Draft notice — read first
This document is a draft. It is a working draft of the halfin Refund Policy, published for review and feedback while the platform's legal documentation is being finalized (HF-132). It has not been adopted, it is not in force, and it does not govern any current or past refund on halfin.
Nothing on this page creates a contract, a binding obligation, a representation, or a warranty of any kind. It is not legal advice, and it should not be relied upon as a statement of your rights or obligations, or of halfin's. Both the wording and the substance of this policy may change — including additions, removals, and reversals — before any version takes effect.
The legal entity that operates halfin and will be the party to the final policy is not named in this draft. The operating entity, its registered address, and the governing law will be stated when this policy is published. References below to "halfin," "we," "us," and "our" are placeholders for that entity. Until a published version is in force, no version of this policy applies.
- Status: working draft, pending legal review (HF-132).
- Not in force — does not govern any current or past refund.
- Creates no binding obligations and is not legal advice.
- Subject to change in wording and substance before publication.
- The operating legal entity will be named on publication.
1. Scope of this policy
This policy concerns how the refund capability operates on the halfin platform — the mechanism by which a merchant returns funds in connection with a payment processed through halfin. It is written for businesses ("merchants") that use halfin, and it addresses the platform-level behavior of refunds, not the commercial refund terms a merchant offers to its own customers.
This policy does not set the circumstances in which a merchant must, or must not, give a refund to its end customer. Those circumstances are determined by the merchant's own refund and cancellation terms and by any law that applies to the merchant and its customers. halfin provides the means to return funds; the decision to do so, and the terms on which it is offered, rest with the merchant.
2. How refunds operate on the platform
The halfin Refunds product returns funds in connection with a settled invoice. A refund is initiated by the merchant under its own control — through the dashboard or the API — and is processed by halfin against the relevant payment. A refund is not an automatic consequence of any event; it is an action a merchant takes deliberately.
A refund is generally directed toward the original payment: it returns value in connection with the invoice that was paid, ordinarily to the payer. Because settlement occurs on public blockchain networks, a refund is itself an on-chain transfer and is subject to the same network conditions as any other transfer, including network fees, confirmation times, and the characteristics of the destination address. The detailed behavior of the refund feature is described in the product documentation, which may change as the platform develops.
Whether a particular payment can be refunded, in whole or in part, and the conditions that apply, depend on the state of the underlying invoice, the network involved, and the merchant's configuration and balance. Where a refund cannot be completed as requested, halfin would surface the outcome to the merchant; this draft does not promise that any given refund can be made.
3. Merchant responsibility for its own refund terms
The merchant is responsible for its own refund, cancellation, and dispute terms with its end customers, and for communicating those terms clearly to them. A merchant should not rely on this policy as its customer-facing refund policy; this policy describes the platform mechanism, not the merchant's commercial commitments.
Because halfin operates on a business-to-business basis and does not have a relationship with the merchant's customers, halfin does not arbitrate, mediate, or decide disputes between a merchant and its customer, and it does not determine whether a customer is entitled to a refund. A merchant remains responsible for meeting its own obligations to its customers, including any disclosures, consumer-protection requirements, and tax treatment that apply to it.
4. On-chain finality — no card-style chargebacks
Payments on halfin settle on blockchain networks, and on-chain settlement is final. Once a payment confirms on a network, it cannot be reversed at the protocol level. There is no card-network chargeback mechanism, no issuer-driven reversal, and no involuntary clawback of a confirmed payment.
A refund is therefore a new, forward transfer of value — a separate transaction initiated by the merchant — and not a reversal of the original payment. This has practical consequences: a refund consumes network fees of its own, it depends on the merchant having sufficient available balance, and it is directed to an address. A merchant should account for finality when setting its pricing, its refund terms, and its handling of errors, and should treat the accuracy of any refund destination as the merchant's responsibility, since a confirmed transfer cannot be undone.
5. Timing, network fees, and amounts
A refund is processed as an on-chain transfer and is subject to the timing of the relevant network. Confirmation times, congestion, and fee conditions are determined by the network, not by halfin, and they affect when a refund settles and what it costs to send.
Network fees and on-chain costs associated with a refund are separate from halfin's own fees and are set by the relevant network. The treatment of fees in connection with a refund, and the way any platform fees relate to a refunded payment, are commercial matters; this draft does not state or imply any particular fee, percentage, rate, threshold, or amount, and it does not establish any minimum or maximum refund value.
6. Commercial and processing terms
The commercial terms that apply to refunds — including any fees, the treatment of previously charged platform fees, and any operational conditions or limits — are not set out on this page and are not published here. They would be governed by the agreement and commercial documentation between halfin and the merchant.
Where this draft and the merchant's agreement or the product documentation differ, the agreement — once in force — would govern the commercial relationship, and the documentation would describe the current behavior of the feature. Specific processing details remain subject to finalization and may be adjusted as the platform and its legal package develop.
7. Relationship to the other halfin policies
This policy is part of halfin's draft legal package and should be read together with the other draft policies, including the Terms of Service. The Terms of Service describe the broader relationship between halfin and the merchant, including merchant obligations and the final, on-chain nature of settlement.
Where this draft is silent, or where it and another draft policy appear to differ, the published versions — once in force — would be read together, and the Terms of Service would provide the overarching framework. Until published versions are in force, none of these documents applies.
8. Changes to this policy
This is a draft and will change before it is adopted. Once a version is in force, halfin would be expected to maintain a process for updating this policy and for stating an effective date on the document.
Until a published version takes effect, there is no policy in force to change, and no prior version applies. The "last updated" date on this page refers to the date this draft was last revised, not to an effective date.