The Trustlines Blockchain is a public blockchain for applications that share the overall Trustlines vision of creating decentralized p2p use cases based on networks of mutual-trust. This blockchain requires a native coin, the Trustlines Network Coin (TLC), analogous to Bitcoin or Ether in Ethereum, which will be used by those interacting with the blockchain as a means of payment to the Validators for validating their transactions/interactions on the Trustlines Blockchain.
To distribute TLC, Trustlines Network Tokens (TLN) will be created and made available to Eligible Parties via the Ethereum Mainchain through different distribution methods. Initially however via the Merkle Drop. The Ethereum Mainchain was chosen for this due to interoperability with the Trustlines Blockchain and because the already existing Ethereum address balances and information on the Ethereum Mainchain make the chosen Eligible Party selection methodology possible. Once Claimed from the Merkle Drop Smart Contract, the TLN will be able to be converted to TLC on the Trustlines Blockchain using the Trustlines Bridge.
To make Trustlines Network Tokens (TLN) available for Eligible Parties to Claim, a Merkle drop model was chosen as the first distribution method. Merkle drops (or merkle mines) are a variant of air drops or smart drops, in which tokens are not actively sent or transferred to the intended recipients, but are made available so that the tokens may be claimed by a predetermined group is they so desire. In the case of the Merkle Drop, a Smart Contract containing a Merkle root is deployed on the Ethereum Mainchain, from which an Eligible Party can Claim their TLN allocation using an on-chain transaction which provides a Merkle Proof to the Merkle Drop Smart Contract allowing them to Claim their allocated TLN. This method allows Eligible Parties to Claim their allocated TLN without the need of any action by the Foundation or any third party. Once the Merkle Drop Smart Contract is deployed, neither the Foundation nor any other party will have control over the Merkle Drop Smart Contract, thereby ensuring that no changes can be made to the list of Eligible Parties and/or the allocated TLN.
Merkle trees are used to validate large amounts of data in an efficient way by combining multiple values and their hashes in a single fixed-size value - a Merkle root. In the case at hand, the Foundation will use the Eligible Party Ethereum addresses and their respective TLN allocation (see Eligible Party selection methodology) to create a Merkle Tree and include its Merkle Root into the Merkle Drop Smart Contract which it will deploy on the Ethereum Mainchain.
Merkle proofs are a way to provide proof that a certain value is part of a set of data without the need of exposing the complete set of data. More specifically, in the Merkle Drop, a Merkle Proof that a Ethereum address is included within the Merkle Root of the Merkle Drop Smart Contract needs to be provided to the Merkle Drop Smart Contract in order for an Eligible Party to Claim its allocated TLN.
Step1 - confirming if an Ethereum address is an Eligible Party Ethereum address: open the Merkle Drop and enter the Ethereum address that you want to check. If the Ethereum address is an Eligible Party Ethereum address, the Merkle Proof will automatically be generated. If the Ethereum address is not an Eligible Party Ethereum address a corresponding notification will be presented.
Step 2 - Submitting the Merkle Proof to the Merkle Drop Smart Contract: you will be able to Claim TLN directly through the Merkle Drop by using a web3 provider such as Metamask. If a Merkle Proof is successfully generated, the website will interact with the web3 provider and initiate the creation of a transaction to Claim the TLN. By clicking the respective claim button and approving the transaction, the Merkle Drop Smart Contract is instructed to transfer the maximum amount of Claimable TLN to the Eligible Party Ethereum address.
To ensure future economics of the Trustlines Blockchain Claiming TLN will only be possible within 2 years starting from the deployment of the Merkle Drop Smart Contract. To incentivize early adoption, the amount of Claimable allocated TLN will decrease linearly over these 2 years. Non-Claimable TLN will be rendered unusable.
The Trustlines Network Token (TLN) is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum Mainchain. It is envisaged to be able to be converted via the Trustlines Bridge to Trustlines Network Coins (TLC), which are the native tokens of the Trustlines Blockchain.
The TLN is deployed via a smart contract on the Ethereum Mainchain and has the following token specifications:
| Type of smart contract standard | ERC20 |
| Quantity of tokens | 80 Million |
| Decimals | 18 |
| Symbol | TLN |
| Name | Trustlines Network Token |
A link to the relevant smart contract can be found here.
Since the Ethereum Mainchain and the Trustlines Blockchain have no direct connection with each other, the Foundation has deployed the Trustlines Bridge. The Trustlines Bridge registers if someone wishes to convert TLN to TLC on the Trustlines Blockchain. Once such an event is registered in the Trustlines Bridge and validated by at least 50% of the then active Validators, the person will receive the same amount of TLC on the Trustlines Blockchain.
The Trustlines Bridge will hold the same quantity of TLC as there are TLN so that it can be ensured that all TLN can be converted to TLC on the Trustlines Blockchain.
At the start of the Trustlines Blockchain a total of 80,000,000 TLC were pre-mined and deposited into the Trustlines Bridge contract deployed on the Trustlines Blockchain. In addition to the pre-mined coins 3 new TLC are created in the form of a block reward after each block is created by a Validator.
As previously stated, the Trustlines Blockchain requires a native coin, the TLC, analogous to Bitcoin or Ethereum in Ethereum, which will be used by those interacting with the Trustlines Blockchain as a means of payment to the Validators for validating their transactions/interactions on the Trustlines Blockchain.
By making TLN available to a wide range of Eligible Party Ethereum addresses, the Foundation hopes to foster adoption of the Trustlines Blockchain by lowering one of the initial adoption hurdles, i.e. the need to acquire the means to pay for transactions fees on the Trustlines Blockchain. The predetermined Eligible Party Ethereum addresses fall into 3 categories and were selected based on a set of criteria that indicate an increased likelihood of use of the Trustlines Blockchain by the Ethereum address owner.
| Retained by Foundation | 30% |
| Reserved for future token distribution methods | Min 20% |
| Early contributors and potential future stakeholders | Max 30% |
| Wide target audience | Min 20% |
The Foundation has identified 3 groups of Ethereum addresses with an increased likelihood of adopting / using the Trustlines Blockchain:
Within each group, the Foundation has applied additional criteria which it deemed suitable and reasonable to include or exclude Ethereum addresses from the final list of Eligible Party Ethereum addresses.
The group of early contributors is composed of among others:
The group of potential future stakeholders is composed of among others:
Besides early contributors and potential stakeholders (as described above), the Foundation considered 2 additional sub-groups having an increased likelihood of becoming a future Trustlines Ecosystem participant:
Ethereum Mainchain or Ethereum Blockchain means the smart contract protocol, virtual machine and decentralized network including all its related components and protocol-related projects both present and future, which began operation (Genesis Block) on July 30th, 2015.
Ether (ETH) means the cryptocurrency native to the Ethereum Mainchain, i.e. the blockchain token of Ethereum.
Trustlines Network is short for “The Trustlines Network ecosystem”, which is an ecosystem of entities, individuals, organisations and code that aims to promote financial &qeconomic inclusion of all people through decentralized and open source systems.
Trustlines Protocol represents a set of rules, processes and definitions translated into deployable code that forms part of the Trustlines Network. It will, amongst others, comprise several technical components used to calculate paths and store transactions, i.e. smart contracts, the Trustlines Blockchain and the code for the relay servers. It aims to provide a base layer to enable interactions within the Trustlines Network.
Trustlines Blockchain means a purpose built Side-Chain to the Ethereum Mainchain that is intended to serve as a database and storage for transactions to support implementations of the Trustlines Protocol.
Foundation means the Trustlines Foundation, a Liechtenstein non-profit foundation registered in Ruggell, Liechtenstein.
Side-Chain means a designation for a blockchain that runs in parallel to a primary blockchain. Entries from the primary blockchain can be linked to and from the Side-Chain; this allows the Side-Chain to otherwise operate independently of the primary blockchain.
Terms mean these terms and conditions forming the Agreement between you, the Eligible Party and the Foundation.
Disputes means any dispute, claim, suit, action, cause of action, demand or proceeding arising out or in connection with these Terms, or the breach, termination or invalidity thereof.
Trustlines Bridge means a combination of one smart contract deployed on the Ethereum Mainchain, one smart contract deployed on the Trustlines Blockchain and a monitoring tool that runs on the Validator nodes. It allows for the mono directional conversion of Trustlines Network Token from the Ethereum Mainchain into the Trustlines Blockchain as native Trustlines Network Coins.
Trustlines Network Tokens (TLN) means tokens within the ERC20 TLN token contract on the Ethereum Mainchain, which can be converted to TLC by sending them to the Trustlines Bridge.
Trustlines Network Coins (TLC) means the native cryptocurrency of the Truslines Blockchain.
Smart Contract(s) means a computer protocol intended to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract. Smart contracts allow the performance of credible transactions without third parties.
Contracts means the specific smart contracts used for this Merkle Drop and the Trustlines Bridge.
Merkle Tree means the merkle tree including the Eligible Party Ethereum addresses and their respective TLN allocation forming the basis of the Merkle Root.
Merkle Proof means a merkle proof that an Address is included within the Merkle Root of the Merkle Drop Smart Contract.
Merkle Drop means the merkle drop organised by the Trustlines Foundation and being the mechanism for Eligible Parties to Claim TLN.
Eligible Party means an entity, individual or groups of individuals who own an Ethereum address that is included in the Merkle Tree and is therefore able to Claim TLN in the Merkle Drop.
Validator means an entity, individual or groups of individuals who or which has deployed and operates the Trustlines Blockchain client in order to validate and relay transactions on the Trustlines Blockchain and is part of the current Validator Set.
Validator Candidate means entity, individual or groups of individuals whose Ethereum address which he/she/it has provided to the Foundation and has been whitelisted in the first validator auction smart contract by the Foundation in order to take part in the first Trustlines Validator auction.
Claiming means sending a transaction to the Merkle Drop Smart Contract that initiates a transfer of TLN as described in the section “Claiming tokens from the Merkle Drop Smart Contract” in this document.
Affiliate(s) means any and all persons and or entities directly or indirectly controlling, controlled by or under common control with such person, where control may be by either management authority, contract or equity interest.
Merkle Drop Smart Contract means the Smart Contract deployed by the Foundation on the Ethereum Mainchain with the purpose of providing a mechanism for Eligible Parties to Claim TLN.
Party/Parties means an Eligible Party Claiming TLN and/or the Foundation as the case may be.
Public Key means on Ethereum, the public key derived cryptographically from a corresponding private key, which is used for authentication purposes on Ethereum.
Address means a representation of an Ethereum Mainchain account, e.g. to hold ETH or other tokens in Ethereum. It is derived cryptographically from the Public Key.
By Claiming TLN from the Merkle Drop Smart Contract, you accept and are subject to these terms and conditions.
By Claiming TLN from the Merkle Drop Smart Contract, the Eligible Party represents and warrants that:
The Merkle Drop Smart Contract, the Trustlines Network Token Smart Contract and the Trustlines Bridge Smart Contracts (together the “Contracts”) have been, on a reasonable effort basis, reviewed, tested and approved by technical experts. The technical experts have confirmed to the Foundation that the Contracts have, with regard to both accuracy and security, been programmed according to the current state of the art. The Eligible Party however, understands and accepts that smart contract technology is still in an early development stage and its application is of an experimental nature which carries significant operational, technological, financial, regulatory and reputational risks. Accordingly, while the conducted review and testing raises the level of security and accuracy, in theory, the Eligible Party understands and accepts that the review and testing does not amount to any form of warranty, including direct or indirect warranties that the Contracts are fit for a particular purpose or do not contain any weaknesses, vulnerabilities or bugs which could cause, inter alia, the complete loss of the TLN or TLC or your ETH.
By Claiming TLN from the Merkle Drop Smart Contract, you expressly acknowledge and assume the following risks:
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you will indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Foundation and its Affiliates from and against all claims, demands, actions, damages, losses, costs and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) that arise from or relate to (i) you participating in the Merkle drop; (ii) your obligations, representations and warranties under these Terms, (iii) your violation of these Terms, and/or (iv) your violation of any rights of any other person or entity directly and indirectly related to the Merkle drop.
To the full extent permitted by law, no warranty, guarantee or similar assurance whatsoever is expressed or implied with regard to the Trustlines Protocol and its components. The Contracts are used at the sole risk of the user (users including but not limited to Eligible Parties) and on an ‘as is’, ‘under development’ and ‘as available’ basis.
Being an Eligible Party in the Merkle Drop and agreeing to these Terms does neither entail a right nor an entitlement in any way whatsoever to receiving TLN or TLC.
You, the Eligible Party has had an opportunity to (i) review these Terms, (ii) ask questions and receive answers from the Foundation concerning these Terms and the Merkle Drop, and (iii) obtain any additional information concerning the Merkle Drop, the Contracts and the Foundation to the extent necessary for in order to make an informed decision to enter into these Terms and to Claim TLN from the Merkle Drop Smart Contract. The Eligible Party acknowledges that in making a decision to Claim TLN from the Merkle Drop Smart Contract, the Eligible Party has relied solely upon these Terms and independent investigations made by the Eligible Party. The Eligible Party is not relying on the Foundation with respect to the legal, tax and general economic factors involved in entering into these Terms and understands that it is solely responsible for reviewing the legal, tax and general economic considerations involved with Claiming TLN from the Merkle Drop Smart Contract with its own legal, tax and other advisers.
The Eligible Party acknowledges and agrees that, to the fullest extent permitted by any applicable law, it will not hold the Foundation and any of its Affiliates liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential or exemplary damages (including but not limited to loss of income, revenue and profits, or goodwill, or data) or injury whatsoever caused by or related to his/her partaking (or inability to partake) in the Merkle Drop or the use (or inability to use) of the Contracts under any cause of action whatsoever of any kind in any jurisdiction.
The Eligible Party acknowledges and agrees that, to the fullest extent permitted by any applicable law, the risks associated with Claiming TLN from the Merkle Drop Smart Contract, owning and holding TLN rests entirely with the Eligible Party.
The limitations set forth in the Clause do not and will not limit or exclude liability of the Foundation for fraud or intentional, willful or reckless misconduct.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Merkle Drop participant releases the Foundation and its Affiliates from responsibility, liability, claims, demands and/or damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown (including, but not limited to, claims of negligence), arising out of or related to Disputes between the parties and out of or related to the acts or omissions of any third parties and or affiliates.
Any Dispute shall first be endeavoured to be settled through amicable negotiations in good faith by the Parties. If the Parties cannot agree how to resolve the Dispute within thirty (30) days after the date a notice is received by the applicable Party, then either you or the Foundation may, as appropriate, commence arbitration proceedings. The Dispute shall subsequently (and exclusively) be submitted to three arbitrators. The nomination of arbitrators and the rules of arbitration shall be in accordance with the Rules of Arbitration of Liechtenstein (“Schiedsordnung der Liechtensteinischen Industrie- und Handelskammer”). The seat of the arbitral tribunal shall be Ruggell, Liechtenstein. Language of the proceedings shall be English. The arbitral award is final and binding upon the parties. The arbitration fees will be borne by the losing party unless otherwise awarded by the arbitral tribunal. The parties undertake to carry out the arbitral award in accordance with the modalities of said reward.
Notice to the Foundation shall be sent by e-mail to the Foundation at contact@trustlines.foundation.
Notice to you shall be by email to the email address you provide to us.
Your notice must include (i) your name, postal address, email address and telephone number, (ii) a description in reasonable detail of the nature or basis of any possible Dispute, and (iii) the specific relief that you are seeking.
These Terms will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Liechtenstein, without regard to conflict of law rules or principles that would cause the application of the laws of any other jurisdiction.
Any Dispute that is not or cannot be subject to arbitration will be resolved by the courts of Liechtenstein.
If any term, clause or provision of these Terms is held unlawful, void or unenforceable, then that term, clause or provision will be severable from these Terms and will not affect the validity or enforceability of any remaining part of that term, clause or provision, or any other term, clause or provision of these Terms. Such unlawful, void or unenforceable clause or provisions shall be replaced by valid and enforceable clause or provisions, which most closely achieve the commercial intent and purpose of these Terms.
These Terms constitute the entire agreement between the Parties relating to your participation in the Merkle Drop and supersede any other agreements, statements or information provided by the Foundation and/or any of its Affiliates. the Foundation may assign its rights and obligations under these Terms. the Foundation’s failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be construed or understood as a waiver of such right or provision. the Foundation will not be liable for any delay or failure to perform any obligation under these Terms where the delay or failure results from any cause beyond our reasonable control. This Agreement and the (trans)actions envisaged therein does not create any form of partnership, joint venture, or any other similar relationship between the Parties. Except as otherwise provided herein, these Terms are intended solely for the benefit of the Parties and are not intended to confer third-party beneficiary rights upon any other person or entity.