Token Description & Project Background

Ocean Protocol is an ecosystem for sharing data and services. It uses blockchain technology to enable data to be shared and sold in a safe, secure, and transparent manner. 

Ocean team aims to build a decentralized data exchange protocol that lets consumers, corporations, and everyone in between exchange data with symmetric control and transparency. Ocean also aims to activate massive amounts of dormant or un-used data by incentivizing participants through monetization. The ultimate goal of this protocol is to fuel continued AI innovation.

OCEAN, the network’s native utility token, is primarily used as a unit of exchange for data tokens and enables the buying and selling of data as well as governance. The OCEAN token launched in 2019.

Ocean Protocol was co-founded by Bruce Pon, Cristina Cenuse, Daryl Arnold, Dimitri De Jonghe, Don Gossen & Trent McConaghy. Trent McConaghy’s background is in AI research, and has worked for several AI-related start-up companies.

Risks of OCEAN

Like an investment in other crypto assets, there are some general risks to investing in OCEAN. These include:  (i) volatility risk and liquidity risk, (ii) short history risk, (iii) demand risk, (iv) forking risk, (v) code defects, (vi) regulatory risk, (vii) electronic trading risk, and (viii) cyber security risk. For additional information of these and other general risks associated with crypto assets and Uphold’s platform, please refer to the Risks Specific to Holding Digital Assets statement.

In addition to these general risks, an investment in OCEAN is subject to the following specific risks:

• Any potential success associated with OCEAN depends on Ocean Protocol’s rate of adoption by businesses and users.
• Any potential success associated with OCEAN depends on a number of external factors, such as the growth of AI-enabled technology within the Web3 space.

We emphasize that this Crypto Asset Statement is not an exhaustive description or summary of all risks associated with OCEAN. Investors should conduct their own research and perform their own assessment before trading any crypto asset to determine the appropriate level of risk for their personal circumstances.

The OCEAN community and its core team are not under any legal or regulatory obligation to disclose material information to the public regarding its activities. Holders of OCEAN have no recourse to the OCEAN community, its core team, or Uphold if OCEAN declines in value for any reason.

Changes to applicable law may adversely affect the use, transfer, exchange, or value of any of your crypto assets, and such changes may be sudden and without notice.

Uphold’s Evaluation Process

Prior to listing OCEAN on the Uphold Platform, Uphold performed due diligence on OCEAN and determined that OCEAN is unlikely to be a security or derivative under relevant securities legislation. Uphold’s analysis including reviewing publicly available information on the following: 

• The creation, governance, usage, and design of OCEAN, including ensuring the source code is open-source, audited and peer reviewed, security, and roadmap for growth in the developer community. 
• The supply, demand, maturity, utility, and liquidity of OCEAN.
• Any marketing materials put forward by the OCEAN social team including on, Twitter, Medium blog, LinkedIn posts, Discord and Telegram channels.
• Material technical risks associated with OCEAN, including any code defects, security breaches and other threats concerning OCEAN and its supporting blockchain (such as the susceptibility to hacking and impact of forking), or the practices and protocols that apply to them.
• Legal and regulatory risks associated with OCEAN, including any pending, potential, or prior civil, regulatory, criminal, or enforcement action relating to the issuance, distribution, or use of OCEAN. 

General

Uphold has prepared this Crypto Asset Statement based on publicly available information. Although Uphold has taken steps to obtain information from apparently reliable sources, information contained in this Crypto Asset Statement may be inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date. This overview is a starting point for you to perform your own research prior to investing in a crypto asset.

Uphold users should read the Risks Specific To Holding Digital Assets statement for additional discussion of general risks associated with crypto assets made available through the Uphold platform.  

Canadian residents, please note that Uphold has filed an application for registration in certain Canadian jurisdictions but has not yet obtained registration. Until such time as Uphold obtains registration, Uphold has agreed to abide by the terms of an undertaking available at the following link. Please also review the Uphold Canada – Crypto Risk Statement for additional discussion of general risks associated with the crypto assets made available through Uphold Platform. Please be aware that statutory rights of action for damages or rescission in section 130.1 of the Securities Act (Ontario) and, if applicable, similar statutory rights under securities legislation in the other provinces and territories of Canada do not apply in respect of this Crypto Asset Statement or other disclosures on the Uphold website and Risks Specific To Holding Digital Assets statement. 

Last updated on June 15, 2023.