A platform that holds a Human's data, catalog, or balance hostage has converted convenience into a trap. This RFC defines Exit and Portability: the guarantee that a customer or merchant can leave and take what is theirs. It is the structural defense against lock-in, serving Agency.
Float is the pool of outstanding prepaid balances the platform holds and can earn yield on — other people's money, held in trust. This RFC defines Float with the safeguarding rule built in: the float is protected, holders are not paid interest, and it is never lent out. It serves custody and Dignity, and pairs with Platform Sustainability and Breakage.
Whether stored value is clean store credit or a regulated money-transmission instrument turns on a single line: does value move only among commonly-owned storefronts, or between unaffiliated owners? This RFC defines that closed- versus open-loop classification, keyed to common ownership rather than storefront count. It documents the regulatory line the two-tier model rests on — it does not clear it, which remains a legal matter for counsel.
title: No Retroactive Harm (Terms-Change Governance)
state: super-draft
id: null
repo: null
proposed_by: ben.stull@wiggleverse.org
proposed_at: '2026-06-01'
graduated_at: null
graduated_by: null
owners:
- ben.stull
arbiters: []
tags:
- governance
---
Humans park real money and accept terms under a particular set of rules; changing those rules on balances they have already loaded is a retroactive harm. This RFC defines the governance guarantee that the deal cannot be changed out from under existing balances and commitments. It ties Temporality and Informed Consent into a binding constraint, and it is load-bearing precisely because of stored value.
An ethical platform is defined as much by what happens when things go wrong as by its happy path. This RFC defines Recourse: how a wronged Human — buyer or merchant — actually obtains a remedy, and by what fair process. It serves Dignity and fairness, building on the Commercial Relationship.
Ethics that cannot be checked are just claims. This RFC defines the discipline that every operational mechanic must cite the concept RFC it serves, so the platform's behavior is auditable and traceable back to a stated human commitment. It is the spine that keeps the whole corpus honest — the answer to how 'ethical' becomes verifiable rather than asserted.
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