Validator Referral Programme Terms

Version 1.0 — Draft for publication

Effective date: 21 September 2026

Last revised: 20 September 2026

Before you read

These Validator Referral Programme Terms ("Programme Terms") are the rules that Section 29.2 of our Terms and Conditions refers to, for the referral programme we operate with Validators. They apply to you from the moment you copy, share or use a referral link or code, or register a Validator Account through one. Capitalised words that are not defined here have the meaning given in the Terms and Conditions. Where these Programme Terms and the Terms and Conditions say different things about referrals, these Programme Terms prevail; for everything else, the Terms and Conditions prevail.

The referral programme for Ideators is a separate programme with separate rules, published separately. Nothing in this document applies to it.

One sentence, before the detail: nothing is paid for signing up. Every reward in this document is released when the person you invited does something, and never before.

PART 0 — COMMON PROVISIONS

1. Who runs the programme

1.1 The programme is operated by PHASE 2 B.V., a Dutch private limited company with registered office at De Boelelaan 1095a, Room 0A16, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Chamber of Commerce (KvK) number 86210483, the provider of the Service ("we", "us", "our"). You can reach us at hello@validating.studio.

1.2 The programme is a promotional offer. It is not a financial product, not employment, not agency and not a partnership. Sharing a link does not make you our representative and does not authorise you to make statements on our behalf.

2. Definitions

• "Referrer" — a Validator who shares their personal referral link or code.
• "Invitee" — a person who registers a new Validator Account using a Referrer's link or code.
• "Referral link" / "Referral code" — the personal URL validating.studio/ref/[code] and the equivalent short code shown in the mobile application. Both are personal and tied to one Validator Account.
• "Validation" — a Response submitted to an Experiment, as described in Section 38 of the Terms and Conditions.
• "Accepted Validation" — a Validation that passed our quality checks and belongs to an Experiment that has closed; it is the same moment at which the Validator's own earnings for that Validation land in their Wallet.
• "Qualifying action" — the event that releases a reward. It is the Invitee's first accepted Validation. It is never registration alone.
• "Active invite" — an Invitee who has completed at least one accepted Validation.
• "Qualified invite" — an Invitee who has completed at least three accepted Validations within 60 days of registering. Relevant only to Validator Pro (Section 13).
• "Review period" — the time between the Qualifying action and the release of a reward, during which we check the referral against Section 4.
• "Wallet" — the record of money we owe a Validator, as described in Section 40 of the Terms and Conditions.

3. Who may take part

3.1 You may act as a Referrer if you hold a Validator Account in good standing. Your referral link is shown from the moment you register, so that you can share it straight away; rewards are released only while your Account is approved. An Account is not in good standing while it is suspended, under investigation, or subject to a measure under Section 46 of the Terms and Conditions.

3.2 A person may be an Invitee only once. Neither they nor any person or entity they control may previously have held a Validator Account with us. Closing an Account and registering again does not create a new Invitee.

3.3 The programme is available in every country where the Service is available. Where local law restricts promotional rewards, we may withhold or adapt the reward for that country and will say so in the application.

3.4 You must be at least 18 years old, both to refer and to be referred.

3.5 Our own staff, contractors and their household members may take part but are not eligible for rewards.

4. Fair play — what voids a reward

4.1 A reward is void, and the underlying conduct is a breach of Section 8 of the Terms and Conditions, where the referral involves any of the following:

• self-referral, including through a second Account, a family member's Account, a shared device, a shared payment method or a shared bank account;
• Accounts created with false, borrowed or synthetic identities, or in bulk, or by automated means;
• an Invitee who was paid, or promised payment, by the Referrer or by anyone else to register or to complete the Qualifying action;
• an Invitee who registers only to trigger the reward and whose Validations are rejected;
• referral links published on coupon, cashback, voucher or "free money" sites, in paid advertising that uses our name or trademarks, in unsolicited bulk messages, or in any place where the recipient has not asked to hear from you;
• any statement about the Service that is false or misleading, including about how much a Validator earns, how fast an Experiment completes, or what a verdict means.

4.2 We use the same signals we use to protect the rest of the Service — device and payment fingerprints, IP and timing patterns, and the quality checks on Validations — to detect the conduct above. Section 42 of the Terms and Conditions (automated systems and your rights) applies in full: a decision that withholds a reward is reviewed by a qualified human being on your request, with written reasons, within 14 days.

4.3 Where a reward has already been released and we later establish that Section 4.1 applied, we may reverse the credit from the Wallet, and we may close the Accounts involved. Where the money has already been paid out, we may set the amount off against future earnings. We do not reverse a reward on the basis of an automated signal alone.

4.4 High volumes of referrals are not, by themselves, misconduct. Where your activity in a calendar month exceeds the threshold published in the application, we may run an additional check on the most recent referrals before releasing them. That check does not withhold a reward that is otherwise due, and it does not count against you under Section 42.2 of the Terms and Conditions.

5. Review period and timing

5.1 Every reward is released after a Review period of up to 72 hours from the Qualifying action. In most cases it is shorter. During the Review period the referral is shown as "pending" in the application.

5.2 We count events by the time they are recorded on our systems, in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Where a limit or a promotional period is defined by month, the month is a calendar month in UTC.

6. Attribution

6.1 An Invitee is attributed to the Referrer whose link was used to open the registration page, or whose code was entered during registration or within 7 days after it, in the place provided in the application.

6.2 The first attribution recorded is the one that counts. A later link or code does not replace it, and we cannot re-attribute a referral after the fact on the basis of a message, a screenshot or a conversation.

6.3 The terms that apply to a referral — the amounts, the thresholds and the limits — are the ones in force at the moment the attribution is recorded, and they do not change afterwards. This is how Section 16.2 is implemented in our systems, and it means a later change never reduces a reward you have already been promised.

7. What each side sees about the other

7.1 The Referrer sees, for each Invitee: the first name and the initial of the surname as entered at registration, the date of registration, the status of the referral, and the amount of the reward. The Referrer does not see the Invitee's email address, earnings, answers, Experiments, profile or any other data.

7.2 The Invitee sees the first name of the Referrer where it is part of the code or shown during registration, and the fact that a referral reward applies. The Invitee does not see the Referrer's earnings or referral statistics.

7.3 Either party may ask us to stop displaying their name to the other, by writing to hello@validating.studio; the referral and the rewards are not affected. Our Privacy Policy governs all processing described here, including the lawful basis for showing your name to the person you invited.

7.4 The statuses used in the application are: registered, waiting, pending, active, qualified and void. The same words are used in the emails we send about a referral, so that one thing is called one name everywhere.

PART A — THE PROGRAMME

8. The core rule, in one sentence

8.1 When a Validator you invited completes their first accepted Validation, you receive a reward in your Wallet and so do they. Registration alone pays nothing, to either of you.

9. Who can refer, and who can be referred

9.1 Referrer: any Validator Account in good standing, as described in Section 3.1.

9.2 Invitee: a person who registers a new Validator Account through your link or code in accordance with Section 6, who is approved as a Validator, and who meets Section 3.2 and Section 3.4.

10. Rewards

10.1 Base reward. USD 2 to the Referrer and USD 2 to the Invitee, each credited to the respective Wallet after the Review period, once the Invitee's first Validation has been accepted.

10.2 Launch rate. For a limited period at the launch of the programme, the reward to the Referrer is USD 5 instead of USD 2 for the first 1,500 rewarded referrals across the whole Service. The reward to the Invitee remains USD 2. The application shows the rate that currently applies and how many of the 1,500 remain; that figure is the real count from our systems. When the 1,500 are used, or when we end the launch period, the reward returns to USD 2. The rate that applies to a referral is the rate in force when the attribution is recorded (Section 6.3), so a referral attributed during the launch period is paid at the launch rate even if it is released afterwards.

10.3 Milestone bonus. For every five Active invites you reach — at 5, 10, 15, and so on — you receive an additional USD 10 in your Wallet. An Invitee counts once.

10.4 Monthly leaderboard. In each calendar month we rank Referrers within each sub-industry by the number of Active invites reached in that month. The top three in each sub-industry are shown in the application by first name and initial. The leaderboard is recognition, not a cash prize. Where we attach a prize to it for a given month, we announce it in the application before the month begins, and these Programme Terms apply to that prize.

10.5 Promotional periods. From time to time we may announce a period in which the rewards in Section 10.1 or 10.3 are increased, or apply only to Invitees in a given country or to a defined group of Invitees. The announcement states the start, the end and the amount, and is made in the application and by email. Unless the announcement says otherwise, the change applies to referrals attributed within the period.

10.6 Nature of the reward. Referral rewards are earnings for the purposes of Sections 39, 40 and 44 of the Terms and Conditions. They sit in the Wallet with your other earnings, they count towards the payout threshold, they do not expire, and they are paid gross. They are not a fee for services rendered to us and they do not change your status under Section 36 of the Terms and Conditions.

10.7 Reaching the payout threshold. A reward in your Wallet is money we owe you, but you can withdraw only once your balance reaches the minimum payout threshold published in the application, and once you have completed the identity verification described in Section 41 of the Terms and Conditions. Until then the balance stays yours and does not expire.

10.8 Currency. Rewards are denominated in United States dollars. Where your Wallet is displayed in another currency, the amount shown is a conversion at the rate applied by our payment provider on the day.

11. Limits and fair use

11.1 There is no limit on how many people you may invite, and no monthly cap on how many rewarded referrals you may have. An earlier version of these rules capped rewards at 25 referrals per month; that cap has been removed.

11.2 What stands in the place of a cap is Section 4.4: above the volume threshold published in the application we run an additional check before releasing a reward. That check delays a reward; it does not withhold one that is due.

11.3 We may set a maximum number of milestone bonuses per Referrer. Where we do, the figure is published in the application, and Section 16 applies to any reduction of it.

11.4 The programme is a promotional offer, not an occupation. Nothing in it gives you a right to a minimum number of referrals, to a minimum income, or to the continuation of any particular rate.

12. Validator Pro — a benefit that is not available yet

12.1 Read this first. Validator Pro is not available yet. It is a status we intend to launch, and this Section is here because your referrals are already being counted towards it. No payment of any kind is taken for it, and nothing in this Section is a charge, a subscription or a commitment on your part.

12.2 How you qualify. You reach Validator Pro when five of your Invitees become Qualified invites: each of them has completed three accepted Validations within 60 days of their own registration. An Invitee who completes the third Validation on day 61 is an Active invite but not a Qualified invite.

12.3 Counting runs from now, not from launch. Qualified invites are counted from the effective date of these Programme Terms. If you reach five Qualified invites before Validator Pro is available, your qualification is recorded on the day your fifth Qualified invite is recorded, and you receive the status on the day Validator Pro launches, with nothing further to do.

12.4 The first 500. The first 500 Validators to qualify, counted across the whole Service in the order in which each fifth Qualified invite is recorded — not in the order in which the status is granted — receive Validator Pro for the life of their Account, at no cost, with no renewal and nothing to do. The application shows how many of the 500 places remain, and that figure is the real count from our systems.

12.5 After the first 500. Every Validator who qualifies after the 500th receives Validator Pro for 12 months at no cost. At the end of those 12 months you may keep it by subscribing at the reduced Pro price published in the Fee Schedule at that time, which then remains fixed for you for as long as you keep the subscription without interruption. If you do not subscribe, the status lapses and nothing else changes.

12.6 What Validator Pro will give you. For as long as you hold the status, once it is available:

• Offers reach you first. Offers for Experiments matching your profile are dispatched to Pro Validators in the first round, before the rest of the pool, where the pool allows it. Priority is determined by your segment and by profiles similar to yours, not by your sub-industry alone.
• A longer window to answer. You have four hours to accept an Offer, instead of the standard window stated in the application.
• A higher rate. The amount shown in an Offer to a Pro Validator is 10% above the amount shown for the same round to a Validator who is not Pro. The percentage is published in the application and any reduction of it is a change under Section 16.
• A Pro mark, on your profile, on the payout proofs you generate in the application, and on the leaderboard.
• A direct support line, on which your requests are handled ahead of the general queue.

12.7 What Validator Pro does not do. It changes when Offers reach you, how long you have to answer them, and the rate at which your Offers are priced. It does not change the price an Ideator pays for an Experiment, it does not guarantee that you will receive any particular Offer or any minimum number of Offers, and it does not change the way your Responses are assessed under Section 43 of the Terms and Conditions.

12.8 If we decide not to launch it. We may decide not to launch Validator Pro, or to launch it with different benefits. We will tell you at least 30 days in advance, by email and in the application. Because the status is free and nothing has been paid for it, a decision not to launch it does not give rise to a claim; the rewards in Sections 10 and 11 are not affected, and any reward already credited remains yours. Where we launch it with different benefits, Section 16 applies to the difference.

12.9 Keeping it. Validator Pro is tied to an approved Account in good standing. It is suspended while your Account is suspended and it ends if your Account is closed. Where the qualification was obtained through conduct described in Section 4.1, the status is revoked.

12.10 Counting is provisional. The counter shown in the application — for example "3 of 5 qualified, 2 pending" — is provisional until the Review period for each Invitee has ended, and it is corrected where a Validation is later rejected.

13. Payout proof

13.1 The application lets you generate an image showing a payout or a referral reward you have received ("payout proof"). You may share it freely. It must not be altered, and it must not be presented as a statement of what anyone else will earn. The last bullet of Section 4.1 applies.

13.2 A payout proof shows your own amounts only, and, where it concerns a referral, the first name and initial of the Invitee. It never shows the Invitee's earnings.

PART B — DATA, TAX, CHANGES, LAW

14. Personal data

14.1 Running this programme means we process personal data about you and about the person you invited. Our Privacy Policy describes that processing in full, including the lawful bases, the retention periods and the providers involved. This Section states only the points specific to referrals.

14.2 What we process for the programme: your referral code and link; the fact that an Account was created through them; the status and amounts of each referral; and, for fraud prevention, device, network and timing signals across the two Accounts. The lawful basis is the performance of the contract for the reward itself, and our legitimate interest in preventing fraud for the checks in Section 4.

14.3 What we disclose. We show the Referrer the Invitee's first name and initial, registration date and referral status, and nothing else (Section 7). We show the Invitee the Referrer's first name. Neither disclosure includes contact details, earnings or answers.

14.4 Automated decisions. A reward can be withheld or reversed on the basis of the checks in Section 4.2, which are partly automated. Section 42 of the Terms and Conditions gives you the right to human review, to written reasons, to make representations, and to correction and reinstatement where the decision was wrong. Write to gabri@validating.studio.

14.5 Sharing a link is your choice and your responsibility. When you send your referral link to someone, you are using their contact details, not ours. Do not add anyone to a mailing list on our behalf, and do not send your link to people who have not asked to hear from you — the last but one bullet of Section 4.1 makes that a breach, and depending on where you are it may also breach marketing law.

15. Taxes

15.1 Referral rewards are earnings and Section 44 of the Terms and Conditions applies to them. They are paid gross. You are responsible for declaring them where the law of your country requires it, and for any tax or social contribution due on them. We do not withhold tax and we do not give tax advice.

16. Changes to the programme

16.1 We may change these Programme Terms, the amounts, the thresholds, the limits and the benefits, for the future. A change that reduces a reward or a benefit, or that introduces or lowers a limit, takes effect no earlier than 30 days after we notify you by email and in the application. A change that improves a reward may take effect immediately.

16.2 What a change never touches. Rewards already credited, and Validator Pro already granted, are not affected. A referral already attributed to you is paid at the terms in force when the attribution was recorded (Section 6.3). In addition, an Invitee who registered before a reducing change, and whose Qualifying action occurs within 60 days after it, earns the reward that applied at registration.

16.3 The end of an announced promotional period, including the exhaustion of the 1,500 launch-rate referrals in Section 10.2, is not a reducing change: it is a condition we stated in advance, in the application, before you shared your link.

17. Ending the programme

17.1 We may suspend or end the programme at any time, on 30 days' notice by email and in the application. Rewards released before the end date, and Validator Pro already granted — including lifetime status under Section 12.4 — remain yours. Referral links and codes stop working on the end date.

17.2 A referral attributed before the end date whose Qualifying action occurs within 60 days after it is still paid. Nothing that was owed to you before the end date stops being owed because the programme ended.

17.3 We may suspend your participation without notice where we have reasonable grounds to believe that Section 4.1 applies, pending the review described in Section 4.2.

18. Liability, law and disputes

18.1 Sections 18, 19, 20, 22 and 23 of the Terms and Conditions apply to these Programme Terms as if they were set out here. In particular: Dutch law governs, and the courts of Amsterdam have jurisdiction, subject to the rights that Section 22.5 of the Terms and Conditions preserves for consumers.

18.2 Before bringing a dispute about a reward, please use the internal complaint mechanism in Section 11.6 of the Terms and Conditions. Most questions about a missing reward are a timing question and are resolved in a day.

18.3 Nothing in these Programme Terms limits any right you have under mandatory consumer law, or any right you have under Section 42 of the Terms and Conditions in relation to automated decisions.

19. Contact

19.1 Questions about a specific referral, a reward you think is missing, or a decision that withheld one: write to hello@validating.studio from the email address on your Account, quoting the first name and the registration date of the Invitee concerned. We answer within 5 business days.

19.2 Data protection requests, and requests for human review of a decision under Section 14.4: gabri@validating.studio.