Risk Factors

Read This First

Using Starzip carries real risk of loss. A Store Token can lose all of its value, a Launchpad can be cancelled, a store can close, and a token can be removed from trading. Nothing on Starzip is capital-protected, insured, or guaranteed by anyone.

This page lists the risks we consider material. It is not exhaustive. Only commit funds you can afford to lose entirely.

Token Value and Liquidity

• Price volatility. Store Token prices are set by the order book, not by Starzip. Prices can fall sharply and without warning, and there is no floor price and no buyback obligation.
• Thin liquidity. A store token market can be small. Initial order-book liquidity is seeded with 10% of the funds raised, but that provides no guarantee that you can sell at a price you want, at a size you want, or at all.
• Concentration. A small number of holders may control a large share of a token supply. Their selling can move the price far more than it would on a larger market.
• Vesting. Tokens acquired in a Launchpad unlock gradually. You cannot sell locked tokens, and the price when they unlock may be much lower than when you committed funds.
• Supply unlocks. Circulating supply grows as participant tokens and the issuer reserve unlock on schedule. Each unlock adds potential sell pressure.

Launchpad Risks

• Cancellation before opening. If pre-registration comes in below 50% of the Soft Cap (that is, below 10% of the sale goal), the Launchpad is cancelled automatically three days before it would have opened.
• Soft cap failure. If the sale does not reach 20% of its goal, it is cancelled and all committed funds become refundable in full for you to claim from the escrow contract. You bear the opportunity cost of the funds having been committed.
• No listing. Reaching the soft cap does not oblige the issuer to list. If the issuer does not confirm listing, the sale is unwound and committed funds become refundable in full for you to claim from the escrow contract.
• Use of funds. After listing, the issuer withdraws the raised funds in stages against a published statement of intended use. A statement can be challenged on the facts, but the dispute process resolves factual accuracy, not commercial judgement. The issuer can spend the funds badly without any rule being broken.
• No refund after listing. Once a token is listed and distributed, there is no mechanism to reverse your participation.

Business and Listing Risks

• Store closure. A Store Token is tied to a real business. If the store closes, its benefits stop and the token may become worthless even if it remains tradable.
• Benefit changes. The issuer decides the store benefits attached to its token, including pricing, menu, rewards, and events. Holders have no vote on those decisions and no contractual right to any particular benefit.
• Delisting. A token can be removed from trading. Starzip gives advance notice and allows the store a period to respond before a delisting takes effect, and holders are given a window to withdraw.
• Review does not equal endorsement. Starzip reviews stores for compliance, authenticity, and platform suitability. Passing review is not a judgement about whether the business will succeed or whether its token is worth buying.
• Disclosure quality. Store information and quarterly statements come from the issuer. Starzip does not audit a store's finances.

Technology Risks

• Smart contracts. Contract code can contain defects. A defect in the escrow, settlement, vesting, or token contracts could cause loss of funds or of tokens.
• Self-custody. Users hold their own wallet keys. If you lose your keys or your recovery method, Starzip cannot restore access to your wallet.
• Wrong-network transfers. Sending assets on the wrong network or to the wrong address can cause permanent loss that no one can reverse.
• Network dependency. Starzip runs on opBNB. Congestion, an outage, a chain reorganisation, or a bridge failure can delay or block deposits, withdrawals, and settlement.
• Off-chain matching. Orders are matched off-chain and settled on-chain. An outage in the matching service can prevent you from placing or cancelling orders even when the chain is healthy.
• Security incidents. No platform is immune to compromise. A successful attack on Starzip or on a dependency could result in loss of assets or of data.

Regulatory Risks

Star Genesis Risks

• Rewards are not a return. Star Genesis rewards are utility distributions from a fixed platform allocation. They are not a yield, and no amount is promised or guaranteed.
• Rewards depend on activity Starzip does not control. Listing airdrops only occur when stores in your location actually list a token. If no store lists, there is no airdrop.
• Dilution among holders. Rewards for a location are divided among eligible holders. More eligible holders means a smaller share each.
• Provisional parameters. Emission, hashpower, durability, and repair figures are provisional and may change before launch.
• Claim windows and durability. Rewards must be claimed inside a short monthly window, and letting durability fall reduces or stops what you receive. Inaction has a cost.
• STAR does not exist yet. Rewards denominated in STAR depend on a future token generation event whose date and terms are not set. STAR-denominated features may be delayed or changed.

Platform and Operational Risks

• Policy changes. Fee rates, tokenomics parameters, and platform rules can change. Changes are announced in advance through official channels, and the current values are published in the Console and on this site.
• Feature availability. Features described in this whitepaper may ship later than expected, ship in a reduced form, or not ship at all.
• Key personnel and funding. Starzip is an early-stage venture. Its ability to operate and to develop the platform depends on continued funding and on a small team.
• Third parties. Fiat on-ramps, custody tooling, identity verification, and infrastructure providers are operated by third parties. Their failure or withdrawal can interrupt the service.
• Forward-looking statements. Statements about future plans reflect current intent, not commitments, and are not a forecast of results.