Risk disclosures

1. Why this page exists

OpenPasskey is a stablecoin payment-settlement protocol. Stablecoins and on-chain settlement work differently from card payments and traditional banking. This page sets out, in plain English, the main risks you should understand before using the protocol — whether as a merchant, a consumer, or a developer integrating the SDK.

This document is general information only. It is not personal financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. You should consider your own circumstances and obtain professional advice before relying on it.

2. Beta and protocol-version risk

The OpenPasskey protocol is in active development. Even when a version is described as “live” or “audited”, it may contain undiscovered defects. Behaviour, fees, and supported tokens may change between protocol versions. We will give reasonable notice of breaking changes where practicable, but cannot guarantee backward compatibility for early-version integrations.

3. Stablecoin issuer risk

Stablecoins accepted via the protocol (including AUDD, AUDM, and USDC) are issued by third parties. Each issuer is responsible for the stability, reserves, redemption, regulatory status, and terms of its token. OpenPasskey does not issue, guarantee, or insure any stablecoin. If an issuer fails, suspends redemption, freezes a token, or has its reserves devalued, you bear that risk in the same way you would if you held the token in your own wallet.

You should read each issuer's own terms and disclosures before accepting or holding their token.

4. Smart-contract risk

The protocol is implemented as smart contracts on public blockchains. Smart contracts can have bugs, including bugs that audits do not catch. They run autonomously and cannot be reversed once deployed and funded. Where a contract is upgradeable, the upgrade keys themselves are a risk vector. We publish audit reports and contract addresses on the developer documentation; review them before integrating.

5. Settlement is final — there are no chargebacks

On-chain settlement is final once the transaction confirms. OpenPasskey does not provide chargeback or arbitration services. If you (as a consumer) wish to dispute a transaction, you must contact the merchant directly; any refund is a deliberate action taken by the merchant from their merchant portal, not a unilateral reversal by us. Merchants accept that there is no scheme-arbitrated chargeback path against the consumer.

6. Self-custody — we don't hold your keys

When you pay using your own wallet, you remain in custody of your private keys and your stablecoin balance. We do not hold, recover, or reset your keys. If you lose access to your keys you may permanently lose access to the funds. The OPK card and OPK wallet app, when launched, will use passkey-based custody patterns; the applicable consumer terms will set out the recovery model in detail.

7. Network, blockchain, and oracle risk

Transactions depend on the underlying blockchain (Base and other networks we support) being live and producing blocks within expected times. Networks can experience congestion, halts, forks, or reorganisations. Off-ramp partners and bank rails can also experience outages. We provide no service-level guarantee of uptime or settlement time, although we will work in good faith to restore service after any disruption.

8. Off-ramp and AUD-payout risk

Conversion of stablecoin payouts to Australian dollars depends on third-party AFSL-regulated issuers (such as the AUDD and AUDM issuers) and on existing payment rails (NPP / OSKO). These third parties may change their terms, fees, or service availability. Bank holidays, compliance reviews, and counterparty failure can each delay AUD settlement. Where we use a third-party off-ramp on your behalf, the terms of that third party apply in addition to our own.

9. Anti-money-laundering, sanctions, and tax

You are responsible for your own compliance with anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing law, sanctions law, and tax law in every jurisdiction relevant to your activity. Merchants are responsible for KYB / KYC of their own customers where required. OpenPasskey is not a money-transmitter and does not perform KYC on end-users of the protocol. We will cooperate with lawful requests from regulators and law-enforcement agencies as required.

10. Tax

The receipt, holding, and disposal of stablecoins may have tax consequences in your jurisdiction. We do not provide tax advice. You should consult your own tax adviser. The on-chain ledger and the Merchant Portal's exportable receipts can support your record keeping but do not substitute for advice.

11. No financial product or financial advice

OpenPasskey does not issue a financial product within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and does not provide financial product advice. The Service does not constitute a deposit, investment, security, derivative, or interest in a managed investment scheme.

12. Consumer rights

Nothing in these disclosures limits any non-excludable consumer guarantee or right under the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)) or any equivalent law in your jurisdiction.

13. Where to read more

• Read our Terms of use for the binding terms that apply to use of the Site and Service.
• Read our Privacy policy for how we handle personal information.
• Each stablecoin's issuer publishes its own terms — read those before accepting their token.

14. Contact