We will never lie to a player.

This is the CHIP Constitution — the product's structural guarantee. It governs every page, every email, every boss fight, every line of code. It is also the compliance framework: the rules are enforced in the product, not just promised in the copy.

The 10 articles.

This is the binding anti-manipulation pledge. It appears verbatim from the CHIP Brand Voice Guide. Every person who builds or writes for CHIP must read and follow it.

  1. Article 1: Never lie to a player.

    No fake deadlines. No fabricated matches. No invented "we tried 7x." No manufactured scarcity. Every number is real. Every deadline is real. Every boss has a name, a budget, and a real objective that will actually be funded or not.

  2. Article 2: Every dollar is followable.

    The Glass Ledger is default-public for every arcade. A player can click any dollar they gave and see where it went — the line item, the amount, the date, the outcome. CHIP publishes its own ledger first.

  3. Article 3: Money is always a move.

    Donations are earmarked by default. There is no vague "support us" — there is "chip in on this boss," "fund this FOIA," "stack up for this campaign." Players know what their money is doing.

  4. Article 4: Caps are real and enforced.

    Every player sets a monthly cap. The platform enforces it — hard. No "just this once" overrides. No dark patterns to bump the cap. The player owns the ceiling; we are the bouncer who keeps them under it.

  5. Article 5: The player owns their inbox.

    Contact cadence is per-channel and player-set. "Unsubscribe" is one click and permanent. Email fatigue is a design failure, not a monetization opportunity.

  6. Article 6: Fun is a feature. Joy retains.

    The game layer exists because giving should feel good — streaks, badges, boss wins, squad camaraderie. But fun never comes at the cost of honesty. No gambling (badges are achievement-only, no cash/redeemable value). No pay-to-win. No prizes-of-value for money.

  7. Article 7: No data sales. Ever.

    Player data is not a product. Donor privacy is the default. Aggregate income appears in the ledger; individual donor identity never does. Never sell, rent, or trade player data.

  8. Article 8: The platform serves the cause.

    CHIP is infrastructure. Causes keep their own identity, their own voice, their own relationship with players. CHIP appears as a trust mark — "Powered by CHIP — Glass Ledger verified" — not as a landlord.

  9. Article 9: Accessibility is respect.

    The 8-bit theme degrades gracefully. Reduced motion kills the animations but keeps the game. High contrast keeps the ledger legible. Everyone plays.

  10. Article 10: If we break it, we say so.

    Errors, breaches, downtime, mistakes — CHIP publishes them. The trust brand dies the day we hide a problem.

Trust is built in code, not copy.

CHIP's non-negotiable product rules are enforced at the platform layer. Creators and players interact with these rules as product features, not as terms they scroll past.

KYC & Identity Verification

Every creator completes identity verification (KYC) during onboarding via [provider name, e.g., Persona-type]. Entity type, EIN or FEC ID, and payout account are verified before an arcade can receive funds.

Per-Arcade Compliance Profiles

Each arcade has a compliance profile based on the creator's entity type. This gates features, enforces applicable contribution limits, triggers required disclosures, and applies the correct tax-status labeling.

Entity type Tax-deductible? Contribution limits? Foreign national funds? Compliance gates
501(c)(3) charity Yes None (charitable) Allowed State charitable solicitation registration
501(c)(4) advocacy No None (non-charitable) Allowed with restrictions "Not tax-deductible" disclosure required
Federal PAC No FEC limits apply Prohibited FEC conduit/earmark rules, source prohibitions, disclaimer requirements
Federal candidate No FEC limits apply Prohibited Full FEC compliance: contribution limits, source bans, disclaimers
Community/other Varies Varies Varies Determined at onboarding

Contribution Limits & Source Prohibitions

For political arcades (candidate/PAC), CHIP enforces applicable contribution limits and source prohibitions at the payment layer:

  • Foreign-national funds are blocked for election-related activity (geo + ID checks)
  • Corporate funds blocked where barred
  • Per-person, per-cycle limits enforced
  • Required FEC disclaimers on every contribution flow

Caps Enforcement

Player-set monthly caps are hard-enforced by the platform. A chip-in that would exceed the cap is rejected with a clear explanation. Caps can be lowered anytime. Increasing a cap requires explicit confirmation with a cooling-off period.

Required Disclosures

Every donation flow and arcade footer includes:

  • Tax status of the recipient cause (501(c)(3) vs. 501(c)(4) vs. political vs. other)
  • "This contribution is [not] tax-deductible"
  • CHIP platform fee disclosure
  • Payment processing fee disclosure
  • Who receives the funds (the cause, not CHIP)
  • Refund policy

The structural safeguards.

Privacy by Default

Individual donor identities are never public. The Glass Ledger shows aggregate amounts and line items only. Player data is never sold, rented, or traded.

Contact Control

Players set their own contact cadence per channel. "Unsubscribe" is one click and permanent. Email fatigue is treated as a product failure, not a monetization opportunity.

No Gambling

The game layer is designed to avoid any gambling or sweepstakes classification:

  • Badges are achievement-only (earned, not bought)
  • No cash or redeemable value for any collectible
  • No chance-based payouts
  • No "consideration + chance + prize" structure
  • The "win" in "Chip in. Stack up. Win." refers to funded objectives, not monetary prizes

Anti-Manipulation Enforcement

The Constitution's rules are enforced in the product:

  • Boss deadlines are validated as real dates with real objectives
  • "Match" language is gated — only appears when a real, named, verifiable match exists
  • No countdown timers unless the deadline is real and user-requested
  • No dark patterns in any flow (confirmed by design review before launch)

How we protect the platform.

  • PCI-DSS: Card data is tokenized and handled entirely within the payment processor's hosted fields. CHIP minimizes PCI scope.
  • Encryption: Data encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3 minimum).
  • Audit logging: All administrative actions, data access, and configuration changes are logged and immutable.
  • Multi-tenant isolation: Row-level security in Postgres. No cross-arcade data leakage.
  • SOC 2: On the roadmap. We'll publish the timeline and progress.
  • Breach response: If a breach occurs, affected parties are notified within 72 hours. CHIP publishes a post-mortem.

What CHIP is and is not.

CHIP is a technology platform, not a charity, political committee, or money transmitter. CHIP, PBC provides software and infrastructure to causes, campaigns, and community groups. All donations are processed by [payment processor name], a licensed payment processor. Funds settle directly to each cause's designated account. CHIP never takes custody of donor funds.

Tax deductibility varies by recipient cause. Some causes on CHIP are 501(c)(3) charitable organizations — contributions may be tax-deductible. Others are 501(c)(4) advocacy organizations, political action committees, or candidate campaigns — contributions to these causes are NOT tax-deductible. Each arcade clearly displays the tax status of its recipient cause. Consult a tax professional regarding the deductibility of any contribution.

CHIP does not provide legal, tax, or compliance advice. Creators are responsible for their own compliance with applicable laws, including charitable solicitation registration, campaign finance reporting, and tax obligations. CHIP provides compliance tools and guardrails — these are aids, not replacements for professional counsel.

Not legal advice. The information on this page describes CHIP's product features and policies. It does not constitute legal advice. Consult qualified counsel for your specific situation.

If something's wrong, we want to know.

For Players

If you see a boss with a fake deadline, a match that can't be verified, or any manipulative copy on CHIP — report it. Every report is investigated. Confirmed violations are corrected publicly (with a correction line in the Glass Ledger).

Report: report@chip.discnxt.com

For Creators

If you believe a compliance gate is incorrectly applied to your arcade, or you need help with a specific regulatory requirement — contact compliance review.

Contact: compliance@chip.discnxt.com

Enforcement

CHIP reserves the right to suspend or remove arcades that violate the Constitution or applicable law. Enforcement actions are documented. The Glass Ledger of a suspended arcade remains public and append-only — the record is never deleted.