Terms of Service

counsel is a parimutuel prediction market built natively on the XRP Ledger. Participants stake into outcome pools by sending native Payments; when a market resolves, the winning pool is shared pro-rata among its participants, less a fixed protocol fee. By using counsel you confirm that you understand how a parimutuel pool works: odds are indicative and only final at close, and your potential return depends on the size and distribution of the pool, not on a fixed price quoted when you bet.

counsel currently operates on the XRP Ledger Testnet. Testnet tokens have no monetary value. The software is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, without warranties of any kind. It may contain bugs, change without notice, or be discontinued.

Prediction markets and wagering are restricted or prohibited in some jurisdictions. You are solely responsible for ensuring that your use of counsel is lawful where you live, and for any taxes that may apply. Do not use counsel if it is not permitted for you.

counsel never holds your wallet keys: you sign every bet yourself in your own wallet (Xaman, GemWallet, or Crossmark). Between a bet and settlement, staked funds sit in a per-market pool account secured by a multisig SignerList with its master key disabled, so no single key can move them. This is custodial-transparent, not trustless: settlement is performed by the operator’s multisig, and every bet, resolution, and payout is on-chain and independently verifiable.

Crypto-price markets resolve automatically against the on-ledger XLS-47 price oracle, read within a published freshness window. Where a market cannot be resolved fairly (for example, no fresh oracle value, a one-sided pool, or a cancelled event), it is voided and all stakes are refunded without fee. Other markets are resolved from a named source and may be subject to a bonded dispute window finalized by a multisig committee.

A protocol fee (currently 3%) is applied to the entire pool before the pro-rata split. The fee is never taken from a winner’s own returned stake selectively; it is taken from the pool. Voided markets are refunded without fee.

You may lose your entire stake. In a thin or lopsided pool, returns can be highly variable and a payout can be smaller than your stake. counsel makes no representation about the likelihood of any outcome and provides no financial, investment, or legal advice.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, counsel and its contributors are not liable for any loss arising from your use of the software, including losses from bugs, oracle failures, network issues, or wallet errors.

These terms may be updated as the product evolves. Continued use after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.