Risks & Legal Notice
Legal Notice & Risk Disclosure
By accessing or interacting with the Autopilot protocol, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and accepted the terms, conditions, and associated risks described herein. This document is designed to promote transparency and informed participation in a decentralized ecosystem. It does not constitute legal, financial, tax, or investment advice.
Autopilot is a decentralized, non-custodial, and permissionless smart contract protocol built to automate veAERO voting and optimize reward realization across DeFi environments. While the system has been developed with attention to code quality, operational security, and performance, participation carries risks inherent to blockchain-based financial applications.
No Financial, Legal, or Tax Advice
All materials and communications issued by Autopilot—including content published via its website, GitBook, social media, or support channels—are for general informational purposes only and do not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice. No content should be construed as a recommendation, solicitation, or inducement to engage in any activity.
You are solely responsible for evaluating your decisions. We recommend that you consult licensed professionals before acting on any protocol-related opportunities, particularly those with financial or legal implications.
Non-Custodial Architecture
Autopilot is fully non-custodial. At no point does the protocol gain access to or exercise control over your digital assets, including veAERO NFTs, reward tokens, or wallet balances. All funds remain in your self-custodied wallet, and all interactions are executed directly via smart contracts.
As a result:
The security and availability of your funds depend entirely on your control over your wallet and private keys.
Lost or compromised keys may result in irreversible asset loss.
The Autopilot team cannot recover funds, assist with account recovery, or intervene in contract logic under any circumstances.
Smart Contract Risk
Despite undergoing audit and testing, smart contract systems present non-trivial technical and economic risks, including but not limited to:
Undiscovered logic flaws or vulnerabilities in deployed contracts
Edge-case behaviors not anticipated during design or testing
Exploitation of incentive mechanisms or state transitions
Failure or outage of third-party services used for automation, price feeds, or off-chain orchestration
Blockchain-level disruptions such as chain reorganizations, congestion, or extreme gas volatility
Autopilot smart contracts are immutable and do not contain administrative backdoors; however, like all on-chain systems, they are subject to limitations in upgradeability, fallback recovery, and adaptation to future threats.
Market, Liquidity & Execution Risks
Autopilot operates in real-time, permissionless DeFi markets. Therefore, execution outcomes may be influenced by external market dynamics. You should be aware of the following:
Reward Conversion Volatility: Rewards are periodically converted into USDC, but prices at the moment of execution may vary. The final APR or yield is only determinable upon claim, not guaranteed in advance.
Slippage & Price Impact: Swaps executed in thin or volatile markets may incur losses due to slippage, impacting the net returns users ultimately receive.
Liquidity Risk: Limited market depth may result in partial fills, suboptimal execution, or delays in realizing value.
MEV & Front-Running: Though Autopilot employs route optimization to reduce Miner Extractable Value (MEV) exploitation, some exposure remains unavoidable.
Third-Party Protocol Dependencies: Autopilot integrates with various external protocols (e.g., DEX aggregators, bridges, veAERO-based platforms). Operational downtime, smart contract failures, or unexpected changes in these third-party services may disrupt reward delivery, trade execution, or vote fulfillment.
Users are encouraged to monitor these risks and recognize that outcomes are variable and non-deterministic until confirmed on-chain.
Timing Constraints & System Operations
To ensure consistency in strategy execution and reward alignment, Autopilot enforces certain operational boundaries:
Special Windows: During designated deposit/withdrawal restriction windows, changes to positions may be temporarily paused. These measures are necessary to protect the voting and reward mechanisms from inconsistencies.
Epoch Timing: Failing to act within defined timeframes may render your position ineligible for rewards in the current or next epoch.
Automation Dependence: Automated components (such as vote execution bots and claim processing agents) rely on third-party services, cloud infrastructure, and reliable RPC endpoints. Interruptions in these layers may cause vote delays, missed epochs, or postponed claims.
While Autopilot aims for high uptime and reliability, complete continuity cannot be guaranteed due to the decentralized and composable nature of the system.
Regulatory & Legal Responsibility
Autopilot is a globally accessible, permissionless smart contract protocol. It does not implement jurisdictional restrictions, perform KYC/AML screening, or determine the regulatory status of users.
You are fully and solely responsible for determining whether use of the protocol is permitted under the laws of your country, region, or applicable regulatory regime. This includes, but is not limited to:
Digital asset classification and compliance (securities, derivatives, commodities, etc.)
Taxation of income, rewards, or token holdings
Sanctions, embargoes, or restricted user lists
Financial licensing requirements or investment limitations
Users in jurisdictions where DeFi participation is illegal or tightly regulated should refrain from using the protocol. No aspect of Autopilot is structured or marketed to evade legal obligations.
No Guarantees & Limitation of Liability
Autopilot is provided on an "as-is" and "as-available" basis. No guarantees are made regarding yield levels, uptime, system accuracy, reward execution, or feature availability.
The Autopilot team, contributors, and affiliated developers assume no liability for:
Financial loss, including underperformance, slippage, or missed opportunities
Reward miscalculations, delays, or epoch-based forfeitures
Gas fees, network costs, or failed transaction reimbursements
Wallet security incidents, key loss, or third-party hacks
Protocol downtime caused by smart contract issues or third-party service outages
By interacting with Autopilot, you waive any legal claim against the protocol developers or contributors, and agree that use is voluntary and solely at your own risk.
Protocol Transparency
All Autopilot actions are verifiable on-chain. The protocol logs voting strategies, reward claims, swap paths, and distribution activity on publicly accessible block explorers. No obfuscation is used, and no proprietary data or centralized ledger governs user state.
This ensures that you, and any third party, can independently audit Autopilot behavior, performance, and integrity at any time.
Final Acknowledgment
Autopilot is an experimental decentralized protocol designed for advanced users who understand the mechanics and limitations of on-chain infrastructure. By participating, you affirm that:
You have reviewed and accepted the potential risks
You are operating in compliance with all applicable regulations
You are prepared to bear the outcomes of your actions independently
Do not use Autopilot unless you fully understand the implications of interacting with decentralized protocols, are comfortable managing your own digital assets, and accept that all outcomes are final once executed on-chain.
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