Terms and Conditions

To register on the Platform and participate in any hackathon, you must:

• Be at least 18 years old at the time of registration;
• Have the legal capacity to enter into binding agreements in your country of residence;
• Not be a resident or national of a country subject to comprehensive EU, French, UN, US OFAC, or UK sanctions (including but not limited to: North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Russia, Belarus, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions);
• Not be listed on any applicable sanctions or terrorism financing list.

Additional eligibility criteria may apply for specific hackathons and will be communicated in their respective rules.

When creating an account on the Platform, you agree to:

• Provide accurate, complete, and up-to-date information;
• Keep your credentials secure and not share them with anyone outside your team;
• Notify us immediately at info@xrpl-commons.org of any unauthorized use of your account;
• Update your information promptly if it changes during a hackathon (especially contact details and any wallet address designated for prize disbursement).

You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. XRPL Commons may refuse, suspend, or revoke an account at any time if these Terms are not met.

When participating in a hackathon through the Platform, you agree that:

• You will comply with all rules and guidelines published for each hackathon;
• Project submissions must represent genuine work and comply with the specific hackathon's originality requirements;
• You retain ownership of your intellectual property (see §7);
• Judging decisions are final and binding, except in case of demonstrable procedural error or conflict of interest raised within 48 hours of the announcement;
• You may participate solo or as a team; if participating as a team, one member must be designated as the team lead and will act as the primary contact and prize recipient.

Prize amounts, categories, and criteria are defined per hackathon. The following general conditions apply to all prizes distributed through the Platform:

• KYC is mandatory before any prize disbursement. No KYC, no prize.
• Prizes may be denominated and paid in cryptocurrency. Conversion to fiat is the recipient's sole responsibility.
• Prizes cannot be disbursed to participants residing in or nationally affiliated with a jurisdiction where such disbursement would be unlawful or subject to sanctions. XRPL Commons determines restricted territories at the time of disbursement based on applicable French, EU, and international law.
• Prizes are subject to your local tax obligations. XRPL Commons does not withhold taxes; you are solely responsible for declaring and paying any applicable taxes in your country.
• If a participant becomes ineligible before disbursement (breach of Terms, sanctions, fraud, restricted territory), the prize is forfeited and may be reallocated at our discretion.
• Prizes are non-transferable to any third party until paid out.

You retain full ownership of your project, code, designs, and any other output of your participation. XRPL Commons claims no intellectual property rights over your work.

By participating, you grant XRPL Commons a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to display your name, project name, logo, screenshots, and short descriptions in our communications about the hackathon (announcements, website, social media, reports, presentations) for a period of 3 years after the event. You can revoke this license at any time by written notice to info@xrpl-commons.org, with effect on future communications only.

You confirm that you hold all necessary rights over what you submit, and that your project does not infringe any third-party intellectual property rights.

You agree to:

• Behave respectfully toward other participants, mentors, judges, and XRPL Commons staff in all online and offline interactions;
• Refrain from any form of harassment, discrimination, hate speech, or unlawful behavior;
• Not attempt to gain unauthorized access to other participants' accounts, systems, or data;
• Build in good faith — projects designed to defraud users, evade laws, or harm the ecosystem will be disqualified;
• Not engage in metric manipulation, sybil attacks, wash trading, or any other form of dishonest activity.

Violation of this Code of Conduct may lead to immediate disqualification without compensation.

XRPL Commons may suspend or terminate your participation and account, at its sole discretion, if we have reasonable grounds to believe that you have:

• Breached these Terms or the Code of Conduct;
• Engaged in fraud, manipulation, or any unlawful behavior;
• Provided false or misleading information at registration or during KYC;
• Appeared on a sanctions list, or whose continued participation creates a legal or reputational risk for XRPL Commons.

In case of termination, any provisional prize is forfeited and no compensation is due. You may withdraw from a hackathon at any time by sending written notice to info@xrpl-commons.org. Withdrawal does not entitle you to any compensation.

We process your personal data in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR — Regulation (EU) 2016/679) and the French Loi Informatique et Libertés.

Data we collect: registration data (name, email, country, team info, project description); KYC data if you receive a prize (government ID, proof of address, selfie); communication content exchanged with us during a hackathon.

Purposes: managing your participation and communications; awarding prizes; complying with AML/CFT obligations; promoting the hackathon and successful projects (with your license — see §7).

Retention: registration data for the duration of the hackathon + 3 years; KYC data for 5 years after prize disbursement (legal AML requirement); communication data for 1 year.

Your rights: access, rectification, erasure (subject to legal retention), portability, restriction, and objection. Contact us at info@xrpl-commons.org. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL).

The Platform is provided "as is", on a best-effort basis. We do not guarantee uninterrupted access to the Platform or any specific outcome from your participation (visibility, fundraising, audience).

We are not responsible for the conduct of other participants, invited mentors, or third parties. We are not liable for damages incurred by your project on-chain — you are responsible for the security of your own code and assets.

To the maximum extent permitted by French law, our total cumulative liability toward any participant is limited to the value of the prize that participant was awarded (or zero, if no prize). Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for gross negligence, intentional misconduct, or any liability that cannot be excluded under French law.