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Terms of Service

Last updated: 2026-08-16

This English-language version is the authoritative and governing version of this document. Any translation is provided for convenience only; in the event of a conflict, the English version controls.

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) govern your access to and use of the cherum.io website, application programming interfaces, and related front-end interfaces (collectively, the “Interface”) that facilitate interaction with the Cherum protocol smart contracts (the “Protocol”). The Interface and the Protocol are operated, published, and maintained by the Cherum project and its contributors (“Cherum,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). Please read these Terms carefully.

1. Acceptance and eligibility

By accessing or using the Interface or the Protocol, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference. If you do not agree, you must not access or use the Interface or the Protocol. You represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years of age, have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement, and are not a Prohibited Person as defined below. If you use the Interface on behalf of an entity, you represent that you are authorized to bind that entity, and “you” refers to that entity.

2. Non-custodial nature of the Protocol

The Protocol consists of self-executing smart contracts deployed to public blockchains. Cherum does not take custody of, hold, control, or have access to your assets, private keys, or wallet at any time. All transactions are initiated, signed, and authorized solely by you through a wallet you control. Cherum does not act as a broker, dealer, exchange, money services business, money transmitter, financial institution, fiduciary, or counterparty to any transaction. We do not have the ability to reverse, cancel, freeze, or recover any transaction once it has been broadcast to a blockchain. This Section describes the exchange of assets and bulk sends: there, funds move directly between your wallet and smart contracts, and Cherum does not obtain control over them. Payments acceptance works differently — see Section 2.1, “Payments acceptance and custody of funds”.

2.1. Payments acceptance and custody of funds

When you use the payments acceptance service, we issue the payer an address that belongs to Cherum and is under our control. Funds received at such an address are under Cherum’s control from the moment they are credited until settlement with the payment recipient. During that period the payment recipient holds a claim against Cherum for the credited amount less the disclosed fees, but does not hold the funds themselves directly.

Received funds may be converted into the settlement asset under the rules in effect at the time of crediting. The rate, the fees and the final settlement amount are shown in the payment recipient’s dashboard.

We do not provide custody of assets as a standalone service: holding funds is technical and temporary in nature and serves solely the execution of the specific payment. We do not accrue yield on held funds and do not use them for our own operations.

Asset exchange and bulk sends are not affected by this Section: there, funds do not come under our control at any point.

2.2. Overpayments and the time limit for claiming them

If the amount received at a payment address exceeds the invoiced amount, the excess belongs to the payer — not to the payment recipient and not to Cherum. We record it against the invoice and show it on the invoice page, together with the date it was recorded and the date the claim period ends.

To claim an excess, open the invoice link and give an address for it to be sent to. Refunds are paid in USDC on the Base network, whatever asset was originally received. Before you confirm, we show the amount that will be sent and what has been deducted from it: the network fee for the outgoing transfer and our conversion fee. If those costs leave nothing, or leave less than the smallest amount we are able to send, there is no payment to make, and we say so rather than accept a claim we cannot fulfil.

The claim period is 90 days from the date the excess was recorded. What stops the clock is your claim, not our payment: once a claim has been submitted, the period no longer applies to it, even if the payment itself takes longer to complete. A claim you cancel yourself does not stop the clock — the original period continues to run from the date the excess was recorded.

An excess that has not been claimed within the claim period is retained by Cherum. We do not send reminders about unclaimed excess amounts, and a claim cannot be reopened once the period has ended.

This Section applies to the payments acceptance service only. Asset exchange and bulk sends are not affected: there, funds never come under our control.

3. No professional advice

No content made available through the Interface constitutes financial, investment, legal, accounting, or tax advice, a recommendation, or a solicitation to buy, sell, or hold any digital asset. You are solely responsible for evaluating the merits and risks of any transaction and, where appropriate, for obtaining independent professional advice. Cherum is not your advisor or fiduciary in any respect.

4. Assumption of risk

You understand and accept that the use of blockchain technology and digital assets involves significant risk and that you use the Interface and the Protocol entirely at your own risk. Such risks include, without limitation:

  • Software risk — smart contracts and software may contain bugs, vulnerabilities, or errors, despite testing and auditing, which may result in the partial or total loss of your assets.
  • Irreversibility — blockchain transactions are generally final and irreversible; an erroneous, fraudulent, or unintended transaction cannot be undone.
  • Third-party protocol risk — the Protocol routes through independent third-party bridges, decentralized exchanges, aggregators, oracles, and node providers whose performance, security, and availability are outside our control.
  • Market and execution risk — digital-asset prices are volatile; you may be exposed to price slippage, failed routes, partial fills, maximal-extractable-value (MEV) activity, front-running, and unfavourable execution.
  • Network risk — blockchain congestion, reorganizations, forks, downtime, or changes in gas costs may delay, fail, or increase the cost of transactions.
  • Regulatory risk — the legal and regulatory treatment of digital assets is uncertain and evolving; changes may adversely affect the Protocol, the Interface, or your assets.
  • Key and counterparty risk — loss or compromise of your wallet credentials, or the failure of any third party, may result in irreversible loss.
  • Counterparty risk in payments acceptance — between the moment a payment is credited and settlement with the recipient, the funds are under Cherum’s control, and the recipient bears the risk associated with our solvency and the integrity of our operational systems.

You represent that you have the technical knowledge necessary to understand these risks and that you assume them in full.

5. Third-party services and no endorsement

The Protocol aggregates and routes through independent third-party services and protocols. We do not control, endorse, or assume responsibility for any third-party service, and your use of any third-party service may be subject to that party’s own terms and policies. Any reference to a third party does not constitute an endorsement or warranty. Cherum is not liable for any act or omission of, or any loss arising from, any third party.

6. Wallet security and responsibility

You are solely responsible for the custody and security of your private keys, seed phrases, hardware wallets, signing devices, and credentials, and for all activity that occurs through your wallet. Cherum cannot recover lost credentials, reverse signed transactions, or restore access to a compromised wallet. You are responsible for verifying every transaction, recipient address, network, and signing request before approval.

7. Sanctions and prohibited persons

You represent and warrant that you are not, and are not acting on behalf of, a “Prohibited Person,” meaning any person who is: (a) the subject of any sanctions administered or enforced by the United States (including OFAC), the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, or any other applicable authority; (b) located in, organized under the laws of, or ordinarily resident in any country or territory that is itself the subject of comprehensive sanctions (including, without limitation, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions); or (c) otherwise prohibited from using the Interface or the Protocol under applicable law.

We may, in our sole discretion and without notice, screen wallet addresses against publicly available sanctions and risk lists and may restrict or decline to provide the Interface to any wallet or person. You are responsible for ensuring that your use complies with all laws applicable to you.

8. Prohibited uses

You agree not to use, and not to attempt to use, the Interface or the Protocol to: (a) violate any applicable law or regulation; (b) launder the proceeds of unlawful activity or finance terrorism; (c) evade sanctions; (d) commit fraud, theft, or deception; (e) engage in market manipulation; (f) infringe the intellectual-property or other rights of any person; (g) introduce malware or interfere with, disrupt, or compromise the integrity or security of the Interface, the Protocol, or any network; (h) circumvent any access control or restriction; or (i) use any robot, scraper, or automated means to access the Interface in a manner that imposes an unreasonable burden on our infrastructure.

9. Fees

Use of the Protocol may incur a protocol fee that is calculated and enforced on-chain by the smart contracts, in addition to network (gas) fees and any fees charged by third-party bridges, aggregators, or exchanges that are not controlled by Cherum. The applicable protocol fee is displayed to you before you authorize a transaction. By authorizing a transaction, you consent to the applicable fees.

10. Taxes

You are solely responsible for determining what, if any, taxes apply to your transactions and for reporting and remitting the correct tax to the appropriate authority. Cherum is not responsible for determining, collecting, reporting, withholding, or remitting any tax arising from your use of the Interface or the Protocol.

11. Intellectual property and licence

Except for open-source components made available under their respective licences, the Interface and its contents are owned by or licensed to Cherum and are protected by intellectual-property laws. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use the Interface for its intended purpose. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, reverse engineer (except to the extent permitted by law), or create derivative works of the Interface, or use our names, logos, or trademarks without our prior written consent.

12. Disclaimer of warranties

The Interface and the Protocol are provided “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE”, with all faults and without warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Cherum and its contributors and affiliates disclaim all warranties, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement, and any warranty that the Interface or the Protocol will be uninterrupted, secure, accurate, error-free, or free of harmful components. No advice or information obtained from us creates any warranty not expressly stated in these Terms.

13. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will Cherum or its contributors, affiliates, officers, or agents be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, savings, data, goodwill, or digital assets, or for the cost of substitute services, arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Interface, or the Protocol, whether based in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or any other theory, and whether or not we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the aggregate liability of Cherum and its contributors and affiliates for all claims arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Interface, or the Protocol will not exceed the greater of (a) the total protocol fees you paid to Cherum in the three (3) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars (US$100). Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Cherum and its contributors, affiliates, officers, and agents from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your access to or use of the Interface or the Protocol; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any applicable law or the rights of any third party; or (d) your tax obligations.

15. Release

Because Cherum is non-custodial and the Protocol interacts with third parties and other users, you release Cherum and its contributors and affiliates from any and all claims, demands, and damages of every kind arising out of or in any way connected with disputes between you and any third party, any third-party service, or any conduct of other users. If you are a resident of a jurisdiction that limits the applicability of a general release, you waive any statutory protection to the maximum extent permitted by law.

16. Dispute resolution; arbitration; waiver of class actions

Please read this Section carefully, as it affects your legal rights. We will try to resolve any dispute informally first; you agree to contact us at [email protected] and to negotiate in good faith for at least sixty (60) days before commencing any formal proceeding.

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Interface, or the Protocol that is not resolved informally shall be resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration on an individual basis, rather than in court, except that you may bring claims in a small-claims court if they qualify. You and Cherum waive any right to a trial by jury and to participate in a class, collective, or representative action. Arbitration shall be conducted by a recognized arbitral institution under its applicable rules. To the extent any dispute is permitted to proceed in court, the courts identified in the Governing Law section shall have exclusive jurisdiction.

17. Governing law

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them are governed by the laws applicable at Cherum’s place of organization, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles, and subject to the dispute-resolution provisions above. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may modify these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be posted on cherum.io and will become effective as stated in the notice. Your continued access to or use of the Interface or the Protocol after the effective date constitutes your acceptance of the modified Terms.

19. Force majeure

Cherum is not liable for any delay or failure to perform resulting from causes beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, war, terrorism, civil unrest, governmental or regulatory action, labour disputes, internet or utility failures, blockchain network failures or congestion, or third-party service outages.

20. Miscellaneous

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Cherum regarding the Interface and the Protocol and supersede all prior agreements. If any provision is held unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary or severed, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver. You may not assign or transfer these Terms without our prior written consent; we may assign them freely. These Terms create no third-party beneficiary rights. You consent to receive communications from us electronically. The provisions that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 3, 4, and 12 through 17) survive.

21. Contact

For questions about these Terms: [email protected]. To report a security issue, see .well-known/security.txt.