Risks & Legal Notice
Legal Notice & Risk Disclosure
Effective Date: 25 June 2025
By accessing or interacting with the Autopilot Protocol (“Autopilot” or “the Protocol”), you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and accepted the terms, conditions, and associated risks described below. This document promotes transparency and informed participation in a decentralized ecosystem. It does not constitute legal, financial, tax, or investment advice.
Protocol Overview
Autopilot is a decentralized, non-custodial, and permissionless system built to automate veAERO and veVELO voting and optimize reward realization across DeFi environments on Base and Optimism networks. Although developed with strong emphasis on code quality, operational security, and performance, participation involves risks inherent to blockchain-based financial applications.
No Financial, Legal, or Tax Advice
All materials and communications published by Autopilot—including website content, GitBook documentation, and social channels—are provided for general informational purposes only. Nothing should be interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation to perform any financial activity.
You are solely responsible for evaluating all decisions. Autopilot encourages consulting qualified legal, financial, or tax professionals before acting on any opportunity involving the Protocol.
Non-Custodial Architecture
Autopilot never holds or controls user funds. All interactions occur directly on-chain. Your digital assets—including veAERO or veVELO NFTs, reward tokens, and wallet balances—remain in your custody at all times.
You maintain full control of your wallet and private keys.
Lost or compromised keys can result in irreversible asset loss.
The Autopilot team cannot access, recover, or modify user funds or contract logic under any circumstance.
Smart Contract Risk
Even after audit and testing, smart contracts carry unavoidable risks, including:
Undiscovered logic flaws or vulnerabilities
Edge-case behavior not detected during development
Exploitation of incentive mechanisms or state transitions
Dependency failures in automation, price feeds, or off-chain orchestration
Network-level disruptions such as reorganizations, congestion, or extreme gas volatility
Autopilot contracts are immutable and contain no administrative backdoors, but—like all on-chain systems—they are limited in upgradeability, recovery, and adaptability to future threats.
Market, Liquidity & Execution Risks
Autopilot operates within open, permissionless DeFi markets. Execution outcomes are affected by external conditions and may vary.
Reward Conversion Volatility: Rewards are converted to USDC; final yield depends on execution prices at claim time.
Slippage & Price Impact: Thin liquidity or volatile markets can reduce realized returns.
Liquidity Risk: Limited depth may lead to partial fills, suboptimal execution, or settlement delays.
MEV & Front-Running: While routing logic minimizes exposure, some MEV risk remains inherent to on-chain trading.
Third-Party Dependencies: Autopilot integrates with DEXs, bridges, and ve(3,3) protocols (e.g., Aerodrome, Velodrome). Failures or changes in these systems may affect reward distribution or vote execution.
All outcomes remain non-deterministic until confirmed on-chain.
Timing Constraints & System Operations
Autopilot enforces specific timing and operational rules to maintain fairness and reliability:
Special Windows: During predefined restriction periods, deposits and withdrawals are paused to protect reward and voting integrity.
Epoch Timing: Missing required timeframes may cause forfeiture of rewards for that epoch.
Automation Dependence: Vote and claim processes rely on decentralized automation, RPC nodes, and external infrastructure. Interruptions may cause delayed votes or claims.
Although engineered for high uptime, full continuity cannot be guaranteed in a decentralized, composable environment.
Regulatory & Legal Responsibility
Autopilot is a globally accessible, permissionless smart contract protocol. It does not perform KYC/AML screening or restrict access by jurisdiction.
You are solely responsible for confirming that your participation is lawful under your local regulations, including:
Digital-asset classification and compliance (securities, derivatives, commodities, etc.)
Tax reporting and obligations
Sanctions or embargo restrictions
Licensing or investment limitations
If DeFi participation is prohibited in your jurisdiction, you must not use the Protocol. Autopilot is not designed or promoted to circumvent legal requirements.
No Guarantees & Limitation of Liability
Autopilot is provided “as is” and “as available.” No guarantees are made regarding yield, uptime, accuracy, or reward execution.
The Autopilot contributors and developers assume no liability for:
Financial loss, missed rewards, or underperformance
Gas fees, slippage, or network costs
Reward miscalculations, delays, or epoch-based forfeitures
Wallet breaches, key loss, or third-party compromises
Smart-contract errors or dependent service outages
By interacting with Autopilot, you agree that participation is voluntary and entirely at your own risk.
Protocol Transparency
Every Autopilot action—voting, claiming, swapping, and distribution—is publicly recorded on-chain. No off-chain data or proprietary ledger governs user balances or actions. Anyone can independently verify protocol performance and behavior via blockchain explorers and analytics dashboards.
Final Acknowledgment
Autopilot is an experimental decentralized protocol designed for experienced users who understand on-chain mechanics and risks. By participating, you confirm that:
You have reviewed and accepted the risks described above.
You are acting in compliance with applicable laws.
You are prepared to bear all outcomes independently.
Do not use Autopilot unless you fully understand the implications of interacting with decentralized systems, are comfortable managing your own digital assets, and accept that all on-chain outcomes are final once executed.
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