Terms of Service

1. What Payfer is

Payfer is software that lets people pay applications for usage-based services through a portable payment account. End users fund an account once, approve an application-specific monthly allowance, and applications collect payments within that allowance. Developers integrate Payfer with a publishable key and a server secret key and charge the app-scoped payment identifier (paymentUserId) issued for their application.

Payfer provides technology only: hosted consent and allowance management, payment orchestration, records and receipts. Payfer is not a party to the underlying transaction between a developer and its users, does not provide the developer’s goods, services, inference or content, and is not responsible for their quality, pricing, delivery or legality.

2. Not a bank. No custody of your balance. No deposit protection

Payfer is not a bank, trust company, credit union, investment dealer, or deposit-taking institution, and the Service is not a bank account. Payfer does not offer savings, interest, credit, investment, securities or insurance products.

Your spendable balance consists of digital assets (currently the pathUSD stablecoin on the Tempo network) recorded on a public blockchain in a wallet associated with your Payfer account. Payfer does not hold your balance as a deposit, does not pool user balances as its own property, and no balance is insured or guaranteed by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, any investor-protection fund, or Payfer. Stablecoins can lose value, lose their peg, become illiquid or unsupported, and blockchain records can be permanent and irreversible. You accept those risks in full.

Card top-ups are processed by Stripe and settled through Payfer’s treasury operations solely as a technical step to deliver the corresponding digital assets to your wallet. Any funds or assets in transit are subject to the applicable third-party and network risks described in these Terms.

3. Wallets, signatures and delegated execution

Accounts are accessed through email one-time codes and wallet infrastructure provided by Privy, including an embedded wallet whose credentials are controlled through your sign-in. When you approve an allowance, you sign authorization terms with that wallet binding the application, payee, chain, token, monthly limit, period and nonce. Payfer verifies that signature before activating the allowance and on each collection.

To make approved payments work while you are offline, you authorize Payfer and its delegated session signer to initiate transfers from your wallet only within a currently signed, active allowance, without asking you to approve each individual charge. Payfer cannot create a new allowance or raise a limit without a signature from your wallet, but within a signed allowance Payfer’s systems act on your standing instructions.

You are solely responsible for safeguarding access to your email account, devices and any wallet credentials, and for all activity that occurs through them, whether or not authorized by you. Email-account compromise, phishing, malware, device loss and similar events are your risk, not Payfer’s. Blockchain transactions are generally irreversible: a completed transfer cannot be recalled by Payfer, and an incorrectly addressed, duplicated or fraudulently induced transfer may be unrecoverable.

• Never share one-time codes or credentials. Payfer will never ask for them outside the hosted sign-in flow.
• Review the application name, monthly limit and renewal terms before approving. Approving charges nothing by itself, but it authorizes future collections up to the limit.
• You may reduce or revoke an allowance at any time through the hosted management page or dashboard; revocation stops new commitments, but previously signed or submitted payments may still settle.

4. Allowances, charges, metering and refunds

• A monthly allowance is an aggregate spending ceiling for a UTC calendar month. Unused allowance does not roll over. Increases require fresh signed approval; decreases and revocation take effect as described in the Service and documentation.
• Charges and metered collections are subject to the minimum charge, allowance availability, balance availability, reservations, period boundaries and reconciliation rules described in the documentation. A reservation limits authorized spending; it does not guarantee that funds are or will remain available.
• If a collection fails, is reversed by a network or processor event, or cannot be reconciled, the corresponding developer proceeds may be withheld, adjusted or recovered as permitted by law and these Terms.
• Refunds are decided by the developer whose application collected the payment, not by Payfer. Payfer provides an idempotent refund mechanism; the developer is responsible for its refund policy, user communications and any amounts it owes its users.

5. Card funding, processing fees and reversals

Card funding is provided through Stripe Checkout and is subject to Stripe’s terms. A card processing fee disclosed before payment is added on top of the amount credited to your balance. Your balance is credited only after the card payment settles and the corresponding on-chain delivery completes.

If a card payment is disputed, charged back, reversed, refunded by the issuer, or found to be unauthorized or fraudulent, you are liable for the amount credited and spent, plus associated processor and network costs, to the maximum extent permitted by law. Payfer may deduct the corresponding assets from your wallet or balance, suspend funding or account access, set off amounts you owe, and pursue recovery. Do not fund with a payment method you are not authorized to use.

6. Developers

• Keep your secret key confidential and on your server. Anyone with it can act as your application. You are responsible for all calls made with your keys, for the users and charges you submit, and for having a lawful basis to charge each paymentUserId you store.
• You set your own prices and markups, pay your own providers, and are solely responsible for your application, its content, its users’ transactions, refunds and disputes, taxes, consumer disclosures, and compliance with laws applicable to your business (including money transmission, consumer protection, privacy, sanctions and tax laws that apply to you).
• Applications begin in test mode. Going live requires at least one registered origin and a payout destination, and browser calls are then accepted only from registered origins. Test keys settle on a test network with test assets; do not represent test activity as real-money activity.
• Developer fees are described on the pricing page and documentation and are deducted from collections at settlement. Fees may change prospectively on notice. Continued use after a fee change takes effect is acceptance of it.
• Payfer may suspend or terminate an application, key, origin or payout configuration at any time for suspected fraud, abuse, legal risk, network risk, or violation of these Terms, without liability for resulting losses.

7. Eligibility and acceptable use

You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority where you live, if higher), legally able to enter contracts, resident in Canada (excluding Quebec) or the United States, and not barred from using the Service under applicable law. The Service is offered only in Canada (excluding Quebec) and the United States at this time, and is not available to residents of Quebec. You must provide accurate information and keep it current.

You must not use the Service for any unlawful purpose, including fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, market manipulation, infringement, sale of illegal or regulated goods or services without required licences, deceptive practices, or harm to Payfer, its users, developers, processors or networks. You must not interfere with, probe, overload, reverse-engineer (except as law permits), or circumvent the security, rate limits, allowance controls or signature checks of the Service. Payfer may monitor for abuse, refuse, suspend or report activity, and cooperate with lawful requests, without any obligation to monitor.

8. Third-party services, blockchain and smart-contract risk

The Service depends on third parties and public infrastructure outside Payfer’s control, including Privy (authentication and wallets), Stripe (card funding), the Tempo blockchain and its validators and token contracts, any Payfer allowance or settlement smart contracts, hosting and email providers, and the open internet. Any of them may fail, pause, fork, change rules, raise fees, suffer exploits, or become unavailable. Smart contracts may contain bugs and may be upgradeable as documented; upgrade keys and administrative controls are held as described in the contract documentation.

Public blockchain transactions are visible to anyone and can be correlated. Do not use the Service if you require transaction anonymity. Payfer does not control blockchain confirmations, ordering, gas or sponsorship availability, token issuer actions (including freezes or redemptions), or network-level censorship.

9. Availability, changes and suspension

The Service is provided on an evolving basis. Payfer may add, change, limit, suspend or discontinue any part of it, including networks, tokens, providers, limits, minimums and fees, at any time. Payfer may suspend or terminate any account, application, allowance or key, or refuse any transaction, at any time in its sole discretion where it believes there is fraud, abuse, security or legal risk, or a violation of these Terms. Where practicable and lawful, Payfer will give notice, but it is not required to do so where risk requires immediate action. Already-settled blockchain transactions cannot be undone by suspension or termination.

10. Intellectual property and feedback

Payfer and its licensors own the Service, software, documentation, marks and content other than your and developers’ own materials. These Terms grant only a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service as provided. If you send feedback or suggestions, Payfer may use them without restriction or payment.

11. No warranties

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICE, SOFTWARE, DOCUMENTATION, NETWORKS, TOKENS AND ANY SMART CONTRACTS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, SECURITY, OR THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS. PAYFER DOES NOT WARRANT THAT ANY TRANSACTION WILL BE PROCESSED, SETTLED, REVERSIBLE, TIMELY, OR AVAILABLE AT ANY PRICE, PEG OR VALUE.

12. No liability for loss of funds; limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, PAYFER AND ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, LICENSORS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS, THEFT, DIMINUTION, INACCESSIBILITY OR DESTRUCTION OF FUNDS OR DIGITAL ASSETS, HOWEVER CAUSED, INCLUDING FROM: COMPROMISE OR UNAUTHORIZED USE OF AN EMAIL ACCOUNT, DEVICE, WALLET, KEY, SESSION SIGNER OR DELEGATED AUTHORITY; PHISHING OR SOCIAL ENGINEERING; WALLET, SMART-CONTRACT, TOKEN, BRIDGE OR BLOCKCHAIN BUGS, EXPLOITS, FORKS, HALTS, REORGANIZATIONS OR CENSORSHIP; STABLECOIN DEPEGGING, FREEZING, REDEMPTION FAILURE OR LOSS OF VALUE; PRIVY, STRIPE, HOSTING, EMAIL, NETWORK OR OTHER THIRD-PARTY FAILURE, INSOLVENCY OR MISCONDUCT; DEVELOPER PRICING, CONTENT, REFUSAL, INSOLVENCY OR MISCONDUCT; GOVERNMENT, ISSUER OR VALIDATOR ACTION; ERRORS IN ADDRESSES, AMOUNTS, PRICE CALCULATIONS OR INSTRUCTIONS SUPPLIED BY YOU, A DEVELOPER OR A USER; MARKET, LIQUIDITY, TAX OR REGULATORY CHANGES; OR OUR EXERCISE OF SUSPENSION, REVOCATION, SET-OFF OR TERMINATION RIGHTS UNDER THESE TERMS.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, PAYFER WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, BUSINESS, GOODWILL, DATA OR OPPORTUNITY, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY. PAYFER’S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE FEES YOU PAID PAYFER FOR THE SERVICE IN THE THREE MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, AND (B) USD 100. THIS CAP IS CUMULATIVE, APPLIES REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION OR THEORY OF LIABILITY, AND IS A FUNDAMENTAL BASIS OF THE BARGAIN. IF A REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE, THIS LIMITATION STILL APPLIES.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, and these Terms will be read to give the exclusions and caps above the widest effect permitted by applicable law. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions or caps; in those jurisdictions Payfer’s liability is limited to the smallest amount permitted.

13. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless Payfer and its directors, officers, employees, contractors, licensors and service providers from and against any claims, demands, actions, damages, judgments, penalties, fines, losses, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your or, for developers, your application’s or users’ use of the Service; (b) your breach of these Terms or of any law, sanction, or third-party right; (c) any transaction, charge, refund, dispute, chargeback or instruction originated by you or with your keys, wallet, allowance or account; (d) for developers, your products, services, pricing, content, disclosures and acts or omissions toward your users; and (e) any taxes or reporting obligations that are yours. Payfer may control the defence of any matter subject to this section, and you will cooperate. This section survives termination.

14. Taxes and reporting

You are solely responsible for determining, collecting, reporting and remitting any taxes, duties or assessments arising from your funding, receipts, payments, income or use of digital assets, and for keeping your own records. Payfer does not provide tax, accounting, legal or investment advice and may provide transaction records or reports as required by law.

15. Disputes: informal resolution, arbitration, no class actions

Before filing any claim, you agree to contact Payfer at support@payfer.me and attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute informally for 30 days. Most concerns can be resolved this way.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ANY DISPUTE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS WILL BE RESOLVED EXCLUSIVELY BY BINDING, CONFIDENTIAL, INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION, AND NOT IN COURT AND NOT AS A CLASS, COLLECTIVE, REPRESENTATIVE OR CONSOLIDATED ACTION. YOU AND PAYFER WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL AND TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. The arbitration will be conducted by a single arbitrator in English, seated in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, under Ontario’s arbitration legislation and, where the parties agree or the arbitrator directs, recognized commercial arbitration rules. The arbitrator’s award is final and may be entered in any competent court. The arbitrator may award only relief permitted by these Terms, including the liability exclusions and cap above.

Either party may bring an individual claim in a small-claims court of competent jurisdiction, and either party may seek provisional or injunctive relief from a competent court to protect intellectual property, confidential information, funds at immediate risk, or the status quo, without waiving arbitration. If the arbitration agreement in this section is held unenforceable as to a dispute, that dispute will be brought exclusively in the courts of Ontario, Canada, and you consent to that jurisdiction and venue and waive objections based on forum. Nothing in this section limits any non-waivable consumer right to complain to a regulator or to rely on mandatory law.

16. Governing law

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules that would require another jurisdiction’s laws. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

17. Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time and may revoke allowances and, where the Service permits, close your account. Payfer may suspend or terminate your access as described above. Termination does not affect: completed blockchain transactions; amounts owed; accrued fees; refund, chargeback and recovery rights; or the No warranties, No liability for loss of funds, Indemnification, Disputes or Governing law sections, which survive. Where Payfer terminates an end-user account with a spendable balance and no legal, fraud, sanctions or processor hold applies, Payfer will provide a reasonable method and period to direct remaining assets to a wallet address you control, less applicable network costs; unclaimed assets may be treated as required by applicable unclaimed-property law.

18. Changes to these Terms

Payfer may update these Terms from time to time. The updated Terms will be posted at payfer.me/terms with a revised effective date. Material changes will be announced by posting, email or in-Service notice where required by law. Continued use of the Service after updated Terms take effect constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree, stop using the Service and revoke allowances. Updates do not retroactively alter completed transactions except as required by law.

19. General

• Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, documents incorporated by reference (including pricing and developer documentation for the features they describe), and any signed authorization together govern the Service and supersede prior understandings about it.
• Severability and interpretation. If any provision is held unenforceable, it will be reformed to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or if that is not possible, severed, and the remaining provisions continue in full effect. No provision will be construed against a party as drafter. Headings are for convenience only.
• No waiver. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. A waiver must be in a signed or expressly confirmed writing.
• Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any account, key or allowance without Payfer’s prior written consent; any attempt is void. Payfer may assign these Terms and the Service, in whole or part, to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, corporate reorganization or sale of assets, without your consent.
• Notices and contact. Payfer may give notice by posting, by email to your account email, or through the Service. You may contact Payfer, including for legal notices, at support@payfer.me. Notice to Payfer is effective on confirmed receipt. Keep your email address current.
• No third-party beneficiaries. Except for the indemnified and released persons expressly named, there are no third-party beneficiaries. Developers and users have no rights against each other under these Terms other than as provided by their own agreement and applicable law.
• Language. The parties have expressly required that these Terms and all related documents be drawn up in English. Les parties ont expressément exigé que la présente convention et tous les documents connexes soient rédigés en anglais.
• Mandatory rights preserved. Nothing in these Terms limits rights or remedies that applicable law provides and that cannot lawfully be waived. Where a consumer-protection statute conflicts with these Terms, the statute prevails to the extent of the conflict.