Terms of Service

1. Agreement to these Terms

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and [LEGAL ENTITY NAME] (“SlabStake,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) governing your access to and use of the SlabStake platform, website, and related services (the “Service”). By creating an account, funding a balance, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. Eligibility and accounts

• You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract.
• One account per person. You may hold only one account. To trade shares between members or to withdraw funds, you must complete identity verification. We may refuse, restrict, or close duplicate or unverifiable accounts.
• You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide, for keeping your password confidential, and for all activity under your account. Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use.
• You may not use the Service where doing so would violate applicable law, or if you are located in a jurisdiction from which we do not offer the Service.

3. What the Service is

SlabStake lets members deposit cryptocurrency, hold a US-dollar cash balance with us, and buy fractional shares representing a beneficial interest in specific PSA-graded trading cards that we source, purchase, and hold in custody at a third-party vault. When a card is fully funded, we buy the physical card and place it in custody. After a holding period, holders of a majority of a card’s shares may support selling it; on sale, net proceeds are distributed to holders in proportion to their shares.

A “share” is a unit of beneficial interest in a specific card administered through the Service. It is not a share of stock in SlabStake or any company, not a deposit or bank account, not insured by any deposit-insurance scheme, and confers no management, voting, or ownership rights in SlabStake itself. Your rights are limited to those described in these Terms.

4. Deposits, cash balance, and withdrawals

• Deposits. When you send supported cryptocurrency to a deposit address we provide, we credit your balance with its US-dollar value determined at the time the deposit is confirmed. Later changes in cryptocurrency prices do not change your credited balance.
• Cash balance. Your balance is recorded in US dollars and is spendable only within the Service (to buy shares) or via withdrawal. We may hold the corresponding value in stablecoins or other assets; you have no claim to any particular asset, only to your recorded US-dollar balance, subject to these Terms.
• Withdrawals. You may request to withdraw your available balance as supported cryptocurrency to a wallet address you control. Withdrawals are reviewed before they are sent, may be subject to verification, minimums, and network fees, and may be delayed or declined where required for security, legal, or risk reasons. Cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible; you are responsible for the accuracy of any address you provide.
• We do not pay interest on balances. We are not a bank, money transmitter’s customer, or a fiduciary except to the limited extent, if any, required by applicable law.

5. Buying shares, custody, and the marketplace

• Primary funding. While a card is funding, shares are offered at $1.00 per share and purchased from your cash balance. Purchases are final when settled.
• Custody. Once fully funded, we acquire the physical card and place it in third-party custody. The public custody log records each step. We do not guarantee any particular custodian, timeline, or continued availability of any custody arrangement.
• Secondary trading. Members may list and buy shares from one another only after a card is fully funded, vaulted, and past its cooldown period. Secondary trades settle instantly from cash balances and are final. We are a venue for these trades; the counterparty is another member, not SlabStake.
• Pricing information. Valuations and price history shown in the Service are estimates for information only, drawn from third-party data and platform activity, and may be inaccurate, delayed, or manipulated. They are not appraisals or guarantees of value or resale price.

6. Selling a card, payouts, failures, and reconciliation

• Exit by majority support. After the cooldown, if holders of more than 50% of a card’s shares support a sale, the card moves toward sale. On completion, net proceeds (sale price less disclosed fees and costs) are distributed to holders pro-rata by shares, to the cent.
• Funding failures. If an acquisition cannot be completed before the card is vaulted, we cancel it and refund every holder the full amount they paid at the $1.00 par price, credited to their balance.
• Cost reconciliation. A card’s funding target includes estimated tax, shipping, and platform fees. After purchase, we record the actual total cost. Any surplus versus the funded target is refunded to holders pro-rata by shares. If the actual cost exceeds the funded target, SlabStake absorbs the difference; you will not be charged more than you funded.

7. Fees

The fees that apply to funding, custody, sales, and any other services are disclosed in the Service (for example, in a card’s funding breakdown) and/or at [FEES PAGE / SCHEDULE]. We may change our fees prospectively by updating that disclosure and, for material changes, by notice. Fees already applied to completed transactions are not refundable except as expressly stated.

8. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• create more than one account, impersonate anyone, or provide false identity information;
• engage in wash trading, self-dealing, price manipulation, or any attempt to distort valuations or the market;
• use the Service for money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, or any unlawful purpose, or to trade on behalf of a sanctioned person;
• attempt to access accounts or data that are not yours, probe or circumvent security, scrape at scale, or interfere with the Service’s operation;
• reverse engineer, resell, or misuse the Service or its content.

9. Risk disclosure — please read carefully

Buying fractional shares of collectible cards involves substantial risk. By using the Service, you acknowledge and accept that:

• You can lose money, up to the entire amount you put in. Collectible values are volatile and can fall to little or nothing.
• Shares are illiquid. There may be no buyer when you want to sell, and you cannot force a sale of a card except through the majority-support process. Cooldown periods restrict when you can trade.
• No guaranteed return, value, or buyback. Displayed valuations are estimates, not promises. SlabStake does not guarantee any resale price or repurchase your shares.
• Cryptocurrency risk. Deposits and withdrawals use cryptocurrency, which is volatile, and blockchain transactions are irreversible.
• Custody and counterparty risk. The physical card, deposited funds, and third-party providers each carry risk of loss, damage, insolvency, or failure that may not be fully insured.
• Regulatory risk. The legal treatment of fractional collectible interests is evolving and may change in ways that affect the Service or your holdings.

Nothing in the Service is investment, financial, legal, or tax advice, and no content is a recommendation to buy or sell. We are not your broker, adviser, or fiduciary. You are solely responsible for your decisions and should seek independent professional advice.

10. Verification, suspension, and closure

We may verify your identity and the source of your funds, and may suspend, restrict, or close an account — and withhold actions such as trading or withdrawals — where we reasonably believe it is necessary to comply with law, to prevent fraud, market abuse, or security risk, or for breach of these Terms. Suspension does not by itself forfeit the balance or shares you legitimately hold; we will return legitimately held value in accordance with applicable law and these Terms, subject to any legal hold. Staff never see or set your password; account recovery is by the emailed reset link only.

11. Intellectual property

The Service, including its software, design, logos, and content (excluding third-party and member content), is owned by SlabStake or its licensors and is protected by law. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Service for its intended personal purpose. You retain rights to content you upload, and grant us a licence to host and display it as needed to operate the Service.

12. Third-party services

The Service relies on third parties (for example, a cryptocurrency payment and custody processor, hosting providers, an email provider, and card-data sources). Your use of those services may be subject to their own terms, and we are not responsible for their acts, omissions, outages, or content.

13. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement, and any warranty as to accuracy of valuations, availability, or uninterrupted or error-free operation. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of these exclusions may not apply to you.

14. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, SlabStake and its directors, officers, employees, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost value, or loss of data, arising out of or relating to the Service, even if advised of the possibility. To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of [the total fees you paid to us in the 12 months before the claim] or [CAD $100]. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including under Quebec consumer-protection law.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless SlabStake and its personnel from claims, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the Service, or your violation of law or the rights of a third party, except to the extent caused by our own fault where such an exclusion is not permitted by law.

16. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of [Quebec] and the applicable laws of Canada, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. We will try to resolve any dispute informally first — please contact us. Where permitted by applicable law, the parties agree to resolve disputes in the courts of [JUDICIAL DISTRICT, Quebec].

Consumers’ rights are preserved. If you are a consumer resident in Quebec, nothing in these Terms deprives you of your rights under the Consumer Protection Act or other mandatory law, including your right to bring or participate in proceedings before the competent authorities and courts; provisions of these Terms apply only to the extent permitted by that law.

17. Changes, termination, and general

• Changes. We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be signalled by updating the “Last updated” date and, where appropriate, by notice. Continued use after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.
• Termination. You may stop using the Service at any time. We may suspend or terminate access as described in Section 10 or where required by law. Sections that by their nature should survive (including 9, 11, 13–16) survive termination.
• General. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a business transfer. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between us about the Service. We are not liable for failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
• Language. The parties have requested that these Terms and related documents be drawn up in English. / Les parties ont demandé que ces conditions et les documents s’y rattachant soient rédigés en anglais.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at [[email protected]], or by mail at [STREET, CITY, PROVINCE, POSTAL CODE, COUNTRY].

These Terms are provided for general information and do not constitute legal advice. Nothing on SlabStake is investment advice. See also our Privacy Policy.