1. Acceptance & scope
These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Stargate Telegram Mini App and related smart contracts and APIs (the "Service"). By opening the Mini App or interacting with the Service in any way you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
These Terms may be updated from time to time at the operator's sole discretion. The current version is published in-app at /legal with a "Last updated" date at the top of the page. Continued use of the Service after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.
2. Service description
Stargate is a non-custodial interface that lets users swap value between Telegram Stars and on-chain assets:
• Stars ↔ TON (primary flow)
• TON ↔ ETH
• TON ↔ USDT-ERC20
• TON ↔ USDT-Jetton
The Service additionally offers a "stake" feature that lets a user lock incoming Stars value as on-chain TON collateral to unlock instant swap allowances. Funds remain under user control at all times except for the brief order-pipeline window during which the bridge contract holds value mid-route. The Service never takes long-term custody of user funds.
3. Eligibility & jurisdictional exclusions
You may use the Service only if you are at least 18 years old (or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction) and not subject to any sanctions or restrictions that would prevent you from doing so.
The Service is NOT offered to, and you must NOT use it if you are a resident, citizen, or located in:
• the United States of America (any state or territory)
• the European Union or European Economic Area
• the United Kingdom
• any country subject to comprehensive OFAC, EU, UK, or UN sanctions, including but not limited to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, the Crimea region, Donetsk People's Republic, and Luhansk People's Republic
These exclusions reflect regulatory considerations including (without limitation) the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), US Money Services Business (MSB) licensing, and applicable sanctions regimes. You represent and warrant that you are not in a restricted territory each time you use the Service.
4. No KYC; user-supplied destination address
The Service does NOT collect identity documents, government IDs, proof of address, biometrics, or any other "know-your-customer" data from end users.
For every swap, you must supply the destination wallet address yourself. Outbound transfers are made ONLY to the address you enter on the order screen. Stake refunds and on-chain releases return to the same address that received the original deposit credit. The Service will never silently re-route funds to a different address.
You are solely responsible for the accuracy of every address you provide. On-chain transactions are irreversible — addresses mistyped, copied from a malicious source, or controlled by a third party result in permanent loss of funds.
5. Fees & rates
The exchange rate shown to you on the quote screen already includes all operator spreads and fees. There is no separate fee, commission, surcharge, or markup added at any later step. The amount shown as "you pay" and the amount shown as "you receive" are the actual amounts that will move on-chain.
The breakdown shown on the quote screen is the authoritative description of what will happen on-chain. Network fees, smart-contract execution costs, and any on-chain protocol fees (e.g. Uniswap V3 pool fees on USDT-ERC20 swaps) are absorbed by the operator and already reflected in the rate.
Quotes are time-sensitive. If on-chain conditions change materially between quote issuance and order submission, the Service may decline the order and present a refreshed quote.
6. 21-day Stars-denominated hold
Orders paid with Telegram Stars at or above 20 Stars are subject to a 21-day freeze on the outgoing destination ("Stars Hold"). This window mirrors the Telegram Stars refund policy: Telegram allows users to request a refund of a Stars purchase within 21 days, and during that period the operator carries the risk of a clawback.
The Stars Hold is non-negotiable, applies automatically to qualifying orders, and is shown in the app as the unlock date next to the order. You may unlock funds earlier in two ways:
• Stake an equivalent value of on-chain collateral via the stake feature; or
• Wait for the operator's automated antifraud check to clear (occurs on a small subset of orders).
Funds released before the Stars Hold expires represent operator-extended credit. By accepting the Service you acknowledge that the operator may decline to extend such credit at its sole discretion for any reason.
7. Stake withdrawal cooldown
After requesting a stake withdrawal you must wait a 30-minute cooldown before submitting a new swap that consumes stake allowance. This cooldown prevents abusive patterns where a user could repeatedly stake and withdraw to extract value from short-term rate movements.
A single stake may have several unlock dates (one per Stars-paid swap that consumed it). Every unlock date is shown on the stake history screen; until each one clears, the corresponding portion stays frozen.
8. Cancellation policy
You may cancel an order while it is still awaiting your deposit. Once we have detected your deposit on-chain, the order can no longer be cancelled.
After cancelling an order you must wait a 30-minute cooldown before creating a new order. This cooldown prevents abusive patterns where a user could spam-cancel orders to re-quote against intra-minute on-chain rate movements.
If a deposit transaction arrives after you cancelled the order, the operator may automatically restore the order to credit the deposit; you must NOT rely on cancellation as a way to recover a deposit you have already sent.
9. Anti-money-laundering & fraud controls
We keep an internal record of every transfer (transaction hashes, addresses, amounts, timestamps, and the order context they came from) for compliance and dispute resolution.
We monitor Telegram Stars refund events automatically. When a refund is detected on an order whose outgoing value has already been delivered, the operator: (a) marks the user as blocked, (b) records the unpaid amount on the user account, and (c) marks any related stake positions as forfeited. Blocked users cannot create new orders.
The operator may, in its sole discretion, decline to process, delay, or refund any order it considers part of a fraudulent pattern, sanctions-evasion attempt, structuring, or other prohibited activity. The operator may report such activity to competent authorities.
10. Third-party processors & dependencies
The Service relies on external services operated by independent third parties:
• Telegram (Stars payment processing, refund-window enforcement, Mini App hosting)
• Toncenter (access to the TON network)
• Alchemy (access to the Ethereum network)
• Uniswap V3 (USDT-ERC20 swap execution on Ethereum)
• Sentry (error reporting; identifying information is removed before the report leaves the app)
Outages, policy changes, fee changes, terms changes, or operational decisions made by any of these third parties may affect the availability, speed, or behaviour of the Service. The operator does not control these third parties and provides no warranty or guarantee regarding their behaviour or continued availability.
11. Limitation of liability; "as-is" warranty
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AVAILABILITY, ACCURACY, OR FREEDOM FROM ERROR.
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the operator's aggregate liability to you for any claim arising out of or in connection with your use of the Service shall NOT exceed the total value of the specific order from which the claim arose, as denominated in the Service at the time of the order. The operator shall NOT be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, loss of data, loss of opportunity, or loss of business.
On-chain transactions are irreversible. The operator does NOT warrant the security of any wallet you use, the correctness of any address you supply, the behaviour of any smart contract operated by a third party, the availability of any third-party network service, the absence of network congestion, or the performance of any external bridge or pool.
12. Changes, governing law & contact
These Terms may be amended at any time. The current version is always published in-app at /legal with a "Last updated" date. Material changes will be reflected in the date; continued use after the update constitutes acceptance.
These Terms are governed by the laws of a neutral jurisdiction designated by the operator from time to time, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Disputes that cannot be resolved through good-faith discussion are subject to binding arbitration in that jurisdiction.
For support, contact the operator via the official Telegram channel: https://t.me/stargate_bridge