Terms and Conditions
Last Updated a month ago
ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS OF USE
By using this website (“Site”), registering for a Bitstamp Account (“Account”), or using any of our other Bitstamp Services, you ("you, your, or yourself") are agreeing to accept and comply with the terms and conditions of use stated below ("Terms of Use"). You should read the entire Terms of Use carefully before you use this Site or any of the Bitstamp Services.
As used in this Terms of Use, “Bitstamp" refers to the company Bitstamp Limited with registered address at 5 New Street Square, EC4A 3TW London, United Kingdom, including, without limitation, its owners, directors, investors, employees or other related parties. Depending upon the context, "Bitstamp" may also refer to the services, products, website, content or other materials (collectively, "Bitstamp Services") provided by Bitstamp.
The Service operated by Bitstamp allows buyers ("Buyers") and sellers ("Sellers"), to buy and sell the Internet currency known as "Bitcoins" (see http://bitcoin.org).
The Service operated by Bitstamp also allows all registered users of the Service ("Members") to:
- Transfer Bitcoins to other Members or other users of Bitcoin outside the Bitstamp site.
- Use Bitcoins for purchasing goods.
- Buy the Internet currency known as XRP.
- Access and use the Ripple system.
Depending on your country of residence, you may not be able to use all the functions of the Site. It is your responsibility to follow those rules and laws in your country of residence and/or country from which you access this Site and Services. As long as you agree to and comply with these Terms of Use, Bitstamp grants to you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable and limited right to enter and use the Site and the Service.
IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THE TERMS OF USE AND CONDITIONS OUTLINED IN THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT ACCESS THIS SITE AND DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE.
By opening an Account, you expressly represent and warrant:
- 1. You have accepted these Terms; and
- 2. You are at least 18 years of age and have the full capacity to accept these Terms and enter into a transaction involving Bitcoins.
RISKS
The trading of goods and products, real or virtual, as well as virtual currencies involves significant risk. Prices can and do fluctuate on any given day. Due to such price fluctuations, you may increase or lose value in your assets at any given moment. Any currency - virtual or not - may be subject to large swings in value and may even become worthless. There is an inherent risk that losses will occur as a result of buying, selling or trading anything on a market.
Bitcoin trading also has special risks not generally shared with official currencies or goods or commodities in a market. Unlike most currencies, which are backed by governments or other legal entities, or by commodities such as gold or silver, Bitcoin is a unique kind of "fiat" currency, backed by technology and trust. There is no central bank that can take corrective measure to protect the value of Bitcoins in a crisis or issue more currency.
Instead, Bitcoin is an as-yet autonomous and largely unregulated worldwide system of currency firms and individuals. Traders put their trust in a digital, decentralised and partially anonymous system that relies on peer-to-peer networking and cryptography to maintain its integrity.
Bitcoin trading is probably susceptible to irrational (or rational) bubbles or loss of confidence, which could collapse demand relative to supply. For example, confidence might collapse in Bitcoin because of unexpected changes imposed by the software developers or others, a government crackdown, the creation of superior competing alternative currencies, or a deflationary or inflationary spiral. Confidence might also collapse because of technical problems: if the anonymity of the system is compromised, if money is lost or stolen, or if hackers or governments are able to prevent any transactions from settling.
There may be additional risks that we have not foreseen or identified in our Terms of Use.
You should carefully assess whether your financial situation and tolerance for risk is suitable for buying, selling or trading Bitcoins.
We use our banking providers in order to receive client moneys and making payments. Our banking providers DO NOT transfer Bitcoins, exchange Bitcoins, or provide any services in connection with Bitcoins.
LIMITED RIGHT OF USE
Unless otherwise specified, all Materials on this Site are the property of Bitstamp and are protected by copyright, trademark and other applicable laws. You may view, print and/or download a copy of the Materials from this Site on any single computer solely for your personal, informational, non-commercial use, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices.
The trademarks, service marks and logos of Bitstamp and others used in this Site ("Trademarks") are the property of Bitstamp and their respective owners. The software, text, images, graphics, data, prices, trades, charts, graphs, video and audio used on this Site belong to Bitstamp. The Trademarks and Material should not be copied, reproduced, modified, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, scraped, collected or distributed in any form or by any means, whether manual or automated. The use of any such Materials on any other Site or networked computer environment for any other purpose is strictly prohibited; any such unauthorised use may violate copyright, trademark and other applicable laws and could result in criminal or civil penalties.
MAINTAINING YOUR ACCOUNT: OUR RULES
This Site is for your personal and non-commercial use only. We are vigilant in maintaining the security of our Site and the Service. By registering with us, you agree to provide Bitstamp with current, accurate, and complete information about yourself as prompted by the registration process, and to keep such information updated. You further agree that you will not use any Account other than your own, or access the Account of any other Member at any time, or assist others in obtaining unauthorised access.
The creation or use of Accounts without obtaining the prior express permission from Bitstamp will result in the immediate suspension of all said Accounts, as well as all pending purchase/sale offers. Any attempt to do so or to assist others (Members or otherwise), or the distribution of instructions, software or tools for that purpose, will result in the Accounts of such Members being terminated. Termination is not the exclusive remedy for such a violation, and Bitstamp may elect to take further action against you.
You also are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Account information, including your password, safeguarding your own Bitcoin, and for all activity including Transactions that are posted to your Account. If there is suspicious activity related to your Account, we may, but are not obligated, to request additional information from you, including authenticating documents, and to freeze any transactions pending our review. You are obligated to comply with these security requests, or accept termination of your Account. You are required to notify Bitstamp immediately of any unauthorised use of your Account or password, or any other breach of security by email addressed to support@bitstamp.net. Any Member who violates these rules may be terminated, and thereafter held liable for losses incurred by Bitstamp or any user of the Site.
Bitstamp similarly reserves the right to freeze Ripple accounts in accordance with the new policy announced by Ripple Labs set to take effect September 15, 2014. As explained by Ripple Labs:
The freeze protocol extension gives gateways the ability to 1) globally freeze all their issued funds, or 2) freeze funds issued to a particular user. Frozen funds may only be sent back to the gateway who issued them. The global freeze feature allows a gateway to freeze all balances issued by it. The gateway may still issue payments. Accounts holding frozen balances may return the funds to the gateway. This feature is useful for migrating users from one account to another and to safeguard users in the event of a compromise of the gateway account. The individual freeze is intended primarily for complying with regulatory requirements which may vary from one jurisdiction to another. It also allows gateways to freeze individual accounts issuances in order to investigate suspicious activity. These features allow gateways to better operate in compliance of laws and regulations.
Finally, you agree that you will not use the Service to perform criminal activity of any sort, including but not limited to, money laundering, illegal gambling operations, terrorist financing, or malicious hacking.
The minimum allowable trade is $5.
TERMINATION AND ESCROW OF UNVERIFIED ACCOUNTS
You may terminate this agreement with Bitstamp, and close your Account at any time, following settlement of any pending transactions.
You also agree that Bitstamp may, by giving notice, in its sole discretion terminate your access to the Site and to your Account, including without limitation, our right to: limit, suspend or terminate the service and Members' Accounts, prohibit access to the Site and its content, services and tools, delay or remove hosted content, and take technical and legal steps to keep Members off the Site if we think that they are creating problems or possible legal liabilities, infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, or acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of these Terms. Additionally, we may, in appropriate circumstances and at our discretion, suspend or terminate Accounts of Members for any reason, including without limitation: (1) attempts to gain unauthorised access to the Site or another Member's account or providing assistance to others' attempting to do so, (2) overcoming software security features limiting use of or protecting any content, (3) usage of the Service to perform illegal activities such as money laundering, illegal gambling operations, financing terrorism, or other criminal activities, (4) violations of these Terms of Use, (5) failure to pay or fraudulent payment for Transactions, (6) unexpected operational difficulties, or (7) upon the request of law enforcement or other government agencies, if deemed to be legitimate and compelling by Bitstamp, acting in its sole discretion.
We expressly reserve the right to cancel and/or terminate Accounts that have not been verified by the Client despite our good faith efforts to contact you seeking such verification (“Unverified Accounts”). All Unverified Accounts which have been inactive for a period of 6 months or more are further subject to transfer to a third-party escrow (the "Unverified Escrow”), and will no longer be maintained or be the legal responsibility of Bitstamp Ltd. The administrator/trustee of the Unverified Escrow shall make any and all additional reasonable efforts required by law to determine and contact each Unverified Account owner and, after suitable effort and time, will donate any residual Bitcoin or cash in these unclaimed Unverified Accounts to a nonprofit group or groups involved in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
The suspension of an Account shall not affect the payment of the commissions due for past Transactions. Upon termination, Members shall communicate a valid bank account to allow for the transfer of any currencies credited to their account. Said bank account shall be held by the Member. Bitcoins may be transferred to a valid bank account only after conversion into a currency. Bitstamp shall transfer the currencies as soon as possible following the Member's request in the time frames specified by Bitstamp.
Bitstamp will send to you the credit balance of your Account, however in circumstances a number of intermediaries may be involved in an international payment and these or the beneficiary bank may deduct charges. We will use reasonable efforts to ensure that such charges are disclosed to you prior to sending your payment, however where they cannot be avoided, you acknowledge that these charges cannot always be calculated in advance, and that you agree to be responsible for such charges.
Upon Account closing, any amount less than $5 in value will not be returned.
AVAILABILITY OF SERVICES
All services are provided without warranty of any kind, either express or implied. We do not represent that this Site will be available 100% of the time to meet your needs. We will strive to provide you with the Service as soon as possible but there are no guarantees that access will not be interrupted, or that there will be no delays, failures, errors, omissions or loss of transmitted information.
We will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that the Site can normally be accessed by you in accordance with these Terms of Use. We may suspend use of the Site for maintenance and will make reasonable efforts to give you notice. You acknowledge that this may not be possible in an emergency.
APIS AND WIDGETS
We may provide access to certain parties to access specific data and information through our API (Application Programming Interface) or through widgets. We also may provide widgets for your use to put our data on your Site. You are free to use these in their original unmodified and un-altered state.
EXTERNAL WEBSITES
Bitstamp makes no representations whatsoever about any outside or third party website which you may access through the Site. Occasionally, the Bitstamp website may provide references or links to other websites ("External Websites"). We do not control these External Websites third party sites or any of the content contained therein. You agree that we are in no way responsible or liable for External Websites referenced or linked from the Bitstamp website, including, but not limited to, website content, policies, failures, promotions, products, opinions, advice, statements, prices, activities and advertisements, services or actions and/or any damages, losses, failures or problems caused by, related to, or arising from those sites. You shall bear all risks associated with the use of such content.
External Websites have separate and independent terms of use and related policies. We request that you review the policies, rules, terms, and regulations of each site that you visit. It is up to you to take precautions to ensure that whatever you select for your use is free of such items as viruses, worms, Trojan horses and other items of a destructive nature.
FINANCIAL ADVICE
For the avoidance of doubt we do not provide any investment advice in connection with the Services contemplated by these Terms of Use. We may provide information on the price, range, volatility of Bitcoins and events that have affected the price of Bitcoins but this is not considered investment advice and should not be construed as such. Any decision to purchase or sell Bitcoins is your decision and we will not be liable for any loss suffered.
FINANCIAL REGULATION
Our business model, and our Service, consists of facilitating the buying, selling and trading of Bitcoins and their use to purchase goods in an unregulated, international open payment system. The Services we provide are currently unregulated within the UK.
Email messages sent over the Internet are not secure and Bitstamp is not responsible for any damages incurred by the result of sending email messages over the Internet. We suggest sending email in encrypted formats; you are welcome to send PGP encrypted emails to us. The instructions and keys to do so are available upon request.
DISCLOSURES TO LEGAL AUTHORITIES AND AUTHORIZED FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
We may share your Personal Information with law enforcement, data protection authorities, government officials, and other authorities when:
- Required by law;
- Compelled by subpoena, court order, or other legal procedure;
- We believe that the disclosure is necessary to prevent physical harm or financial loss;
- Disclosure is necessary to report suspected illegal activity; or
- Disclosure is necessary to investigate violations of our Terms of Use or Privacy Policy.
With respect to US residents, we also may share your information with other financial institutions as authorized under Section 314(b) of the US Patriot Act, and with tax authorities, including the US Internal Revenue Service, pursuant to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act ("FATCA"), to the extent that this statute may be determined to apply to Bitstamp Ltd. "Personal Information" refers to information that identifies an individual, such as name, address, e-mail address, trading information, and banking details. “Personal Information” does not include anonymised and/or aggregated data that does not identify a specific user.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We store and process your Personal Information in data centres around the world, wherever Bitstamp facilities or service providers are located. As such, we may transfer your Personal Information outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”). Such transfers are undertaken in accordance with our legal and regulatory obligations.
JURISDICTION
The Terms of Use shall be governed and construed in accordance with English Law. The parties agree to irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
To the extent permitted by law, Bitstamp will not be held liable for any damages, loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of opportunity, loss of data, indirect or consequential loss unless the loss suffered arising from negligence or wilful deceit or fraud. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits the liability of either party for fraud, death or personal injury caused by its negligence, breach of terms implied by operation of law, or any other liability which may not by law be limited or excluded.
Subject to the foregoing, Bitstamp's aggregate liability in respect of claims based on events arising out of or in connection with any single Member's use of the Site and/or Service, whether in contract or tort (including negligence) or otherwise, shall in no circumstances exceed the greater of either (a) the total amount held on Account for the Member making a claim less any amount of Commission that may be due and payable in respect of such Account; or (b) 125% of the amount of the Transaction(s) that are the subject of the claim less any amount of Commission that may be due and payable in respect of such Transaction(s).
INDEMNITY
To the full extent permitted by applicable law, you hereby agree to indemnify Bitstamp, and its partners against any action, liability, cost, claim, loss, damage, proceeding or expense suffered or incurred if direct or not directly arising from your use of Bitstamp's Sites, your use of the Service, or from your violation of these Terms of Use.
MISCELLANEOUS
If we are unable to perform the Services outlined in the Terms of Use due to factors beyond our control including but not limited to an event of Force Majeure, change of law or change in sanctions policy we will not have any liability to you with respect to the Services provided under this agreement and for a time period coincident with the event.
MODIFICATION OF TERMS
Bitstamp reserves the right to change, add or remove portions of these Terms, at any time, in an exercise of its sole discretion. You will be notified of any changes in advance through your Account. Upon such notification, it is your responsibility to review the amended Terms. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of a notice of changes to the Terms signifies that you accept and agree to the changes, and that all subsequent transactions by you will be subject to the amended Terms.
DEFINITIONS
Account. The contractual arrangement wherein a Bitstamp Member has accepted our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and received approval to use the Bitstamp Services, including the purchase and sale of Bitcoins and to perform associated Transactions.
Bitcoins. The Peer-to-Peer internet currency further described at http://bitcoin.org.
Buyer(s). Member(s) that are submitting an offer to buy Bitcoins through the Service.
Commission. Refers to the fee which is payable to Bitstamp on each Transaction, such as a Bitcoin Purchase Transaction.
Member(s). Refers to Buyers and Sellers as well as any holder of an Account.
Personal Information. Information that identifies an individual, such as name, address, e-mail address, trading information, and banking details. “Personal Information” does not include anonymised and/or aggregated data that does not identify a specific user.
Price. The "price per coin" for which Members are willing to purchase or sell Bitcoins, using the Service in a Bitcoin Purchase Transaction. The Price may be expressed in any of the currencies deposited by Members in their Account and supported by the Service. See our Site for a full list of currencies.
Seller(s). Member(s) that are submitting an offer to sell Bitcoins through the Service.
Service(s). The technological platform, functional rules and market managed by Bitstamp Ltd. to permit Sellers and Buyers to perform purchase and sale transactions of Bitcoins.
Transaction. Includes the following:
- The agreement between the Buyer and the Seller to exchange Bitcoins through the Service for currencies at a commonly agreed rate ("Bitcoin Purchase Transaction");
- The conversion of currencies into Bitcoins deposited by Members on their Account ("Conversion Transaction");
- The transfer of Bitcoins among Members ("Bitcoin Transfer Transaction");
- The transfer of currencies among Members ("Currency Transfer Transaction"); and
- The purchase of ancillary products ("Purchase Transactions").
Bitstamp may not offer all of these types of transactions at this time or in all places.
Transaction Price. The total price paid by the Buyer in respect of each Transaction performed through the Service.
CONTACT US
If you have any questions relating to these Terms of Use, your rights and obligations arising from these Terms and/or your use of the Site and the Service, your Account, or any other matter, please contact