Terms of Service

Last Updated: July 11, 2023

SECTION 8 OF THESE SUPPLEMENTAL TERMS CONTAINS A BINDING ARBITRATION AND A WAIVER OF CLASS ACTION RIGHTS WHICH MAY SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT TO FILE A LAWSUIT IN COURT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THE TERMS IN THEIR ENTIRETY, YOU MAY NOT USE THE LINEA OFFERINGS IN ANY MANNER.

Linea Protocol (“Protocol”), the Linea Interface (“Interface”), and the Protocol’s native Ethereum bridge (“Bridge”, and collectively the “Linea Offerings”) are Offerings of Consensys Software Inc. ( “Consensys”, "CSI", "we", "our", or "us"), and therefore your use of these Offerings is governed by the Consensys Software Inc. Terms of Use, (the “CSI Terms”) as well as these supplemental terms and conditions (the “Supplemental Terms” collectively with the CSI Terms, the “Terms”). The Terms are a binding contract between you and us. If there is any conflict between these Supplemental Terms and the CSI Terms, the Supplemental Terms will govern. Nothing in these Supplemental Terms limits any of our rights under the CSI Terms.

Please read the Terms carefully and in full. They cover important information about each of the Protocol, Interface, and Bridge, your rights under this agreement, and all future changes to the Terms. They require that you accept all the risks associated with using the Offerings, as they are experimental in nature. We reserve the right to change the CSI Terms or Supplemental Terms at any time.

  1. Use Subject to Terms

You agree that your use of these Offerings shall be deemed your agreement in full to the Terms and also our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference. We grant you a worldwide, royalty-free, non-assignable, non-exclusive, revocable, and non-sublicensable license to access the Linea Offerings, subject to these Terms, as well as all information and materials published, distributed or otherwise made available on https://linea.build or consensys.io, either by Consensys or others. You agree not to use these Offerings in a manner which is fraudulent or violative of applicable laws, including investor and consumer protection laws, privacy laws, intellectual property rights, or laws prohibiting money laundering or other illicit finance.

  1. Linea Protocol

The Protocol is a type 2 zero knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine that replicates an Ethereum environment by leveraging rollups, providing users and developers with a network for software applications featuring low fees and scalability, while backed by the security of Ethereum and its decentralized community of validators. It is separate and apart from the Ethereum network.

The Protocol is currently released in alpha, which means it has passed our initial quality assurance measures, but not all quality assurance measures have completed, and there is limited available documentation or support. The primary audience for this alpha release is the technically interested and module vendors. You recognize and agree to assume all risk of using the Protocol while it is in alpha release, which may include complete and total loss.

  1. Bridge Contracts

To access the Protocol, one may transfer, or “bridge”, an asset from the Ethereum network to the Protocol. Bridging is performed through the utilization of smart contract applications which are deployed on both the Protocol and Ethereum. These smart contracts constitute the Bridge, and they work by allowing a user to deposit Ether token (“ETH”) on the Ethereum network and receive on the Protocol a version of the Ethereum token that is native to the Protocol, and vice-versa.

The Bridge may not be the exclusive means of accessing the Protocol, as there may be alternative bridges relying on different smart contracts and interfaces deployed by third parties which support bridging ETH and other assets. While use of the Interface would result in using the Bridge, the Bridge may also be accessed directly using these other third party interfaces or even through command line instructions. Our agreement regarding your use of these Third Party Offerings is reflected in Section 1.3 of the CSI Terms.

You accept all risks associated with using the Bridge. Bridging is an extremely novel technical area and is subject to material risks which may lead to total loss of user assets. All bridges, including the Bridge, are smart contracts that are subject to many known and unknown risks, including smart contract exploits of the actual smart contract code to produce outcomes different than those the Bridge was designed to achieve, and cyberattacks intended to gain unauthorized control of the smart contracts or associated systems.

The Bridge may impose a volume limitation of tokens flowing into and out of the Protocol. All users of the Bridge may be subject to the limitation, which may impact the time it takes you to bridge in or out of the Protocol while using the Bridge. That volume limitation may or may not be disclosed on www.linea.build. The volume limitation is a security measure to limit harm in the event of a malicious third party-act, and it may be changed without notice. Additionally, you acknowledge the risk that the volume limitation may not be technically effective, or may even be compromised. You accept the risk that it will not function as intended and assume any losses, direct, indirect, or consequential, stemming from the volume limitations.

  1. The Interface

The Interface is a graphical user interface allowing users to interact with the Bridge and, therefore, the Protocol, but the Interface is not required to interact with the Bridge or Protocol. You accept all risks associated with using the Interface. Bridging is an extremely novel technical area and is subject to material risks which may lead to total loss of user assets. All bridge interfaces, including the Interface, are subject to many known and unknown risks. You are not required to use the Interface, nor are we advising you in any way to use the Interface. The Interface itself is subject to many risks, including the Interface domain becoming compromised.

  1. Updates

We may make improvements, modifications, or updates to the Linea Offerings, including but not limited to changes and updates to the underlying software, infrastructure, security protocols, technical configurations, or offering features (collectively, the “Updates”) from time to time. Your continued access to and use of the Offerings are subject to such Updates and you shall accept any patches, system upgrades, bug fixes, feature modifications, or other maintenance work that arise out of such Updates. We are not liable for any failure by you to accept and use such Updates in the manner specified or required by us. We are also not obligated to make any Updates under any circumstances. Although we are not obligated to monitor access to or use of the Protocol or Bridge, we have the right to do so for the purpose of operating the Offerings, to ensure compliance with the Terms, or to comply with applicable law or other legal requirements. Your continued use of the updated Offerings will constitute your renewed, binding acceptance of the Terms after such modifications.

  1. Additional Risks

By using the Linea Offerings, you represent that you are sophisticated enough to understand the various inherent risks of using cryptographic and public blockchain-based systems such as rollups, including but not limited to the Protocol, Bridge, and Interface, and of digital assets generally, such as ETH and other digital tokens such as those following the ERC-20 Ethereum token standard. You further acknowledge and accept all such risks, and agree that we make no representations or warranties (expressly or implicitly) regarding the Offerings, and that you will not hold us liable for those risks, any or all of which could lead to losses and damages, including the total and irrevocable loss of your assets. You further represent that you have read, understand, and agree to the risks disclosures and disclaimers in the CSI Terms concerning blockchain account security, blockchain network technology, and network cost and performance, among other things. You acknowledge the additional risks set forth below:

  • Security Council. Certain aspects of the Protocol and the Bridge, as evolving pieces of public infrastructure, are governed by a Security Council made up of a certain number of individuals. The Security Council is currently a set of keyholders who administer certain aspects of the network through a multisignature wallet that requires a certain subset of the Council to sign a message in order to implement certain actions. The Security Council may implement, or fail to implement, a protocol upgrade that significantly impacts the the Protocol, or introduces other risks, bugs, malfunctions, cyberattack vectors, or other changes to the Protocol that could disrupt the operation of the Interface, the functionality of bridging, your ability to access bridged digital assets, or otherwise cause you damage or loss. The Security Council multisignature wallet itself may be the target of cyberattacks or other exploits, resulting in malicious acts that may cause you complete and total loss. You acknowledge and agree that the Security Council owes users of the Offerings no fiduciary duty and no other specialized duty of care and has no other relationship, contractual or otherwise, to users of the Protocol.
  • Smart contract token pools. The Bridge smart contracts control a pool of ETH tokens on the Ethereum protocol and a pool of Protocol-native ETH tokens on the Protocol. If either pool is fully depleted, then the Bridge would be unable to execute a user’s instruction to issue it a token on the network the user is trying to move their funds to. While there are measures in place to mitigate the risk of pool depletion, there may at the very least be delays in Bridge transactions while either pool is depleted or very low. You accept the risk that, after depositing a token on one end of the Bridge, you may not be able to get that token back due to the pool being depleted by other users.
  • Sequencer. The Protocol sequencer is the method through which transactions on the Protocol are ordered and finalized into blocks. It is software that accesses a private key for the purpose of signing messages continuously as blocks are created. Because the sequencer’s private key must remain online, there is risk that, despite inherent difficulties of such an attack and various mitigation efforts, the sequencer private key could be compromised and, as a result, the funds locked into the Bridge smart contracts could be stolen.
  • Rollup state. Although steps have been taken to ensure the code underlying the Protocol and the Bridge are robust and resilient, there is still the risk that a severe software bug exists that could corrupt the data that the rollup sends to the Ethereum network. Further, while a problem with a corrupted state could be addressed by the Security Council, such mitigation measures that may or may not be taken may also have unforeseen negative consequences on the Protocol or the Bridge and, as a result, on any of your funds. During the alpha, verification of the the rollup state may be delayed on Ethereum.
  • Cloud. Multiple components that contribute to the functioning of the Protocol are serviced by a commercial cloud computing provider. If that provider experiences service outages, then there will be an interruption in the functioning of the Protocol.
  • Regulatory risks. Digital assets, blockchain technology, and any related software and services are subject to legal and regulatory uncertainty in the United States and other jurisdictions. Legislative and regulatory changes or actions may adversely affect the usage, transferability, transactability and accessibility of the Protocol, the Bridge, or the Interface.
  • Additional risks, which may not be exhaustive, may be posted from time to time here: https://docs.linea.build/risk-disclosures
  1. Limitation of Liability and Disclaimer

WE AND OUR AFFILIATES AND LICENSORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND REGARDLESS OF THE LEGAL THEORY (CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE) ON WHICH ANY SUCH DAMAGES MAY BE BASED. THE LIMITATIONS IN THIS SECTION APPLY ONLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE LINEA OFFERINGS ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND/OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. CONSENSYS DOES NOT MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES THAT (I) ACCESS TO THE PROTOCOL, BRIDGE, OR INTERFACE WILL BE CONTINUOUS, UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY; (II) THE PROTOCOL WILL BE COMPATIBLE OR WORK WITH ANY SOFTWARE, SYSTEM OR OTHER SERVICES; (III) THE OFFERINGS WILL BE SECURE, COMPLETE, FREE OF HARMFUL CODE, OR ERROR-FREE; OR (IV) THE OFFERINGS WILL PREVENT ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO, ALTERATION OF, OR THE DELETION, DESTRUCTION, DAMAGE, LOSS OR FAILURE TO STORE ANY OF YOUR CONTENT OR OTHER DATA. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICES EXCEED $100 USD. If you are a resident of New Jersey or another jurisdiction that does not allow the exclusion or limitation of consequential or certain other damages, this limitation of liability is intended to apply only to the extent permitted by law.

  1. BINDING ARBITRATION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY – IT MAY SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT TO FILE A LAWSUIT IN COURT.

8.1 Binding Arbitration. Any dispute, claim or controversy (“Claim”) relating in any way to this Agreement, the Site, or your use of the Offerings will be resolved by binding arbitration as provided in this Section 8, rather than in court, except that you may assert claims in small claims court if your claims qualify.

8.1.1 If you are located in the United States: This agreement and any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with it or its subject matter or formation shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas. The Federal Arbitration Act and federal arbitration law apply to this Agreement. There is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is limited. However, an arbitrator can award on an individual basis the same damages and relief as a court (including injunctive and declaratory relief or statutory damages), and must follow the terms of this Agreement as a court would. The arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the expedited procedures set forth in the JAMS Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures (the “Rules”) as those Rules exist on the effective date of this Agreement, including Rules 16.1 and 16.2 of those Rules. The arbitrator’s decision shall be final, binding, and non-appealable. Judgment upon the award may be entered and enforced in any court having jurisdiction. Neither party shall sue the other party other than as provided herein or for enforcement of this clause or of the arbitrator’s award; any such suit may be brought only in a Federal District Court or a Texas state court located in Tarrant County, Texas. The arbitrator, and not any federal, state, or local court, shall have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation, applicability, unconscionability, arbitrability, enforceability, or formation of this Agreement including any claim that all or any part of the Agreement is void or voidable. If for any reason a claim proceeds in court rather than in arbitration we and you waive any right to a jury trial. Notwithstanding the foregoing we and you both agree that you or we may bring suit in court to enjoin infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights.

8.1.2 If you are located in the United Kingdom: This agreement and any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with it or its subject matter or formation shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales. Any dispute, claim or controversy relating in any way to this Agreement, the Offerings, your use of the Offerings, or to any products or services licensed or distributed by us will be resolved by binding arbitration as provided in this clause. Prior to commencing any formal arbitration proceedings, parties shall first seek settlement of any claim by mediation in accordance with the LCIA Mediation Rules, which Rules are deemed to be incorporated by reference into this clause. If the dispute is not settled by mediation within 14 days of the commencement of the mediation, or such further period as the parties shall agree in writing, the dispute shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration under the LCIA Rules, which are deemed to be incorporated by reference into this clause. The language to be used in the mediation and in the arbitration shall be English. The seat or legal place of arbitration shall be London.

8.1.3 If you are located in any territory that is not specifically enumerated in Sections 8.1.1 or 8.1.2, you may elect for either of Section 8.1.1 or 8.1.2 to apply to you, otherwise this Agreement and any Claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with it or its subject matter or formation shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of Ireland. Any Claim relating in any way to this Agreement, the Offerings, your use of the Offerings, or to any products or services licensed or distributed by us will be resolved by binding arbitration as provided in this clause. Prior to commencing any formal arbitration proceedings, parties shall first seek settlement of any claim by mediation in accordance with the LCIA Mediation Rules, which Rules are deemed to be incorporated by reference into this clause. If the dispute is not settled by mediation within 14 days of the commencement of the mediation, or such further period as the parties shall agree in writing, the Claim shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration under the LCIA Rules, which are deemed to be incorporated by reference into this clause. The language to be used in the mediation and in the arbitration shall be English. The seat or legal place of arbitration shall be Dublin, Ireland.

8.2 Class Action Waiver. YOU AND WE AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. YOU AND WE EXPRESSLY WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO FILE A CLASS ACTION OR SEEK RELIEF ON A CLASS BASIS. Unless both you and we agree, no arbitrator or judge may consolidate more than one person’s claims or otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding. The arbitrator may award injunctive relief only in favor of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by that party’s individual claim. If a court decides that applicable law precludes enforcement of any of this paragraph’s limitations as to a particular claim for relief, then that claim (and only that claim) must be severed from the arbitration and may be brought in court. If any court or arbitrator determines that the class action waiver set forth in this paragraph is void or unenforceable for any reason or that an arbitration can proceed on a class basis, then the arbitration provision set forth above shall be deemed null and void in its entirety and the parties shall be deemed to have not agreed to arbitrate disputes.

8.3 No Opt Out.

If you do not wish to be bound by the arbitration and class action waiver provisions or any of the terms set forth herein, you are not authorized to use the Linea Offerings, and you may not use the Linea offerings. The arbitration and class action waiver provisions are a fundamental term of our consideration in providing the Linea Offerings, and they are expressly not made available absent agreement to these provisions to the maximum extent permitted by law.