Your Product Licenses,
Truly Yours.

Subscribe to the software that powers your Surface Concept instruments. Each software license is delivered as a blockchain-verified token that you own, control, and can transfer — no middleman required.

13
Product Tokens
1,000+
Systems Deployed
5s
Transaction Time
<0.01€
Per Transaction

What Are Digital Tokens?

Surface Concept builds world-class scientific instruments — detectors, electronics, microscopes, and cameras. The software that operates these instruments is licensed through digital tokens. If you've never used blockchain before, don't worry — here's everything you need to know in plain language.

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What Is a Token?

A token is a digital proof of your software license, stored on a global network called Stellar. Think of it like a smart certificate that lives in your personal digital wallet, not on our servers. When you subscribe to the software for your Surface Concept hardware, you receive a token that is independently verifiable — by anyone, at any time, without calling us.

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What Is Stellar?

Stellar is an open-source network used by companies and institutions worldwide to move digital assets quickly, cheaply, and securely. Transactions settle in 5 seconds and cost a fraction of a cent. It's not speculative cryptocurrency — it's infrastructure, like the internet for digital assets. Learn more at stellar.org

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What Is a Wallet?

Your wallet is like a bank account for tokens. It has a public address (like an IBAN — safe to share) and a secret key (like your PIN — never share it). You control it directly — not Surface Concept, not a bank, not anyone else. We'll help you create one right here in under a minute.

Why Should I Care?

Software License Plans

Choose a software plan for your Surface Concept hardware. Each subscription includes product-specific tokens plus SurCo loyalty rewards. Basic and Professional tiers available, all prices in EUR.

Your Stellar Wallet

Create a new wallet or connect an existing one to receive your Surface Concept tokens. Your secret key is generated locally in your browser and never sent to any server.

The SurCo Advantage Program

Your tokens are more than licenses. They unlock a growing ecosystem of benefits, rewards, and governance rights across all Surface Concept products.

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Loyalty Rewards

Earn bonus SurCo tokens with every subscription renewal. Yearly subscribers receive 15% more tokens than monthly, and multi-year commitments unlock escalating bonus tiers.

  • Bonus tokens on every renewal
  • Yearly plans earn 15% more
  • Multi-year escalating bonuses
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Referral Program

Recommend Surface Concept to a colleague or institution. When they subscribe, both of you receive bonus SurCo tokens. Referrals are tracked via a unique Stellar memo — no codes to remember.

  • Both referrer and referee earn tokens
  • Tracked on-chain via Stellar memo
  • No limit on referrals

Holding Benefits

Customers holding a threshold of product tokens unlock premium perks:

  • Priority technical support queue
  • Early access to beta software releases
  • Invitations to workshops & webinars
  • Discounts on additional software subscriptions
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Cross-Product Bundles

Running multiple Surface Concept instruments? Hold software tokens from 3 or more product lines and automatically qualify for discounted subscriptions on additional software. The "Complete Lab" bundle offers maximum savings.

  • 3+ product tokens = auto discount
  • "Complete Lab" bundle pricing
  • Scales with your lab's needs
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Governance & Feedback

Your tokens give you a voice. Vote on feature roadmap priorities for the products you use. Product-specific tokens grant voting power for that product's development direction.

  • Vote on feature priorities
  • Weight proportional to holdings
  • Shape the products you use
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Service Credits

Redeem accumulated tokens for premium services:

  • On-site software installation & setup
  • Custom software feature consultations
  • Training sessions for your team
  • Priority hardware maintenance scheduling
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License Transferability

Institutions can freely redistribute software license tokens across departments. Transfer a license to a colleague using the same hardware at another university, or return unused tokens to Surface Concept — all on-chain, transparent, and instant.

  • Inter-department transfers
  • Inter-institutional sharing
  • Return unused licenses

How It Works

From browsing to receiving your tokens — the entire process takes just minutes.

1

Browse Software & Choose a Plan

Explore our software catalog above. Each product has Basic and Professional tiers with monthly or yearly billing. Pick the software plan that matches your hardware and lab needs.

2

Create or Connect Your Stellar Wallet

Generate a new wallet right here in your browser (takes 10 seconds), or connect an existing Stellar wallet. Your secret key never leaves your device.

3

Complete Payment

Pay via traditional methods — bank transfer, credit card, or purchase order. No cryptocurrency purchase required. We handle the blockchain side for you.

4

Receive Your Software Tokens

Once payment is confirmed, your full software license tokens are sent to your wallet instantly. From that moment, a small portion is reclaimed daily — your balance counts down to show remaining license time.

5

Your Software Is Active

Your software for the corresponding Surface Concept hardware is activated immediately. License verification checks your token balance — as long as tokens remain, your software runs. No license servers, no downtime.

6

Renew & Earn Rewards

When your balance runs low, renewing refills your tokens to the full amount instantly. With every renewal, you also earn SurCo loyalty tokens. Refer colleagues, hold tokens for perks, vote on features, and redeem credits for services.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about tokenized licenses, Stellar, and your wallet.

No. Surface Concept tokens are not investments or speculative assets. They are digital certificates that represent your software licenses. You pay for your subscription in euros (via bank transfer, credit card, or purchase order) just like any other software license. The tokens are simply the format in which your license is delivered and verified. You do not need to buy, trade, or understand cryptocurrency to use them.
Your secret key is the only way to access your wallet. If you lose it, the tokens in that wallet become inaccessible. This is why we strongly recommend:
  • Writing your secret key on paper and storing it in a safe place
  • Using the "Download Key Backup" feature when creating your wallet
  • Never storing your secret key in unencrypted digital files

If you do lose access, Surface Concept can use the clawback feature to recover the tokens from the lost account and reissue them to a new wallet you create. Contact info@surface-concept.com for recovery assistance.

Yes. During the transition period, Surface Concept supports both traditional software license keys and token-based licenses for our instrument software. However, token-based licenses offer significant advantages — ownership, transferability, loyalty rewards, and governance rights — that traditional keys cannot provide. We encourage all customers to transition at their convenience.
A Stellar account requires a minimum balance of 1 XLM (Stellar Lumens) to activate, which costs approximately €0.10. Surface Concept funds new customer accounts upon their first subscription, so there is no cost to you. Each additional trustline (required to hold a specific token type) reserves an additional 0.5 XLM, which we also cover.
No. The Stellar blockchain only stores your wallet address (a random string of characters) and your token balances. No names, emails, institutional affiliations, or other personal data is recorded on-chain. Your subscription details and personal information are handled through Surface Concept's standard customer management systems, subject to our privacy policy.

Your token balance works like a visual countdown of your remaining subscription time. Rather than removing all tokens at the end of your subscription, Surface Concept reclaims a small portion of your software tokens each day using Stellar's clawback feature.

Example: If your Professional plan includes 2,000 MCP tokens on a monthly subscription, approximately 67 tokens are reclaimed per day. After two weeks, you'll see roughly 1,000 tokens remaining — telling you at a glance that half your license period is left.

When your balance reaches zero, the software license expires. Renewing refills your tokens to the full amount instantly. Your SurCo loyalty tokens are never touched — those remain yours permanently.

This gives you a transparent, real-time view of your license status without needing to check dates or emails — just open your wallet.

Yes. When your token balance drops below 20% of the original amount, Surface Concept sends you a renewal reminder by email. You can also check your balance at any time in your wallet — it's always visible and up to date.

If you renew before the balance reaches zero, your tokens are topped up immediately and your software continues without interruption. If the balance does reach zero, simply renew to restore full access instantly.

You can use any Stellar-compatible wallet. The wallet creation feature on this page is provided for convenience, but you're free to use wallets like LOBSTR, Freighter, StellarTerm, or any other wallet that supports the Stellar network. Just share your public key with us when subscribing.
Every Surface Concept token has a known issuer account published in our stellar.toml file. You can verify any token's authenticity by checking that its issuer matches the published address. Tools like StellarExpert make this easy — just search for your wallet address and inspect your token balances.