processes personal data as described in its Privacy Policy available at aquapatina.com/blog/aqua-patina-privacy-policy. You authorize the Company to use, process, and store relevant data for the performance of these Terms and to use anonymized data to improve its services or for analysis purposes.

No Assignment: You may not assign any of your rights, obligations, or claims under these Terms without the previous explicit consent of the Company.

Severability: If any provision of these Terms (in whole or part) is held to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable, the other provisions will remain in full force and effect.

Governing Law & Jurisdiction: These Terms, and all claims or causes of action that may be based upon, arise out of, or relate to these Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws of Switzerland, excluding its conflict of law provisions and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The ordinary courts at the seat of the Company have jurisdiction for all disputes based upon, arising from, or in relation to the Terms.

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