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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

General

What is FairWins?

FairWins is a peer-to-peer wager app. You and a friend agree on a bet, both stakes are locked in a smart-contract escrow on Polygon, and the wager is settled by whoever you both chose to trust up front: yourselves, a neutral arbitrator, or an external oracle (Polymarket, Chainlink, UMA).

Is this a prediction market or a casino?

Neither. There is no order book, no liquidity pool, no odds-setting house, and no trading. Every wager is a private 1-v-1 agreement; FairWins just holds the stakes and pays the winner. You can't bet "against the market" — only against a specific person who accepts your wager.

Who is the counterparty?

Always a specific person — usually someone you shared a QR code or link with. FairWins never takes the other side of a bet.

What does it cost?

  • A membership tier (Bronze → Platinum, priced in USDC) is required to create and accept wagers, and sets your monthly/concurrent wager limits.
  • Gas on Polygon (paid in POL, typically a few cents per action).
  • There is no rake on the pot itself — the winner claims both stakes in full.

Getting set up

Which wallets are supported?

MetaMask (browser) and anything that speaks WalletConnect (mobile wallets).

Which networks does it run on?

Polygon mainnet (chain 137) is production. Polygon Amoy (chain 80002) is the testnet, reachable from the toggle in the wallet menu if you want to practice with test funds.

What tokens do I need?

POL for gas and USDC for stakes and membership. The Account Center's Swap tab can convert between them via Uniswap.

Wagers

What kinds of wagers can I make?

Anything with a binary outcome between two people: even-money (equal stakes) or an Offer (asymmetric stakes at odds you set, where the side that settles puts up the majority stake). You pick who settles — you (Me), your opponent (Them), a neutral Friend (arbitrator), or an Oracle (Polymarket / Chainlink Data Feed / Chainlink Functions / UMA).

What happens to my stake when I create a wager?

It transfers into the WagerRegistry escrow contract immediately. If nobody accepts before the acceptance deadline, you reclaim it. Once accepted, both stakes stay in escrow until the wager resolves, draws, or times out.

Can a wager end in a tie?

Yes. For participant-resolved wagers, both parties can consent to a draw (or the arbitrator can declare one), and each side gets its own stake back.

What if the other person never resolves the wager?

After the resolve deadline passes, either party can trigger a refund — both stakes go back to their owners. Money can't get stuck.

What if I picked an oracle and it never reports?

Same refund path: once the resolve deadline passes unresolved, either party reclaims their stake.

Can the loser refuse to pay?

No — that's the point. Both stakes are already in escrow, and the contract pays the winner directly when the wager resolves.

Can I cancel a wager?

You can cancel your own wager any time before it's accepted (and the invitee can decline it). After acceptance, there's no unilateral cancel — only resolution, mutual draw, or the deadline-based refund.

Privacy

Who can see my wager?

The on-chain record (addresses, stakes, deadlines, status) is public, like all blockchain data. The terms of the wager can be end-to-end encrypted: the chain stores only a hash and an IPFS pointer, and only the participants (plus the arbitrator, if any) hold keys to decrypt the content. See Private Wager Encryption.

What's the encryption key in the Security tab for?

It's your published public key (registered on-chain in KeyRegistry) that lets friends encrypt wager terms so only you can read them. Registering it is optional but required to participate in encrypted wagers.

Trust and safety

Can FairWins take my money?

No. Operators hold two narrowly-scoped powers — a Guardian can pause the protocol, and an Account Moderator can freeze a specific account for cause — but neither can move escrowed stakes or redirect payouts. See the Account Moderation Policy and Security Model.

Why was my transaction blocked?

Wager creation and acceptance screen both addresses against the Chainalysis sanctions oracle (plus an operator deny list). Sanctioned addresses cannot participate.

Are the contracts audited and tested?

The contract suite runs a security pipeline of unit tests, Slither static analysis, and Medusa fuzzing on every change — see Security Testing. Deployed addresses are recorded in the repository's deployments/ directory so you can verify what you're interacting with.

That's on you. The app presents an eligibility notice and the Terms and Risk Disclosure before entry — make sure peer-to-peer wagering is lawful in your jurisdiction before using it.

Troubleshooting

Check, in order: your wallet is connected, you're on the right network (the banner offers a one-click switch), the acceptance deadline hasn't passed, you have an active membership, and you hold enough USDC for the stake plus a little POL for gas.

The QR scanner can't see my camera

Grant camera permission to fairwins.app in your browser. On iOS, the scanner requires Safari's camera permission for the site.

My wager disappeared from the dashboard

Check the History tab of My Wagers — resolved, declined, expired, and refunded wagers move there.

Where can I get more help?

Open an issue on GitHub.