Topic: Thorough analysis: Terms&Conditions & Privacy on crypto exchanges !BE WARNED! - page 2. (Read 894 times)

I do not see a direct legal problem with "only" having a mailbox as company address. The real question is: does the company have any assets which could serve as guarantee for possible claims and if so: where are they? If not, then you should be really careful, however, in that case, I'd say the owners risk personal responsibility in case of voluntary insolvency.

If you read the T's and C's of many websites even from popular ones like Facebook etc you'll find some nasty and worrying stuff in there. You're signing over a lot at the end of the day and mostly giving them the right to use your info, pictures and content as they see fit. As for exchanges using them is a necessary evil but they're often going to ask for a lot due to compliance with Anti Money Laundering and Know Your Customer laws. For those worried about this or their privacy I would suggest meeting people to trade your coins with somehow. I'm sure there are many others who are in the same boat as you and would prefer to do trades without the use of third parties involved the way bitcoin was designed to be.

Just an update:

Cryptopia updated their terms and conditions. (Big overhaul)

https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/Home/Terms
https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/Home/RiskStatement
https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/Home/Privacy


Also there are questions over the location of Kucoin exchange.

https://bitcoinist.com/man-visits-kucoins-hong-kong-office-to-find-that-it-does-not-exist/

Thx xtraelv, that's quite an impressive addition. Maybe we could draw up some kind of draft, undersigned by several BTCtalk members who are also users of these exchanges, asking them to do something about their T&C. Don't know if we could find any support for this.

This concerns me. For a large exchange to be operating as a shell company.


While it isn't specifically stated on their site there are lots of clues in their T&C:

You and CoinExchange submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the State of New South Wales. (Australia)

Anti-Money Laundering Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) (Australian legislation)

Should you use Services from CoinExchange which cost less than AUD$40,000 certain guarantees apply to those Services. These guarantees apply regardless of any express warranties to which you may also be entitled under these Terms. (Australian Currency)

You may not use the Services if you are located in, or are a citizen or resident of any state, country, territory, or other jurisdiction that is on the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Consolidated List, or any other location where your use of the Services would otherwise violate any applicable law.


Binance location is hard to find:

Registered in Hong Kong but located in Hong Kong and Japan.
Secretive with its exact location for security purposes.



Currently in the process of moving to malta



https://cryptoslate.com/binance-malta/




Registered in the British Virgin Islands under the name iFinex Inc, with subsidiaries Bitfinex in Hong Kong and BFXNA in the US.

Founder Raphael Nicolle, who is based in France, and director of community and product development Zane Tackett, based in San Francisco.
CSO Phil Potter, based in New York, and director of infrastructure Adam Chamely, who is in Atlanta.

It is believed that bitfinex is a resurection of failed exchange Bitcoinica.
Source: https://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-examined-bitcoin-exchange/

Your analysis is good but partly incorrect.

Multiple accounts are allowed - except for the purpose of defrauding, circumventing bans, soliciting or abusing Cryptopia Ltd. services

This is what they state:

NZ's privacy laws are quite good.
This is their privacy policy:
https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/Home/Privacy


Currently the only way to list there is through Paytopia or a bulk listing arrangement with their listings manager.

Coin listings are kept secret until they are announced on their official twitter feed. This is to prevent insider trading accusations like happened with coinbase.

https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/Forum/Thread/620 (dead link)
Coins may face delisting for the following reasons:

1. Sufficient nodes are not maintained to keep the network synced and moving.
2. A coinswap.
3. Any network issues or bugs that could result in loss of user funds.
4. Statements made by a coin or coin community that could bring the reputation of Cryptopia into disrepute.

I know they are currently working on updating and clarifying this further.

Cryptopia has recently started notifying users by email about coin delistings - as well a publishing it on their delisting page and on their twitter feed.



Trading fees are a flat rate of 0.2% and are only charged for actual trades.
https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/CoinInfo in "settings" are all the applicable withdrawal fees for each coin.

Disclosure: While I have attempted to be as accurate as possible with my information I am only a volunteer chat moderator there. I'm not paid staff and am not authorised to speak on behalf of Cryptopia.

Thx. Took me quite some time, so very glad to see you've appreciated the work.



Since you ask for my opinion, here goes: I think Poloniex is trying to play along with the big ones and tries to become a real crypto bank and to try and avoid any fraud and scams. From that point of view, I think all steps it has been taking in the last months and year are logical. I'm not saying acceptable - but that's a matter of opinion -, only logical. If anything goes wrong with your coins, at least you're protected by law and its institutes. That's not my libertarian "dream scenario" - at all - but at least it gives you a lot more certainty than, say, CoinExchange or Mercatox...

Sadly, I cannot check their Terms and Conditions from before, but I suppose the possibility to keep the funds locked was probably mentioned. Otherwise people would have effectively proceeded to court actions, which has not been the case (yet). Of course, if you want to go to court, you'll have to identify yourself anyway. So if anonymity is your problem, you're trapped I cannot warn people enough: if for any reason you want to remain anonymous or discrete in the crypto world, READ THE FRIGGING TERMS BEFORE SIGNING UP, PEOPLE!!! One cannot run around applauding decentralization all day long and then start whining and crying for mummy and government protection, because one didn't even bother reading 3 pages of text... At least I've been trying to make these long and boring terms and policies a little bit more readable.

I believe people behind exchanges should have the same possibility of remaining anonymous, but in no way should this be a blank cheque to do whatever pleases them, with other people's crypto money. If not, it's not free market or decentralization, but theft.

So yup, this fairly new decentralized crypto world has created quite some interesting challenges on many levels, not the least on a legal level. Many of these issues, I have been reflecting on for months, but for a lot of them, I do not seem to have found any satisfying solutions (yet ).

As a final comment, I'd suggest - as I said in my other thread: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/code-of-conduct-in-exchanges-the-crypto-constitution-terms-of-use-screening-3759212 - creating private (decentralized) arbitrator institutions, instead of courts and governments laws to treat any conflict between users and exchanges (or ICOs or projects etc.).


NB: I'll add an analysis of Poloniex' Terms and Conditions in a few days.

Good work, also funny to read, even when it is a serious topic, the way you wrote it truly make me smile. Thanks, that could be a boring issue and you turned it into a good reading.

I have one further question. What`s your opinion on the Poloniex issue? I mean: recently they implemented new requirements to their users, as personal information even for small amounts, or even a pick of their faces. All the users have their accounts locked, along with their funds, as long as they do not accomplish the recent new requirements. I`ve been searching on the internet about that, but nothing seems to be happening, so has Poloniex all the right to do that?
What`s going to happen with all those funds? Is Poloniex keeping them?
Are the other exchanges going by the same way?

I keep this topic self-moderated FOR ANTI-SPAM REASONS ONLY.


***MOST RECENT UPDATE: 2019/11/01: SMALL UPDATE FOR COINEXCHANGE***
***MOST RECENT UPDATE: 2019/11/01: NEW UPDATE FOR CRYPTOPIA and COINEXCHANGE***
***MOST RECENT UPDATE: 2019/08/11: NEW UPDATE FOR NAUTICUS***
***MOST RECENT UPDATE: 2019/04/25: NEW UPDATE FOR MERCATOX 3. and BINANCE 2. and 5. and minor changes/updates to BINANCE 3. and 4.***
***MOST RECENT UPDATE: 2018/12/27: NEW EXCHANGE: NAUTICUS.EXCHANGE***
***MOST RECENT UPDATE: 2018/12/02: NEW UPDATE FOR CRYPTOPIA 3. 4. and 5.***
***MOST RECENT UPDATE: 2018/10/25: NEW UPDATE FOR COINEXCHANGE 1. 2. 3. and 4.***
***MOST RECENT UPDATE: 2018/08/15: NEW UPDATE FOR CRYPTOPIA'S 1.***

I am not an IT wonder professor or a rocket scientist, but I've got quite a bit of legal experience. I've used this to do some research in the last weeks to make a somewhat deeper analysis of the TERMS AND CONDITIONS and PRIVACY POLICY of some popular exchanges. Most of the times it was really boring - the usual stuff, trying to limit liability as much as possible - but I discovered some really funny formulations and Kafkaesque errors, too. From a user's/customer's point of view, am I the only one who finds some of these results extremely disturbing?

I think we really need to create a community-made code of conduct. Check my OP from some weeks ago. I honestly think this idea deserves larger support.

KuCoin came out as undisputed number one when it comes to trustworthy, solid terms of use, finding a perfect balance between customer rights and liability, whilst fully respecting our privacy. On the other side of the spectrum, I am not sure who should win the price of worst user protection, but I think CoinExchange is one of the strongest contenders in this category.


* MERCATOX:

1. Terms of Use:

- You are responsible for this, you are solely responsible for that etc. They are liable for nothing and you have to respect all their rights, such as copyrights, property rights etc.

- They can kick you out if you behave in a way they find "inappropriate or unlawful". No definition so this is pure arbitrariness.

- In case of conflict, they will settle "by means of negotiation". If no solution is found, it will be settled by "the Court of the principal place of business of the Service". It is not marked where the principal place of business is to be found. In case you're interested: they are based in London. I had to do a search and found the information on the (official) UK Companies House: click here.

- They can change, stop, suspend their services at any time, even without notice. They are - of course - not liable for doing so.

- This is probably a copy-paste text, because there's actually a hilarious error in this text - point 8 Limitation of Liability: "The Company, its affiliates or its partners be liable (directly or indirectly) for any losses or damages whatsoever, whether direct, indirect, general, special, compensatory, consequential, and/or incidental, arising out of or relating to the conduct of you or anyone else in connection with the use of the Service." They are actually saying (in bad English) that they "be liable". Sadly, it's probably only a typo, so don't get your hopes up of getting any rights out of that.

2. Privacy Policy:

They have the right to take your name and e-mail address and pass them on to other parties as well as governments. Etc.

3. Adding coins / ICO:

The information about adding coins through payment or by voting, and even the adding of ICOs is clearly marked on its site.

4. Coin Removal Policy:

I did not find any info about this, but feel free to let me know.

5. Fees:

Mercatox communicates clearly about its fees for trading and withdrawal.


* COINEXCHANGE:

COINEXCHANGE CLOSED DOWN ON DECEMBER 1ST 2019.

1. Terms of Use:

I think they invented or copy-pasted most of this stuff themselves. I'll remain polite and say it sounds pseudo-legal. It's some kind of legally-sounding text, formulated in a bit of an amateurish way, sometimes even contradicting themselves, probably in an effort to try to dismiss as much liability as possible. Or maybe they were afraid of copyright claims for copying other people's Terms of Use.

- You are responsible for this, it is prohibited to that etc. Again, the predictable terms that they are liable for nothing and you have to respect all their rights, such as copyrights, trademarks etc.

- They can terminate or suspend your access to the exchange at any time, even without notice and are - again - not liable for doing so. They can do this for any reason! In that case, they also "reserve the right to remove or delete any information that you may have on file with us, including any account or login information".

- They can remove any content that does not comply to the terms "in their judgment". Again pure arbitrariness. By the way, if they do remove something, you consent to that removal. "Yes Sir, we removed your content, and the terms say you did consent. We are the brain police." Funny stuff.

- In case of conflict, the laws and courts of the State of New South Wales (which is not a country but a state in Australia) are applicable. Hereunder, this had already been confirmed thanks to the help of BTCtalk member xtraelv.


2. Privacy Policy:

And there's finally a page with a privacy policy (again). Looks ok. Nothing spectacular, and as you read above, you will be protected by the privacy laws that are applied by the State of New South Wales.


3. Coin Acceptance policy:

Clear information about how you could apply to get your coin or tokens listed on CoinExchange. There's also more technical information about the supported platforms on CoinExchange.


4. Coin Removal policy:

"Coin halts and delisting’s from CoinExchange.io will be published in the News section of the website and a notice will be placed on the top of the currency market page." They have also created a separate page where upcoming delistings are published, which can be easily found in the basic Menu on the website.

However, once again, if the terms say delistings will be published in the News section, they have to publish it in the News section and not on a separate page. Sigh.


5. Fees:

The applied fees for trading and withdrawal are clearly marked.


* BINANCE:

1. Terms of Use:

- The same good old non-liability formulations.

- The terms of use have "the legal effect as a legal contract", they say. However, it is nowhere marked where you should go, should they not respect their obligations. Well, I know, they have no obligations, right? You're the only one who does! I mean, I do understand that exchanges do not want to be responsible for the mistakes of their users, but at least have some dignity, respect these people who are your customers and want to have certain rights and certitudes without risking to be kicked out or suspended "at Binance’s sole discretion, without any prior notice, for whatsoever reason, and Binance shall not be liable to you; however, Binance shall have the right to keep and use the transaction data, records and other information that is related to such account". So yes. They have rights.

- They ask you to "refer to the company and license information at the bottom of the website of Binance for the information regarding the operator of Binance". I do not see this info at the bottom of the website, but maybe that's just me.

- Finally, watch out, because: "Binance shall have the right to delete, at the same time of suspension or termination of services, information related to any un-traded coin tokens that you have uploaded to Binance prior to the suspension or termination."

2. Privacy Policy:

The content and reasons of the collected information are clearly stated. Binance "will not disclose or provide any personal information to third party sources without review from our legal case team and/or prior consent from the user". Understand well that the "and/or" means they will not necessarily ask for your prior consent, if the legal case team says 'go for it'.


3. Coin Adding Policy:

No conditions found. You have to fill in a form to apply.

4. Coin Removal Policy:

No info found. Feel free to let me know, should you have any.

5. Fees:

The fees are clearly marked for trading and [deposit/]withdrawal. [There's also a chapter about fee structure in the support pages, which is about the same as the information on the general "Fees" page.]


* KUCOIN:

1. Terms of Use:

These are by far the most acceptable Terms of Use I've seen during my research, and I believe KuCoin is setting a standard which should be the absolute minimum for any exchange. In a nutshell, the standard liability and non-liability formulations. In general, your account can only be suspended or terminated in case of agreement breach. "In the event of termination, KuCoin will return any Funds stored in your KuCoin Account not otherwise owed to KuCoin, unless KuCoin believes you have committed fraud, negligence or other misconduct".

KuCoin settles disputes through arbitration, which will be passed on to the "Hong Kong Court of International Arbitration". I do prefer private institutions, though.

Nonetheless, Kudos for this, KuCoin.

2. Privacy Policy:

I was very surprised to see that here also, your rights are well respected. No personal info will be shared without consent. Even the application of the brand new European GDPR is mentioned, so these policies are perfectly kept up-to-date.

3. Coin Adding Policy:

No conditions found. A form needs to be filled in by applicants.

4. Coin Removal Policy:

No info found.

5. Fees:

Fees are clearly marked on their website.


* IDEX:

1. Terms of Use:

These Terms of Use look regular and acceptable. IDEX also settles its disputes through arbitration in Panama courts.

2. Privacy Policy:

You'll find the privacy policy on the same page as the Terms of Use. Nothing shocking here either. Your rights are well reserved and no info will be shared without your consent. No info about the European GDPR thought, which is probably the only detail that made KuCoin the winner of my analysis.

3. Coin Adding Policy:

You can find a PDF document online, containing the guidelines for new coins. A form needs to be filled in by applicants.

4. Coin Removal Policy:

No info found.

5. Fees:

Fees are clearly marked on the bottom of their website. You only pay for trades, but you have to add a gas fee for each transaction.


* ETHERDELTA:

1. Terms of Use:

Only a very short Disclaimer on the website. As it is a decentralized exchange, it is probably useless to add EtherDelta to this list. There is no risk of some group or owner running of with your coins by abusing their terms of use.

2. Privacy Policy:

Since EtherDelta is a decentralized exchange, based on a smart contract, you probably haven't shared any personal information with this site. Nonetheless, if for some reason you did, I did not find a privacy policy.

3. Coin Adding Policy:

No conditions found. It's decentralized. If you know how to do it, anyone can add one.

4. Coin Removal Policy:

Idem dito.

5. Fees:

Gas fees for transactions are clearly marked on a separate Reddit post.


* BITFINEX:

1. Terms of Use:

Very detailed legal definitions, probably to avoid any interpretative discussion. Courts of the British Virgin Islands intervene in case of a dispute. Looks normal and regular.

2. Privacy Policy:

Everything you need for the protection of your personal info. There's an extra mention that even internally, your info is only to be used by employees who need it for the exchange.

3. Coin Adding Policy:

On its support page, Bitfinex says that "Several factors go into our decision-making process when considering adding a new token to Bitfinex. Some of these factors include user requests, shareholder interest, market capitalization, token design parameters, and a thorough assessment of the token's development process; including, but not limited to, the team behind the coin and their strategies for solving technical and nontechnical problems.

We continue to monitor these factors and make prudent decisions to keep our customers' best interests in mind."

4. Coin Removal Policy:

No info found.

5. Fees:

Maker and taker fees are clearly marked on the website.


* CRYPTOPIA:

CRYPTOPIA WENT BANKRUPT & IS CURRENTLY IN LIQUIDATION - CHECK THE WEBSITE TO (MAYBE) GET YOUR COINS BACK

1. Terms of Use:

- recent updates confirm your rights as protected under the New Zealand Consumer Laws. Terms have become more transparent, containing a glossary with legal definitions, as well as a link in case you consider filing a complaint.
- liability definitions and limitations have become more transparent as well; following their clause 12.1(d) their liability is limited to 5000$ (which, I'd say, are Kiwi dollars, not USD).

2. Privacy Policy:

Looks fine and transparent. I do not know New Zealand's 1993 Privacy Act, but I suppose it contains all necessary protection to not have your home address and mobile phone number published on Times Square's billboards. Also, another link is available for filing a complaint in case you feel your rights have been violated.

3. Coin Adding Policy:

Cryptopia offers several Coin Listing Services. Under Support, more information can be found about the demands and conditions to get your coin listed. The info is actually very detailed and also includes info about swaps, airdrops, forks etc.


4. Coin Removal Policy:

"(I)n most situations we will give at least 30 days notice via a Help Centre article, market and coin info notice and an email sent to all holders of coins in delisting status 4-weeks, 2-weeks and 48-hours prior to a coin being fully delisted." All pending delistings are clearly marked on a separate page.


5. Fees:

Cryptopia has added a link to the trading and withdrawal fees, which can be found on the bottom of Cryptopia's website.



* NAUTICUS.exchange:

TRADING HAS HALTED FOLLOWING SECURITY BREACH - WITHDRAWAL ISSUES - BE WARNED

1. Terms of Use:

These Terms of Use look regular and acceptable. Interesting to know is that - like very often - your account can be suspended or terminated "in appropriate circumstances and at our discretion" (I am not sure if both go together ), however: "Upon termination, you must provide details for a valid bank account to allow for the transfer of any currencies credited to your account." Meaning you will not lose your coins if they do.

Further on, the usual liability (or should I say: non-liability) disclaimers and warnings. In case of legal disputes, the courts of the Australian State of Victoria are competent. FYI, the company's name is NEX Markets PTY Limited. You'll find more info about the company in the Australian company register.

I must admit that I am impressed with the fact that there is a clear "Make a complaint" information page.

2. Privacy Policy:

Privacy policy is quite clear, containing also more details about what kind of information is being saved about the users. Further on, Australia's privacy laws are applicable. As a European, I am a bit surprised to see the phrase "We reserve the right to charge a fee for searching for and providing access to your information." I have no idea if Australian privacy laws allow charging a fee for accessing your information. I am however 100% sure that this is not allowed under the European GDPR.

For privacy freaks (like me), there's also a detailed Cookie Policy available.

3. Coin Adding Policy:

No info found (yet?).

4. Coin Removal Policy:

No info found (yet?).

5. Fees:

Fees are clearly marked on the bottom of their website, for crypto and fiat money, since Nauticus also works with fiat.

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Feel free to ask if you want me to screen any other exchange for you. Also, let me know should there be any errors or updates in these exchange's policies!