How a claim gets settled

By data, by the Ref, or by the two of you. Then 72 hours to appeal.

When the deadline comes, the claim is settled in one of three ways. The Settled by line of the contract says which.

By data

Prices and sports results are settled from a data feed, automatically and for free. A price claim can end early: as soon as a daily close reaches the target, it's a yes. If the feed can't settle it (a cancelled match, a source that doesn't exist), the claim moves on to the Ref.

By the Ref

News, politics, tech and everything else that gets reported publicly is settled by the Ref, our AI judge. It searches the web for the official record and independent reporting, checks for corrections and reversals, and writes a verdict with its sources. It decides only after the deadline.

Each person gets 1 free Ref verdict a month. When a claim needs the Ref, it uses a free verdict from someone on the claim (the person who made it first). If nobody has one left, anyone on the claim can pay 1 credit, or you can settle it together. How the Ref decides.

Together

Private things ("I'll run the marathon", "We'll move by summer") have no public record, so the people on the claim settle them. One person from each side answers what happened. If the answers match and nobody disagrees, that's the proposed verdict. It's free, and it can happen before the deadline.

If someone doesn't answer

Nobody can stall a claim by staying quiet. Whoever hasn't answered gets a reminder after 1, 3 and 7 days. If only one side has answered after 7 days, their answer becomes the proposed verdict, marked settled by silence, and the quiet side can still appeal. If there's still no verdict after 30 days, the claim ends unsettled and counts for nobody.

Proposed, then final

Every verdict starts as a proposed verdict, with 72 hours for the other side to appeal. Then it's final and counts toward everyone's track record. It's final sooner if everyone on the claim confirms it or owns it.

If something fails on our side again and again, any credit spent is refunded and the claim goes back to you to settle together.