TrustLedger — Acceptable Use Policy

Authors & Contributors: Kevin Le, Kellen Snider

Effective Date: June 9, 2026 Last Updated: June 9, 2026 Version: 2.0.0

1. Introduction

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") governs all use of the TrustLedger Platform and Services. It supplements and is incorporated by reference into the Terms and Conditions. Capitalized terms not defined here have the meanings in the Terms and Conditions.

By accessing or using the Services, You agree to comply with this AUP. Violations may result in immediate suspension or termination of access and may expose You to civil or criminal liability.

2. Permitted Uses

You may use the Services to:

• create, propose, accept, fund, manage, and close freelance escrow agreements;
• submit, review, approve, and dispute proof of work;
• participate as a juror in the arbitration system;
• submit and review evidence in arbitration proceedings;
• build and maintain an on-chain reputation;
• interact with the Platform's Smart Contracts on supported blockchain networks;
• access the Platform's APIs for legitimate development and integration purposes

in accordance with any applicable API terms; and

• explore the open-source codebase in accordance with the Apache License,

Version 2.0.

All use must be lawful, honest, and consistent with the purpose of the Platform.

3. Prohibited Uses — General Conduct

You must not use the Services to:

3.1 Violate Laws. Engage in any activity that violates applicable federal, state, local, international, or foreign law, statute, regulation, or governmental order, including laws governing financial services, cryptocurrency, money transmission, anti-money-laundering, sanctions, consumer protection, data privacy, export control, or employment.

3.2 Fraud and Deception. Engage in fraud, deception, misrepresentation, false advertising, or any scheme designed to obtain money, property, or value through dishonest means, including but not limited to:

• advance-fee fraud or "419" schemes;
• invoice fraud or payment redirection fraud;
• fake job or contract scams;
• fabricating credentials, qualifications, or work history;
• submitting falsified proof-of-work;
• fabricating or manipulating contract documents; or
• impersonating another User, business, or the Operator.

3.3 Financial Crime. Engage in money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, securities fraud, market manipulation, tax evasion, or any other financial crime.

3.4 Harassment. Harass, threaten, intimidate, stalk, bully, defame, abuse, or otherwise harm any person or group. This includes sending repeated unwanted communications, making threats of physical or financial harm, and publishing private information about another person (doxxing).

3.5 Impersonation. Impersonate any person, organization, or entity, including the Operator, its team members, Contributors, other Users, or any public figure.

3.6 Intellectual Property Infringement. Upload, submit, share, or otherwise use Content that infringes any third party's copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other intellectual property right.

3.7 Illegal Content. Submit, upload, or distribute any Content that is illegal, including without limitation: content involving the sexual exploitation or abuse of minors; content inciting violence; content that constitutes illegal discrimination; or content that is otherwise unlawful in the applicable jurisdiction.

3.8 Harmful Content. Submit, publish, or distribute Content that is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, hateful, or that promotes or glorifies violence, illegal activity, or discrimination based on protected characteristics.

3.9 Privacy Violations. Collect, harvest, or disclose the personal information of other Users without their consent; publish private information about identifiable individuals; or violate applicable privacy laws.

4. Prohibited Uses — Technical and Security

4.1 Unauthorized Access. Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Services, related systems, or networks, including by bypassing authentication, exploiting access controls, or using stolen credentials.

4.2 Malicious Code. Upload, transmit, or deploy viruses, malware, ransomware, spyware, adware, trojans, worms, rootkits, logic bombs, cryptomining code, or any other harmful software.

4.3 Denial of Service. Conduct or facilitate denial-of-service (DoS) or distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, packet flooding, amplification attacks, or any activity designed to overload, disrupt, or degrade the Services.

4.4 Unauthorized Security Testing. Conduct penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, fuzzing, exploit development, or security research against the Operator's hosted infrastructure, live APIs, or production systems without prior written authorization. Testing of the open-source Smart Contract code on public testnets is permitted pursuant to the Apache License.

4.5 Reverse Engineering of Proprietary Components. Decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, or attempt to derive source code from any hosted proprietary component of the Services that is not available as open-source software, except as expressly permitted by applicable law.

4.6 Automated Abuse. Use bots, scrapers, crawlers, automated scripts, or other automated means to access or interact with the Services in a manner that places excessive load on the Platform, harvests data without authorization, or otherwise abuses automated access privileges.

4.7 Spam. Send unsolicited bulk messages, spam, chain letters, or commercial communications through or in connection with the Services.

4.8 Credential Theft. Attempt to obtain another User's Wallet credentials, seed phrase, private key, magic link, session token, or other authentication information through any means, including phishing, social engineering, malware, or technical exploitation.

4.9 Smart Contract Exploitation. Exploit, manipulate, or abuse the Smart Contracts in ways not intended by their design, including reentrancy attacks, oracle manipulation, juror-selection manipulation, flash loan attacks, sandwich attacks, front-running, or unauthorized fund extraction.

4.10 Circumvention of Controls. Circumvent, disable, or otherwise interfere with any security feature, rate limit, access control, or platform governance mechanism.

4.11 Counterfeit Platform. Create, deploy, or operate a counterfeit or fraudulent copy of the Platform, Frontend Application, or Smart Contracts that impersonates the official TrustLedger Platform.

5. Prohibited Uses — Financial and Marketplace

5.1 Fraudulent Escrow. Create escrow proposals or contracts with fraudulent intent, including creating fake projects to extract funds, submitting fake proof of work, or funding escrows with misrepresented terms.

5.2 Juror Collusion. Coordinate with other jurors, parties, or third parties to predetermine or manipulate dispute outcomes. Submit false evidence to influence juror decisions. Attempt to bribe, threaten, or coerce any juror.

5.3 Rating Manipulation. Submit ratings with the intent to manipulate the Platform's reputation system, including coordinated rating campaigns, retaliatory ratings, or false positive ratings exchanged between colluding parties.

5.4 Money Laundering. Use the escrow or payment features of the Platform to launder proceeds of crime or to disguise the origin of funds.

5.5 Sanctions Violations. Use the Services to transfer funds to, or receive funds from, individuals or entities subject to applicable economic sanctions.

5.6 Token Manipulation. Exploit abnormal ERC-20 token behavior to extract value from escrows or other Users.

5.7 Self-Dealing and Wash Trading. Create, fund, or execute escrow contracts or other interactions with wallets You own or control, or with parties acting in coordination with You, for the purpose of: (a) artificially inflating Your reputation score or that of any other User; (b) generating false transaction history to appear as an active or experienced User; (c) creating fraudulent evidence of completed work; or (d) manipulating the Platform's reputation, analytics, or ranking systems. This prohibition applies regardless of whether the underlying transactions are economically real.

5.8 AI-Generated Abuse. Use AI tools, large language models, generative AI systems, automated content generation, or deepfake technology to: (a) fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent evidence submitted in any arbitration proceeding; (b) generate fraudulent proof-of-work submissions; (c) create fake identities, impersonation profiles, or deceptive personas on the Platform; (d) produce bulk fraudulent communications, fraudulent contract documents, or synthetic documentation; or (e) otherwise abuse or deceive the Platform's systems or other Users through AI-generated content.

5.9 Facilitation of Prohibited Activity. Assist, enable, encourage, or facilitate any other User or third party in engaging in any activity prohibited by this AUP or the Terms and Conditions, including by providing tools, code, scripts, credentials, instructions, or funding for such activities.

5.10 False Reporting. Submit knowingly false reports of violations, false DMCA notices, false evidence submissions, or false reports of abusive conduct against other Users. Filing false reports may expose You to civil liability to the falsely accused party and to termination of Your access.

6. Investigation and Enforcement

6.1 Monitoring. The Operator reserves the right, but not the obligation, to monitor use of the Services for compliance with this AUP and applicable law.

6.2 Investigation. The Operator may investigate suspected violations of this AUP. You agree to cooperate with any reasonable investigation, including by providing relevant information and records.

6.3 Enforcement Actions. Upon finding or suspecting a violation, the Operator may, in its sole discretion:

(a) issue a warning;

(b) suspend or restrict Your access to the Services, temporarily or permanently;

(c) remove or disable Your Content;

(d) report the activity to law enforcement or regulatory authorities;

(e) cooperate with law enforcement investigations;

(f) seek injunctive relief, damages, or other legal remedies; or

(g) take any other action the Operator deems appropriate.

6.4 No Obligation to Monitor. The Operator has no obligation to monitor Content or activity, and the absence of enforcement action in any particular instance does not constitute a waiver of the right to enforce this AUP in other instances.

6.5 No Liability for Enforcement. The Operator shall not be liable to You or any third party for any enforcement action taken in good faith pursuant to this AUP.

7. Reporting Violations

If You believe another User is violating this AUP, please report it to:

TrustLedger Email: kevinle3212@gmail.com

Security vulnerabilities: See `SECURITY.md` for responsible disclosure instructions.

8. Relationship to Terms and Conditions

This AUP is incorporated by reference into the Terms and Conditions. In the event of any conflict between this AUP and the Terms and Conditions, the Terms and Conditions shall govern.

This Acceptable Use Policy (Version 2.0.0) was last reviewed and updated on June 9, 2026, following a comprehensive legal red-team audit. Changes include: addition of §5.7 (self-dealing/wash trading), §5.8 (AI-generated abuse), §5.9 (facilitation of prohibited activity), and §5.10 (false reporting).