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Harbor Protocol Terms of Use

Effective date: 19 December 2025

These Terms apply to your access to and use of the Interface from the Effective date above. If you used the Interface before these Terms were first published on the Interface or documentation site, your continued use after publication constitutes your ratification of, and agreement to, these Terms for all such use from the Effective date forward.

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Harbor web interface at app.harborfinance.io and related Harbor front ends (the "Interface"). The Interface helps you interact with Harbor Protocol smart contracts on public blockchains (the "Protocol"). Our Privacy Policy describes how the Interface handles data.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Interface.

1. Introduction and agreement​

These Terms are a binding agreement between you ("User" or "you") and the open-source contributors and community members (collectively, "Harbor Protocol," "Harbor," "we," or the "DAO") who maintain the Interface. Harbor is operationally led by core contributors who emerged from the broader Harbor community. That coordination does not create a company, partnership, employment relationship, or other legal entity.

Important notice: Harbor Protocol is organized as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in aspiration and community governance, and has no single legal entity. At present, the core contributors described above make all operational and protocol decisions. As the Protocol gains traction, Harbor intends to put formal community governance in place. By using the Interface, you acknowledge and agree that:

  • No service provider: The Interface is a public good maintained by community contributors, including the core contributors described above. There is no company, partnership, or central entity providing "services" to you.
  • Non-custodial: We do not have custody, possession, or control of your assets at any time. You are solely responsible for the security of your private keys and wallet.
  • No fiduciary duties: Contributors, developers, governance participants, and token holders associated with Harbor do not owe you any fiduciary duty. Nothing in the Interface or Protocol creates a relationship of trust, agency, advisory, or fiduciary obligation.
  • Assumption of risk: You understand the inherent risks of decentralized finance (DeFi), including smart contract bugs, oracle failures, liquidation, and market volatility.

2. Eligibility and prohibited jurisdictions​

By using the Interface, you represent and warrant that:

  • You are at least 18 years old.
  • You are not a resident, citizen, or agent of a Prohibited Jurisdiction, and you are not a person or entity on a Restricted Party List, as defined below.

2.1 Policy-based Prohibited Jurisdictions​

Harbor's own Interface access policy (separate from mandatory sanctions law) treats the following as Prohibited Jurisdictions: the United States, Canada, Mainland China, and any other country or territory Harbor designates by notice on the Interface or documentation site.

We may restrict access to the Interface (including via geoblocking) from any Prohibited Jurisdiction. Use of a VPN or other tools to circumvent these restrictions is a breach of these Terms.

2.2 Legally mandated sanctions​

Independently of Harbor's policy exclusions in Section 2.1, you represent that you are not located in, ordinarily resident in, or organized under the laws of a comprehensively sanctioned country or territory, and that you are not identified on any of the following Restricted Party Lists (as updated from time to time by the issuing authority):

Effective reference: for purposes of these Terms, the Restricted Party Lists and comprehensive country/territory sanctions programs are those in force as of this Terms' Effective date (19 December 2025), as subsequently amended by the relevant authority. You must comply with the then-current version of each list and program when you use the Interface.

Precedence: if the OFAC, UN, and EU sources conflict as applied to you or your activity, the most restrictive applicable restriction controls for Interface eligibility under these Terms. Where Harbor's policy-based Prohibited Jurisdictions (Section 2.1) are broader than legally mandated sanctions (this Section 2.2), the policy exclusion still applies to Interface access; it does not replace or limit any legal sanctions obligation you may have under applicable law.

3. The Interface vs. the Protocol​

It is important to understand the distinction:

  • The Protocol: Smart contracts on public blockchains. Many core components use upgradeable proxy patterns and may be updated by authorized parties for migrations, bug fixes, and protocol improvements (currently under core-contributor control; subject to formal governance when implemented). These may include, without limitation, minters, stability pools, leveraged token (hs) markets, yield (hy) vaults, genesis (Maiden Voyage) contracts, zap routers, price oracles, and related Harbor infrastructure. Harbor cannot "pause" or "reverse" your confirmed on-chain transactions except where specific, publicly visible contract logic allows it.
  • The Interface: The website or application you use to view markets and format transactions. It is a visualizer and convenience layer. You may interact with the Protocol directly (e.g., via a block explorer or your own software) without this Interface.

Third-party dependencies: The Interface and Protocol may rely on third-party services or infrastructure, including wallet providers, RPC nodes, indexers, oracle providers, swap aggregators, bridges, and other external software. We do not control and are not responsible for the operation, availability, accuracy, or security of such third-party services.

Disclaimer: These Terms apply to the Interface only. Once your transaction is submitted to a blockchain, we cannot reverse its execution. Authorized contract upgrades may change future Protocol behavior; they do not affect transactions already finalized on-chain.

4. Protocol features and no guarantees​

The Interface may expose access to various Harbor products, which can change over time, including but not limited to:

  • Earn (ha tokens): Minting, redeeming, and depositing into stability pools pegged to assets such as USD, ETH, BTC, EUR, gold, or silver.
  • Leverage (hs tokens): Minting and redeeming leveraged exposure via Leverage (Sail) markets.
  • Harbor Yield (hy tokens): Auto-compounding or yield-oriented products where deployed.
  • Maiden Voyage / genesis: Time-limited or capped deposit phases for new markets.
  • Zaps and bundled transactions: One-click paths that combine approvals, swaps, mints, and pool deposits.

Availability of any feature, market, chain, or token is not guaranteed. Markets may be marked "coming soon," paused, capped, or deprecated. Documentation and UI labels are informational and may lag deployed contracts.

For product context, see How It Works, Risk Considerations, and Fees.

5. Prohibited activities​

You agree not to use the Interface to:

  • Engage in market manipulation (e.g., wash trading, spoofing, or coordinated price distortion).
  • Disguise your origin (e.g., using VPNs) to circumvent geoblocking or jurisdictional restrictions.
  • Launch cyberattacks (e.g., DDoS, injection of malicious code, or exploitation attempts against the Interface).
  • Launder money, finance terrorism, or violate applicable anti-money-laundering or sanctions laws.
  • Interact with the Protocol in any way that violates applicable law in your jurisdiction.

6. Assumption of risk​

By using Harbor, you assume all risks, including but not limited to:

  • Smart contract risk: The Protocol consists of autonomous smart contracts. They may contain bugs, vulnerabilities, or design flaws. Interactions may result in total and irreversible loss of digital assets.
  • Upgrade and migration risk: Core Protocol components may be upgraded or migrated by authorized parties. Future contract behavior, parameters, or migration paths may change. Upgrades do not reverse transactions already finalized on-chain.
  • No insurance: Your funds are not insured by the FDIC, SIPC, or any government deposit or investor protection scheme.
  • Liquidation and depeg risk: Leveraged positions may be liquidated automatically. Pegged tokens may trade below or above their target. Stability pool deposits can incur losses depending on market conditions and protocol design.
  • Yield and reward risk: Displayed APRs, marks, rewards, and projections are estimates and may change. Past or projected yield is not a guarantee of future returns.
  • Genesis and capped markets: Maiden Voyage and similar programs may have lockups, caps, early-withdrawal fees, or launch delays. You may be unable to exit on your preferred timeline.
  • Regulatory risk: Regulators may view parts of the Protocol as unregistered securities activity, derivatives, or exchange activity. This could lead to Interface restrictions or legal action against users in some jurisdictions.
  • Oracle risk: The Protocol relies on oracles and price aggregators. Malfunction, delay, or manipulation can cause incorrect mint/redeem rates, liquidations, or valuations.
  • Bridge and L2 risk: If you use Harbor on layer-2 networks or via bridged assets, you accept bridge, sequencer, and cross-chain risks.
  • Transaction irreversibility: Confirmed blockchain transactions cannot be reversed, cancelled, or modified by Harbor, the Interface, or any contributor.

See also Risk Considerations.

Nothing on the Interface constitutes financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Information about ha, hs, and hy tokens, stability pools, leverage, yields, marks, fees, and markets is provided for informational purposes only.

You are solely responsible for evaluating the merits and risks of any transaction. Consult your own financial, legal, and tax advisors before using digital assets or DeFi protocols.

8. No warranties (as-is)​

THE INTERFACE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE INTERFACE WILL BE ERROR-FREE, UNINTERRUPTED, OR FREE OF MALWARE.

9. Limitation of liability​

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE DAO, ITS CONTRIBUTORS, DEVELOPERS, OR GOVERNANCE PARTICIPANTS (WHEN APPLICABLE) BE LIABLE FOR:

  • ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES.
  • LOSS OF FUNDS ARISING FROM SMART CONTRACT VULNERABILITIES, PROTOCOL EXPLOITS, WALLET COMPROMISE, USER ERROR, THIRD-PARTY SERVICES, OR ANY INTERACTION WITH THE PROTOCOL.
  • ANY DAMAGES OR LIABILITY WHATSOEVER, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE PROTOCOL OR THESE TERMS.

Specific waiver for contributors and participants: You acknowledge that Harbor is organized as a decentralized autonomous organization in aspiration and community governance, and has no single legal entity. You agree not to hold any individual contributor, token holder, or governance participant personally liable for the actions or omissions of Harbor or the community collectively (as referred to as the "DAO" in these Terms). You waive any right to characterize Harbor or its contributors as a general partnership.

10. Indemnification​

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the DAO and its contributors from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of your use of the Interface, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any applicable laws or third-party rights.

11. Dispute resolution and class action waiver​

Please read this section carefully. It limits your legal rights.

11.1 Binding arbitration​

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the Interface shall be resolved through binding arbitration on an individual basis between you and Harbor (as defined in Section 1). Harbor has no single legal entity; naming Harbor as the arbitration counterparty does not create a company, partnership, or other legal person, and does not make any individual contributor, developer, token holder, or governance participant a separate arbitration counterparty or personally liable, except as required by applicable law or unless that person has separately agreed in writing to be bound as a party to the dispute. Any arbitration award or claim remains subject to the limitations and waivers in Section 9.

11.2 Class action waiver​

YOU WAIVE THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OR CLASS-WIDE ARBITRATION AGAINST HARBOR OR ANY PERSON COVERED BY SECTION 9. You agree that any dispute under these Terms will be resolved solely on an individual basis between you and Harbor as provided in Section 11.1.

12. Modification of terms​

Harbor contributors may modify these Terms at any time. Updated Terms will be posted on the Interface and/or documentation site with a revised effective date. Your continued use of the Interface after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the modified Terms. If you used the Interface before an updated version was posted, your continued use after that update is posted constitutes ratification of the updated Terms for your use from the revised effective date, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

13. Contact​

Harbor is community-maintained. For questions about these Terms or the Privacy Policy, use official Harbor communication channels linked from the Interface (e.g., Discord). There is no guaranteed response time and no obligation to provide support.

Summary​

Harbor is non-custodial DeFi software. You keep control of your wallet. You bear all risks. The Interface is not advice, not a bank, and not a guarantee of returns.