Legal

Platform terms and conditions

These terms govern your use of trustcbrc.com — the register, submissions, scores and certificates. The campaign terms are a separate document covering the CBRC 2.0 Founding Contributor Campaign.

1. Introduction and acceptance

1.1 These Terms and Conditions (the "Terms") govern your access to and use of the website at https://www.trustcbrc.com and all associated pages, content, registers, tools, submission forms, certificates, verification services, publications, newsletters and training materials made available through it (together, the "Services").
1.2 The Services are operated by TrustCBRC OÜ, a private limited company incorporated in Estonia, registry code 16243035, with its registered office at Sepapaja 6, Tallinn 15551, Estonia ("CBRC", "we", "us", "our"). "Commercializing Blockchain Research Centre" and "CBRC" are trading names used by TrustCBRC OÜ.
1.3 By accessing or using the Services, submitting a Use Case Project, subscribing to our communications, or otherwise interacting with the Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the Services.
1.4 If you use the Services on behalf of an organisation, you represent that you have authority to bind that organisation, and "you" means both you and that organisation.
1.5 Our Privacy Policy and our Cookie Notice form part of these Terms and describe how we handle personal data. Where these Terms conflict with the Privacy Policy in respect of personal data, the Privacy Policy prevails.

2. Definitions

"Certificate" means a document or record issued by CBRC recording that a CBRC Score was assigned to a Use Case Project at a given time, together with a reference enabling verification.
"CBRC Score" or "Score" means the numerical assessment (out of 100) and any accompanying commentary assigned by CBRC to a Use Case Project.
"Ledger" means the XRP Ledger or any other distributed ledger or blockchain network to which CBRC writes records.
"Ledger Record" means any data written by or on behalf of CBRC to a Ledger.
"Register" means the CBRC Use Case Register published as part of the Services.
"Submission" means any Use Case Project information, description, document, link, image, data or other material you submit to us through the Services or otherwise for consideration for inclusion in the Register.
"Use Case Project" or "Project" means a real-world application of distributed ledger technology described in the Register.
"User" or "you" means any person accessing or using the Services.

3. Changes to these Terms and to the Services

3.1 We may amend these Terms at any time. The amended version takes effect when published on the Services with an updated "Last updated" date, unless we state otherwise.
3.2 Where a change is material and adversely affects you, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to your attention — for example, by notice on the Services or by email where we hold your address. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
3.3 We may add, modify, suspend or discontinue any part of the Services, including the Register, the scoring methodology, Certificates and verification tools, at any time and without liability, save that we will not retrospectively alter the substance of a Score already published without following the process in clause 8.
3.4 Note on permanence. Discontinuing a Service does not and cannot remove Ledger Records already written. See clause 9.

4. Eligibility and permitted use

4.1 You must be at least 18 years old to use the Services.
4.2 The Services are provided for informational, research and educational purposes. You may access, view and share Register content for your own internal research, editorial or educational use, provided you attribute CBRC and do not misrepresent the content.
4.3 You must not use the Services:
(a) in any way that breaches applicable law or regulation;
(b) to submit, transmit or publish material that is unlawful, defamatory, deceptive, fraudulent, infringing, harassing, or that discloses another person's personal data without a lawful basis;
(c) to misrepresent your identity, your authority to act for a Project, or your affiliation with any organisation;
(d) to introduce malware, attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Services or supporting infrastructure, or interfere with their operation;
(e) to promote, solicit investment in, or lend credibility to any financial product, token offering, or investment scheme;
(f) to imply endorsement, accreditation, certification or partnership by CBRC beyond what a Score or Certificate actually states.
4.4 Automated access, scraping and machine learning. Except with our prior written consent, you must not use crawlers, scrapers, or automated means to extract the Register or any substantial part of it, nor use the Services or their content for text and data mining or for training, fine-tuning or evaluating machine learning or generative artificial intelligence systems. We expressly reserve the rights afforded by Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790 and equivalent provisions in other jurisdictions. This reservation is machine-readable where technically supported.

5. Submitting a Use Case Project

5.1 How submission works. You may submit a Use Case Project through the submission form. Submission does not create any obligation on us to review, accept, publish or score the Project.
5.2 Information required. You will be asked to provide, among other things, project name, purpose, summary, overview, technical details, business case, links, project owner and contact email. You must ensure this information is accurate, complete and not misleading.
5.3 Your warranties. By making a Submission you represent and warrant that:
(a) all information in it is true, accurate and not misleading, and you will notify us promptly if it ceases to be so;
(b) you own or have all necessary rights, licences and permissions to submit it and to grant the licence in clause 5.5;
(c) the Submission does not infringe any third party's intellectual property, confidentiality, privacy or other rights;
(d) you are authorised by the Project owner to make the Submission and to have the Project published in the Register;
(e) any personal data contained in the Submission has been lawfully collected and may lawfully be disclosed to us and published as contemplated by these Terms, and you have provided any required notice to the individuals concerned;
(f) the Submission contains no confidential or trade secret information (see clause 5.6), no export-controlled technical data, and nothing that would breach a contractual restriction;
(g) neither you nor the Project is subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States or the United Nations.
5.4 No confidentiality in Submissions. Submissions are made for the purpose of publication. You must not include confidential information, trade secrets, unpublished security-sensitive technical detail, or anything you would not wish to see published. We accept Submissions on a non-confidential basis and are under no obligation of confidence in respect of them. If you need to share confidential material with us, contact us first to agree separate written terms.
5.5 Licence you grant to us. You grant CBRC a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable, transferable and — to the extent set out below — irrevocable licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt (including for length, format and clarity), translate, publish, display, distribute and communicate your Submission and any Project information derived from it:
(a) as part of the Register and the Services;
(b) in our research outputs, publications, presentations, marketing and social media;
(c) in recorded interviews and derived media, where you participate in one;
(d) as, or as the basis for, a Ledger Record and Certificate.
The licence is revocable in respect of future publication on the Services under clause 8.4, but is irrevocable in respect of Ledger Records already written and material already distributed to third parties, for the reasons set out in clause 9.
5.6 Third-party review. Submissions may be shared with our researchers and with academic and institutional partners for review and verification. We take reasonable steps to bind such partners to appropriate obligations, but you acknowledge that review involves disclosure outside CBRC.
5.7 No fee, no entitlement. Unless we agree otherwise in writing, we do not charge for submission and acceptance is entirely at our discretion. We may reject a Submission without giving reasons.

6. The CBRC Score

6.1 What a Score is. A CBRC Score is an editorial and research opinion formed by CBRC's researchers, applying a methodology determined by CBRC, on the basis of information available to us at a point in time — principally information supplied by the Project's proponents and material in the public domain.
6.2 What a Score is not. A Score is not:
(a) an accreditation, certification, licence, kitemark or regulatory approval;
(b) a technical, security or code audit;
(c) a financial, credit or solvency assessment;
(d) an assurance that the Project exists, operates as described, is lawful, is commercially viable, or will continue;
(e) investment advice, a recommendation, or an invitation or inducement to engage in any investment activity;
(f) an endorsement of any organisation, token, security, product or service associated with the Project.
6.3 Limits of verification. Where we describe a Project as "verified", this means only that our researchers have carried out a review process to our own standards. We do not independently audit code, inspect systems, conduct site visits, or verify financial or legal claims unless we expressly state otherwise. We rely substantially on information provided to us.
6.4 Methodology. The scoring methodology, its weightings and its application are our intellectual property and may change. We are not obliged to disclose the methodology in full, nor to rescore historical entries when the methodology changes.
6.5 Reliance. You must not rely on a Score, a Certificate, or the presence of a Project in the Register when making any investment, procurement, commercial, legal or technical decision. Conduct your own due diligence and take independent professional advice.
6.6 Use of Scores by Project owners. If your Project receives a Score, you may state factually that it has been assigned a CBRC Score, quoting the Score accurately and with its date. You must not: present the Score as certification, accreditation or endorsement; use it in connection with the offer or promotion of any token, security or investment; alter or selectively quote it; or use CBRC branding beyond a plain textual reference without our written consent. We may withdraw this permission for misuse.

7. Entries about Projects you did not submit

7.1 Our researchers add Use Case Projects to the Register on their own initiative, drawing on publicly available information. A Register entry does not imply that the Project owner submitted it, participated in it, or agreed to it.
7.2 If you are the owner of, or are otherwise responsible for, a Project that appears in the Register and you believe the entry is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or otherwise objectionable, you may contact us under clause 8 and we will consider it under the process set out there.
7.3 Nothing in clause 7.1 limits any statutory right you may have, including under data protection law.

8. Correction, right of reply and removal

8.1 How to raise a concern. Send a notice to antony@trustcbrc.com identifying the Register entry, specifying what you say is wrong or objectionable, explaining why, providing supporting evidence, and giving your contact details and your relationship to the Project.
8.2 What we will do. We will acknowledge your notice, review it in good faith, and respond within a reasonable period (ordinarily 30 days, and in any event within the periods required by applicable law). We may: correct the entry; annotate it; publish a statement of your position alongside it; rescore the Project; remove it from the published Register; or decline to act, giving reasons.
8.3 Right of reply. Where we decline to correct or remove an entry that concerns your Project, we will ordinarily offer to publish a concise statement of your position alongside the entry, subject to it being lawful, non-defamatory and proportionate in length.
8.4 Removal. A Project owner may request removal of their Project from the published Register. We will comply with reasonable requests, save where we have a legitimate interest or legal obligation in continued publication (for example, where the entry is the subject of a live dispute or regulatory enquiry). Removal from the published Register does not and cannot remove any Ledger Record. See clause 9.
8.5 Our discretion. We may edit, annotate, suspend, downgrade, rescore or remove any Register entry at any time, including where we consider information to be inaccurate, where a Project has ceased, or where continued publication would be misleading.

9. Blockchain records, Certificates and CBRC Verify

This clause is important. Please read it carefully.
9.1 What we write to the Ledger. Where a Project is accepted and scored, we write a record to the XRP Ledger to enable independent verification. Ledger Records are limited to what is necessary for that purpose — typically a cryptographic hash of the scored record, a Project reference, the Score and a timestamp. We do not intend to write personal data, contact details or free-text Project descriptions to any Ledger.
9.2 Permanence and irreversibility. You acknowledge and accept that:
(a) records written to a public distributed ledger are, by design, permanent, public, worldwide and cannot be deleted, edited or recalled by us or by anyone else;
(b) once a Ledger Record is written, no request, instruction, contractual right, court order or statutory right of erasure can cause us to remove it, because removal is technically impossible;
(c) the most we can do is publish a subsequent record or annotation superseding, correcting or withdrawing an earlier one, and update the published Register accordingly — the original record will remain visible on the Ledger;
(d) Ledger Records may be copied, indexed, mirrored and republished by third parties over whom we have no control.
9.3 Consent and legal basis. By submitting a Project for scoring you specifically acknowledge and accept the consequences described in clause 9.2, and you confirm you have obtained any consents necessary from any individual whose information could be affected. Where you cannot accept clause 9.2, do not submit a Project for scoring; you may still ask to be listed in the Register without a Ledger Record, and we will accommodate that where practicable.
9.4 What a Certificate attests. A Certificate evidences only that CBRC assigned the stated Score to the identified Project on the stated date, and that a corresponding record was written to the Ledger. It attests nothing about the Project's merits, legality, security, viability or continued existence, and it is subject to clause 6.2 in full.
9.5 Certificates are not instruments of value. A Certificate and any associated Ledger Record: confer no ownership, economic, governance or redemption right; are not a token, security, financial instrument, e-money, crypto-asset offered to the public, or claim against CBRC or any third party; and are not transferable or tradeable. Any attempt to sell, transfer or represent them as having monetary value is a material breach of these Terms.
9.6 CBRC Verify. The Verify tool is provided as a convenience to check the existence and integrity of a Ledger Record. It is provided "as is". A positive verification result confirms only that a matching record exists on the Ledger; it does not revalidate the underlying assessment or confirm that the Score remains current. Always check the published Register for the current position.
9.7 No control over the Ledger. The XRP Ledger is a public network operated independently of CBRC. We do not control it and are not responsible for its availability, performance, security, fees, governance decisions, forks, or discontinuation, or for any third-party explorer, wallet or interface. We may cease using any particular Ledger, or move to another, at any time.
9.8 No affiliation. CBRC is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of Ripple Labs Inc., the XRP Ledger Foundation, or any other network operator, foundation or protocol contributor. References to the XRP Ledger describe the technology used and imply no relationship.

10. No professional or investment advice

10.1 All content on the Services — including the Register, Scores, Certificates, blog posts, research, myth-busting content, book extracts, interviews and training material — is provided for general information and education only.
10.2 Nothing on the Services constitutes or should be construed as investment, financial, trading, tax, accounting, legal, regulatory or technical advice, or a personal recommendation. We are not authorised or regulated as an investment firm, credit institution, crypto-asset service provider or financial adviser in any jurisdiction.
10.3 Nothing on the Services is an offer, solicitation or invitation to buy, sell or subscribe for any crypto-asset, token, security or other financial instrument, nor an advertisement or marketing communication in respect of any such asset.
10.4 Crypto-assets and distributed ledger projects carry substantial risk, including total loss of capital. Any decision you take in relation to them is yours alone.

11. Fees, paid services and consumer rights

11.1 Access to the Register and general website content is free of charge. Certain services — such as training, advisory work, events, sponsorship, publications or expedited or extended assessment — may be offered for a fee. Any such service is subject to these Terms together with the specific written terms, scope and pricing agreed for it, which prevail in the event of conflict.
11.2 Fees are stated exclusive of VAT and other applicable taxes unless expressly stated otherwise. Estonian VAT rules apply; where you are a business customer outside Estonia, the reverse charge may apply and you must supply a valid VAT identification number.
11.3 Consumers — right of withdrawal. If you are a consumer resident in the European Union, you have 14 days from conclusion of a contract for services or digital content to withdraw without giving reasons. Where you have asked us to begin performance during the withdrawal period, you must pay a proportionate amount for what has been supplied. Where digital content is supplied immediately and you have expressly consented and acknowledged that you thereby lose your right of withdrawal, that right is lost. Nothing in these Terms limits your mandatory statutory rights.
11.4 Editorial independence. Payment of any fee does not influence, guarantee or accelerate a CBRC Score, acceptance into the Register, or the content of any assessment. We do not sell Scores, favourable assessments or Register entries. Where a Project or organisation has a commercial relationship with us, we will disclose that fact alongside the relevant entry.

12. Intellectual property

12.1 The Services and all content in them — including the Register as a compilation, the scoring methodology, Scores, Certificate designs, text, graphics, logos, the CBRC name and marks, software, and the structure and arrangement of the site — are owned by TrustCBRC OÜ or its licensors and are protected by copyright, database rights, trade mark and other laws.
12.2 We grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to access and use the Services for the purposes described in clause 4.2. All other rights are reserved. In particular, you may not extract or re-utilise the whole or a substantial part of the Register's contents, whether by repeated systematic extraction or otherwise.
12.3 You retain ownership of your Submissions, subject to the licence in clause 5.5.
12.4 Feedback, suggestions and ideas you send us about the Services may be used by us freely and without obligation or compensation.
12.5 If you believe content on the Services infringes your intellectual property, notify us under clause 13 with details of the right, the allegedly infringing material, and a statement of your good-faith belief and authority.

13. Notice and action; illegal content

13.1 We operate a hosting service in respect of user Submissions. If you consider that any content on the Services is illegal, you may notify us at antony@trustcbrc.com with: a sufficiently substantiated explanation of why you consider it illegal; the exact electronic location of the content; your name and email address (except where the content concerns certain offences against the person); and a statement that you believe the information in your notice to be accurate and complete.
13.2 We will confirm receipt without undue delay, process notices in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner, and inform you of our decision and the reasons for it, together with information on available redress.
13.3 Where we remove, disable, demote or restrict content, or suspend a User, we will give the affected person a statement of reasons where required, and they may contest the decision by replying to that statement. This does not affect any right to complain to a court or to a competent authority.

14. Availability, suspension and termination

14.1 We do not guarantee that the Services will be available uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free. We may suspend, withdraw or restrict all or part of the Services for maintenance, security or business reasons.
14.2 We may suspend or terminate your access to the Services, and remove your content from the published Register, immediately and without notice if you breach these Terms, if we reasonably suspect unlawful or fraudulent use, or if required by law.
14.3 Clauses 5.5 (as limited), 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17 and 20 survive termination.

15. Disclaimers

15.1 To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Services and all content are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied or statutory, including implied warranties of accuracy, completeness, currency, merchantability, satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.
15.2 We do not warrant that the Register is complete or exhaustive, that any Project described in it exists or operates as described, that any Score is correct, or that any information remains current after publication.
15.3 The Services contain links to and information about third-party websites, projects, organisations, institutions and technologies. These are provided for convenience. We do not control, endorse or accept responsibility for them or their content. References to universities, research partners, contributors or institutions do not imply that they endorse the Register, any Score, or these Terms.
15.4 Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

16. Limitation of liability

16.1 Business users. Subject to clause 15.4, if you use the Services in the course of a business, trade, craft or profession:
(a) we will not be liable to you for loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of anticipated savings, loss of goodwill or reputation, loss or corruption of data, business interruption, or any indirect or consequential loss, however arising;
(b) we will not be liable for any loss arising from your reliance, or any third party's reliance, on a Score, Certificate, Register entry or verification result;
(c) we will not be liable for any loss arising from the operation, unavailability, security or governance of any Ledger, or from the permanence of any Ledger Record;
(d) our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with the Services and these Terms, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, is limited to the greater of (i) the total fees you paid us in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim and (ii) EUR 500.
16.2 Consumers. If you are a consumer, we are liable for foreseeable loss and damage caused by our breach of these Terms or our negligence, but not for loss that is unforeseeable, nor for loss arising from your use of the Services for any commercial purpose. Your statutory rights are unaffected.

17. Indemnity

If you use the Services in the course of a business, you will indemnify and hold harmless TrustCBRC OÜ, its officers, employees, researchers and partners against all claims, liabilities, damages, losses and reasonable costs (including legal fees) arising out of or in connection with: (a) your Submissions, including any claim that they infringe third-party rights or contain unlawful or defamatory material; (b) your breach of clause 5.3; (c) your misuse of a Score, Certificate or CBRC branding; or (d) your breach of these Terms or of applicable law.

18. Data protection

18.1 We process personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable data protection law, including the GDPR.
18.2 Where you submit personal data relating to other individuals (for example, project contacts), you act as an independent controller in respect of that data and are responsible for having a lawful basis and for providing any required notices.
18.3 Erasure and the Ledger. Statutory rights, including the right to erasure, apply to personal data we hold in our own systems and to material published on the Services. They cannot be given effect in respect of Ledger Records, which cannot technically be altered or deleted by anyone. We therefore design our processes to keep personal data off the Ledger. See clause 9.

19. Force majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including network or protocol failures, changes to or discontinuation of any Ledger, outages of hosting or connectivity providers, cyber-attack, acts of government, sanctions, industrial action, natural disaster or armed conflict.

20. Governing law and disputes

20.1 These Terms and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them or the Services are governed by the laws of the Republic of Estonia, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
20.2 The courts of Estonia, and specifically Harju County Court, have exclusive jurisdiction, save as set out in clause 20.3.
20.3 Consumers. If you are a consumer habitually resident in the European Union, you retain the protection of the mandatory provisions of the law of your country of residence, and you may bring proceedings in the courts of that country. You may also refer a dispute to the Consumer Disputes Committee operating under the Estonian Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority, or to an alternative dispute resolution body in your own country. Referral to such a body is voluntary and does not affect your right to go to court.
20.4 Before commencing proceedings, we encourage you to contact us at antony@trustcbrc.com so we can try to resolve the matter informally.

21. General

21.1 Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Cookie Notice and any specific written terms for paid services, constitute the entire agreement between you and us in relation to the Services and supersede any prior understanding. Nothing in this clause limits liability for fraud.
21.2 Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights under these Terms without our written consent. We may assign or transfer ours, including in connection with a merger, reorganisation or sale of assets.
21.3 Severability. If any provision is held invalid or unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary or severed, and the remaining provisions continue in full force.
21.4 No waiver. Failure or delay in enforcing any provision is not a waiver of it.
21.5 No partnership. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency or employment relationship.
21.6 Third parties. A person who is not a party to these Terms has no right to enforce them.
21.7 Language. These Terms are drafted in English. Any translation is provided for convenience; the English version prevails to the extent permitted by law.
21.8 Notices. Notices to us should be sent to antony@trustcbrc.com or to TrustCBRC OÜ, Sepapaja 6, Tallinn 15551, Estonia. Notices to you may be sent to the email address you have provided or posted on the Services.

22. Contact

TrustCBRC OÜ
Sepapaja 6
Tallinn 15551
Estonia
Registry code: 16243035
Email: antony@trustcbrc.com