Terms of Use
1. Terms of Use
1.1 Introduction
Welcome to Fairside Network ("Fairside," "we," "our," or "us"). These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of Fairside’s decentralized cost-sharing protocol, related services, and technologies (collectively, the "Services"). By accessing or using our Services, you agree to comply with and be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must discontinue using the Services immediately.
1.2 Eligibility
To access or use our Services, you must:
1. Be at least 18 years of age or the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction.
2. Have the legal authority to agree to these Terms.
3. Not be a resident of, or physically located in, any jurisdiction where use of the Services is prohibited by law.
4. Use the Services only in compliance with applicable laws, including those relating to blockchain technology.
By using our Services, you represent and warrant that you meet all eligibility requirements.
2. Fairside Membership
2.1 Membership Access and Fees
Membership in Fairside’s decentralized cost-sharing network is contingent upon the payment of membership fees. These fees grant access to community-based cost sharing and coverage for specified cryptocurrency-related events.
Membership fees and structures are subject to periodic review and adjustment. Notifications of changes will be provided in advance.
2.2 Member Responsibilities
Members are required to maintain accurate and up-to-date contact and wallet information.
Members are solely responsible for securing their private keys and wallet credentials. Fairside maintaining or storing anything relating to the access of a members wallets, including but not limited to the specific wallet used for membership signup .
Members must comply with all voting and claims procedures as outlined in the protocol.
2.3 Membership Termination
Fairside reserves the right to suspend or terminate memberships for breaches of these Terms, including fraudulent activities or attempts to manipulate protocol operations.
Members may voluntarily terminate their membership. However, termination does not entitle members to refunds for unused portions of membership fees.
3. Covered and Non Covered Events
The most common cryptocurrency scams fall under three main categories of phishing scams:
Malicious transactions and/or signatures
Address Poisoning
Private key or seed phrase compromise
**Malware coverage is available to members who purchase a membership of 15 ETH or greater coverage.
Fairside protects our members from these scams and helps them navigate the complex social engineering attempts used to deliver various attacks. This document outlines the primary types of scams that Fairside theft protection covers and events that are not covered. We also describe phishing and social engineering methods associated with these types of scams to help our members determine if a scam they encounter is covered.
These covered events focus primarily on scams that target the Ethereum and EVM based chains that Fairside covers.
3.1 Covered Events
Fairside covers a wide variety of scams related to malicious transactions and signatures, malicious transfers, and private key or seed phrase compromise. These scams may vary in how they appear to members, and while this document is comprehensive it will not cover every single scenario members may encounter.
Members may propose new types of covered events or raise edge cases with the Fairside staff in Discord or Telegram.
Covered: Malicious Transactions and Signatures
Fairside will cover most instances where a member is tricked into signing malicious transactions or signatures that leads to theft. These scams can take several forms and typically leverage unique smart contracts that focus on specific types of assets.
Some of the various malicious transaction and signature requests include:
Malicious approvals, custom smart contract interactions, or DeFi interactions
Permit and gasless signatures related to marketplaces, DEXs, or token approvals
DeFi positions (e.g., AAVE, Uniswap liquidity, etc.)
Arbitrary ETH_SIGN hashes
Delivery Methods and Social Engineering Approaches
Malicious transactions and signatures manifest through websites that impersonate legitimate crypto protocols and projects or even websites that represent entirely fake crypto projects. Scammers typically deliver these websites to members in the following ways:
General Impersonation on Social Media
Scammers create accounts on social media platforms like X, Discord, Reddit, Instagram, and Facebook to impersonate legitimate high profile crypto companies and individuals. These accounts often reply directly to legitimate accounts to give the appearance of a social media “thread” where accounts post replies to themselves. The casual observer may not realize these are two separate accounts.
Fake Airdrop, Token Claim, and NFT Mint Announcements
Scammers frequently leverage fake airdrop announcements and token claims to drive members into interacting with malicious transaction requests. Fake announcements are typically posted on compromised social media accounts, impersonation social media accounts, or distributed via phishing emails and paid advertisements.
Phishing Emails
Data breach victims are particularly vulnerable to phishing email scams. Several major crypto platforms have experienced member data breaches, which scammers use to target crypto members with phishing emails and distribute links to malicious websites.
Compromised Social Media Accounts
Legitimate social media accounts can be abused to deliver malicious websites to crypto members. Particularly on X and Discord, where hackers break into social media accounts to post fake announcements, airdrop claims to drive members
Front End Compromises
Scammers target legitimate crypto websites to inject malicious content and send malicious transaction requests to members. Wallet Connection kits are a particular target and have been exploited on crypto websites over multiple instances
Paid Advertisements
Scammers use paid advertisements including ads on Google Search, X, Reddit, Telegram, and Discord bots to distribute malicious websites.
Direct Messages
Scammers use direct message (DM) features on social media platforms like X, Discord, Reddit, and Telegram to disseminate links to malicious websites. DMs are most commonly used to distribute malicious websites during over-the-counter (OTC) trading where two individuals negotiate a set price for a crypto asset, such as an NFT.
Covered: Address Poisoning
Fairside covers malicious transfer scams where members are tricked into sending crypto to a malicious address. This occurs primarily through a scam referred to as “Address Poisoning.”
Address Poisoning occurs when scammers spoof transactions that appear to come from your wallet. Their goal is to trick you into copying and pasting the wrong address from blockchain analysis tools like Etherscan and sending funds to that malicious address.
Covered: Private Key Compromise
Fairside covers some instances of private key or seed phrase compromise. Private key compromise typically occurs when members download malware or viruses that search computers for sensitive information, including the private keys associated with hot wallets or seed phrases for other wallets stored in the computer’s documents or photos.
Fairside covers most instances where private keys are stolen due to malware or a virus. This coverage is contingent on forensic analysis to verify that the members downloaded malware prior to the loss event. Fairside members who believe they have experienced a malware related loss should move all valuable assets to fresh wallets on separate seed phrases and completely separate devices.
Scammers also create phishing websites designed to steal seed phrases or private keys by asking the members to provide this information. Fairside does NOT cover instances where a member sends their seed phrase or private key to a scammer, or enters it on a website.
Legitimate wallets and protocols will NEVER ask members to provide their seed phrase on a website. Members only need to enter their seed phrase on a wallet when restoring that wallet, typically on a new device.
Malware Delivery Methods
Direct Messages
Scammers leverage DM features on social media platforms like X, Discord, Reddit, and Telegram to disseminate links to download malware, socially engineer victims and convince them to proceed with downloading the malware or virus. Best practice is to never download any file or document that someone sends you or directs you to in a DM.
Scammers frequently use the following social engineering tactics that start in DMs to convince victims to download malware:
Fake Job Offers: Scammers frequently use the excuse of hiring Discord or Game Moderators and Beta Testers to onboard Particularly Discord or Game Moderators
Fake Meeting Software: Scammers impersonating hiring, collaboration, or business development managers use DMs to suggest individuals download malware disguised as virtual meeting software.,
Fake Journalist Outreach: Scammers will impersonate journalists and interview victims via direct message or video calls. The scammers then will share a document with a “draft” article based on your interview that is actually malware.
Contracts, Pitch Decks, Misc Files: Scammers will leverage a variety of other documents including contracts/NDAs, pitch decks, or other miscellaneous documents to convince you to download malware disguised as these files.
Malicious Websites + Fake Blogs
Scammers create websites that impersonate genuine crypto projects and protocols to distribute malware in the form of applications. These can take the form of entire domains dedicated to impersonating a crypto brand, or could be blog posts that appear to provide helpful information on a protocol, but lead members to download a malware loaded file impersonating a desktop app.
Software Downloads (Apps, Games, Game Modifications, Android Package Kits)
Scammers disguise malware as a variety of other softwares including crypto apps, games, game “mods” and mobile software including Android Package Kits. It is critical to be cautious while downloading software and applications on devices that you also use for crypto.
3.2 Non Coverable Events
⚠️Not Covered ⚠️
Accidental Transfers: Fairside does not cover instances where an individual accidentally transfers crypto or NFTs to the wrong address as a result of typos, copy and paste errors, or other members' mistakes. This is distinct from Address Poisoning or social engineering attacks, which are covered events.
⚠️Not Covered ⚠️
Fraudulent Investment Opportunities: Attackers may approach victims with false investment opportunities, such as high-yield investment programs (HYIPs), promising significant returns on their cryptocurrency investments. The attacker may ask the victim to transfer their crypto assets to a specific wallet address under their control, only to disappear once the victim's funds have been transferred.
⚠️Not Covered ⚠️
Secondary Social Engineering: After successfully SIM-swapping the victim's phone number, an attacker may contact the victim's friends, family, or associates, pretending to be the victim. The attacker may ask for help or claim to be in an emergency situation, requesting that the victim's contacts send cryptocurrency to a wallet address under the attacker's control.
⚠️Not Covered ⚠️
Giveaway Scams: Attackers may create social media posts or send messages impersonating celebrities, influencers, or representatives of cryptocurrency projects, offering giveaways or rewards for sending a small amount of crypto to a specified wallet address. The scammer claims that they will send a larger amount of cryptocurrency back to the participant, but victims who send their crypto assets never receive anything in return.
⚠️Not Covered ⚠️
Romance Scams: In this type of social engineering attack, scammers establish online relationships with victims, often on dating or social networking websites, and eventually ask for financial support in the form of cryptocurrency. The attacker may claim that they need the funds to cover a personal crisis or travel expenses to meet the victim in person. Once the victim transfers their crypto assets, the scammer typically breaks off contact.
⚠️Not Covered ⚠️
Employment Scams: Attackers may post fake job listings or reach out to potential victims with offers of high-paying remote work opportunities. The scammer may ask the victim to transfer cryptocurrency as part of their job duties, such as making payments to vendors or managing company funds. The attacker may also request that the victim pay for job-related expenses, such as training materials or software licenses, in cryptocurrency. In both cases, the victim loses their crypto assets to the scammer.
⚠️Not Covered ⚠️
Extortion Scams: Scammers may send threatening messages to victims, claiming to have compromising information or evidence of illegal activities, and demand payment in cryptocurrency to prevent the release of the information. Fearing damage to their reputation or legal consequences, the victim may comply and transfer their crypto assets to the attacker.
⚠️Not Covered ⚠️
Confidence Scams: Attackers may befriend victims, gaining their trust and confidence over time, only to betray them by convincing the victim to transfer their cryptocurrency to the attacker's wallet, either as a loan, an investment, or for some other seemingly legitimate reason. Once the victim transfers their crypto assets, the attacker disappears.
⚠️Not Covered ⚠️
Impersonation of Law Enforcement: Scammers may contact victims, claiming to be representatives of a government agency or law enforcement. They may accuse the victim of illegal activities related to their cryptocurrency holdings and demand payment in the form of cryptocurrency to avoid legal consequences. The victim, fearing potential legal issues, may comply and transfer their crypto assets to the attacker.
⚠️Not Covered ⚠️
Fake Charities and Donation Scams: Attackers may create fraudulent charitable organizations or donation campaigns, often targeting recent disasters or ongoing crises, and ask for donations in the form of cryptocurrency. Victims who transfer their crypto assets to the attacker's wallet address, believing they are supporting a good cause, will instead lose their funds to the scammer.
4. Covered Blockchains
EVM
Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche, BSC, Polygon, Fantom (Sonic)
Non-EVM
Bitcoin, Solana, TON
5. Claims Process
5.1 Filing a Claim
Claims must be submitted through the protocol interface within the prescribed timeframe.
Users must submit valid KYC through our KYC provider Synaps.
Required evidence includes but is not limited to transaction records, wallet addresses, and third-party documentation.
Members filing a claim are required to pay an assessment fee equivalent to 10% of the cost of the membership fee.
5.2 Claims Review and Resolution
Claims are evaluated using both an internal investigations team as well as external experts specialized in blockchain analysis, research and investigations.
Fairside may request additional information during the review process.
Approved claims are paid per protocol rules and available coverage funds.
6. Appeals Process
Members may submit a single appeal of denied claims. members may be required to provide additional evidence for further review by the investigations team and or governance members.
5. Use of Protocol
5.1 Permitted Uses
Members may use the protocol for lawful purposes, including risk pooling, voting, and claims submission.
5.2 Prohibited Activities
Activities undermining protocol security or fairness, such as exploiting technical vulnerabilities or engaging in fraud, are prohibited.
5.3 Intellectual Property
All intellectual property related to the protocol is owned by Fairside or its licensors. Members are granted a limited, non-exclusive license to use the protocol as permitted under these Terms.
5.4 Limitation of Liability
Fairside is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from use of the Services.
5.5 Indemnification
Members agree to indemnify and hold harmless Fairside, its affiliates, and stakeholders from claims, damages, or losses arising from their use of the Services or violations of these Terms.
5.6 Modifications to Terms
Fairside may update these Terms. Members will be notified of material changes through electronic communications or protocol announcements. Continued use of the Services constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
5.7 Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware. Disputes are subject to binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association.
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