Last updated: 21 June 2022 18:14:39
Welcome and thank you for visiting BTC Exchange, an online peer to peer (p2p) cryptocurrency trading platform provided and owned by BTC COINS (Pvt) Ltd (the "Company"). BTC COINS (Registration number: 2022 / 454717 / 07) is a private limited company incorporated in the Republic of South Africa.
Users on the Platform can post advertisements to buy or sell bitcoins as well as to view and respond to advertisements from other Users. All trades on the Platform are conducted between Users and BTC Exchange does not become a party to any trade or transaction conducted by its Users. Users may be natural persons or legal entities. As part of its service BTC Exchange helps to resolve disputes if such should arise between buyers and sellers during a trade.
These Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy ("User Agreement") form a legal agreement covering the provision of Services ("service" or "services") provided by BTC COINS ("BTCExchange.co.za" or "BTC Exchange" or "platform" or "website" or "site" or "us" or "our" or "we") to you as an individual ("you" or "your" or "user").
Your use of the Services will be governed by this User Agreement. This User Agreement may be available in different languages, but the English language version of this agreement shall be deemed as the original piece and the governing instrument. Please read through these Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy carefully before you start using the services.
By registering an account on BTC Exchange, you agree you have read, understood and accepted the Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy. Registering an account and your continued use of the Services on the Platform shall signify your acceptance to be bound by this User Agreement. You also agree that your personal data and electronic communications on our platform will be processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
At any time, we reserve the right at our sole and absolute discretion and without prior notice to amend, modify, change or revise any part of these Terms and Conditions by posting the changes on the website. Any such changes in respect of use of our Services will take effect when posted on the BTC Exchange website and not retroactively.
For any changes to the Terms and Conditions that will significantly affect your rights and obligations we will strive to notify you by email and/or a notification on the Website before the changes take effect. It is your responsibility to check the Website periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to the Website or Services following the posting of any changes to these Terms and Conditions constitutes acceptance of those changes.
If you do not agree to any of the changes, you can terminate this User Agreement at any time by concluding any outstanding trades and any other obligations, withdrawing any remaining balance and discontinuing to use the Services and/or deleting your account.
Minors are not allowed to register or use our services. You affirm that you are at least eighteen (18) years of age, or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction if that is higher than eighteen (18) years of age.
To be eligible to use our services you must be at least 18 years of age, or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction if that is higher than eighteen (18) years of age and you must not have been previously suspended or removed from the Site or Services. You also represent and warrant that you are nor restricted or prohibited from engaging in any type of trading.
To use our Services, you must first register with us by creating a user account ("user account" or "account"). An account will only be issued once you have provided all necessary information required by us for registration and the information has been examined according to the applicable legal requirements placed upon us by the authorities. This examination and requirements include, but are not limited to, know-your-client, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations as well as, in the case of corporate accounts, the examination of the details of your business, including the beneficial owners.
All the information that we request you to provide in connection with the registration must be true, accurate and complete. You agree to promptly keep us updated if any of the information you provide changes. Your account must not contain misleading or fraudulent information. Creating false information for your account, falsifying your country of origin or providing fraudulent identification documents is strictly prohibited. If we believe that the information is not true, accurate or complete, we have the right to refuse your access to the site, or any of its resources, and to deny, terminate or suspend your Account.
At any point during and after registration, you authorize us to make inquiries, whether directly or through third parties, that we consider appropriate to verify your identity or to protect you, another user and/or us against fraud or other financial crime, and to take action we deem necessary based on the results of such inquiries. When we carry out these inquiries, you acknowledge and agree that your personal information may be disclosed to credit reference, fraud prevention or financial crime agencies and that these agencies may respond to our inquiries in full.
To use our Services you may also need to fulfill certain legal obligations in your country and/or state of residence. By accepting these terms in this User Agreement, you confirm that you have reviewed your local laws and regulations and that you are aware of, and fulfill, any and all such obligations.
By creating an Account, you confirm that you are a natural person, a legal person or any other entity with the authority to enter into this User Agreement and use the Services in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. You shall not create an Account for the purposes of violating any applicable laws, rules and regulations and/or undermine the Services provided on the Platform.
Should you not be eligible to create an Account, we reserve the right to refuse your registration for an Account and if you have already created an Account, we shall have the right to suspend, terminate and/or close your account without any advance notice to you and hold you accountable for any adverse consequences arising therefrom. We reserve the right to reject any applications to create an Account at our sole discretion, including, but not limited to Accounts relating to political and/or public figures or to comply with AML/CTF laws and regulations.
By using your account, you agree and represent that you will use our Services for yourself and you may not use your account to act as an intermediary or broker for any other third party, person or entity. You are only allowed to have one account and are not allowed to sell, borrow, share or otherwise make available your account or any detail necessary to access your account to people or entities other than yourself.
You are solely responsible and liable for creating a strong password and maintaining adequate security and control of any and all usernames, email addresses, IDs, passwords, hints, personal identification numbers (PINs), API keys, authentication codes or any other codes or credentials that you use to access our Services. Any loss or compromise of the foregoing information and/or your personal information may result in unauthorized access to your account by third parties and the loss or theft of your personal information, any digital assets and/or funds associated with your account.
You are solely responsible for keeping your email address, telephone number and other contact details up to date in your account profile in order to receive any notices or alerts that we may send you. You should never allow remote access or share your computer screen with someone else when you are logged on to your account. We assume no responsibility for any loss that you may sustain due to compromise of account login credentials due to no fault of BTC Exchange and/or your failure to follow or act on any notices or alerts that we may send to you.
If you wish to use our Services as a legal entity, you are required to register an account in the name of that entity as the main account for that entity ("company account"). When creating a company account, you confirm that the legal entity is duly organized and validly existing under the applicable laws of the jurisdiction of its organization and that you are duly authorized and have the legal capacity to execute this User Agreement and that this User Agreement is legally binding on such entity.
A company may have several active user accounts at any time, provided they are all company-verified and that each is operated by a single employee of the company. A single employee may only register and operate a single account.
A company may have active offers from several accounts with the the exception that the Ads are not allowed to overlap between accounts. E.g. you’re not allowed to create offers using the same limits with the same price in the same payment method category in the same country.
We may require you to verify your identity to access part of the services we offer. Identity verification may be required when you create advertisements, pass certain trade volume limits, during trade disputes, fraud investigations, and to ensure account ownership.
In certain situations, we may require enhanced identity verification. This may include requirements to verify details or sources of funds regarding payments you have made or received during trades on BTC Exchange as well as bitcoin transactions that you’ve sent or received from your BTC Exchange account.
You can offer one or more advertisements on the platform to buy or sell bitcoins. We have the right to restrict the number of your advertisements for security reasons and reasons of suspected misconduct or fraudulent activity.
Bitcoin trades ("trade" or "contact") to either buy or sell bitcoins are initiated by responding with a trade request to advertisements created by other users. With the trade request you are making a legally binding offer and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of the trade (such as exchange rate, bitcoin amount, payment window and terms of payment) as determined by the advertiser to whom you are sending the trade request to. When sending the trade request, you may need to select from options made available in the advertisements or accept any freeform terms and conditions set out by the advertiser in the Terms of trade field and displayed on the advertisement page. The terms and conditions of the trade must be in accordance with the terms of this User Agreement. In case of discrepancy, the terms of this User Agreement will have precedence.
When you are selling bitcoin it is your responsibility to check that you have received payment for the full amount, that the payment is not made by a third party, and that it was made according to your instructions given to the buyer. After you have released a trade to the buyer it is not possible to cancel, reverse, dispute or otherwise recover or return the bitcoins to you.
Payments made by buyers must be sent by the same person or entity who is the holder of the account or the company account. Receiving, making, providing, or attempting to receive, make or provide payments to or from third parties is strictly forbidden and is a violation of this User Agreement.
All communication relevant to the trade must happen in the trade chat on our platform in such a way that it is readily available for BTC Exchange support staff to review. Consequently, communications on the platform are not considered private communications between you and other users, BTC Exchange is also a party to such communications, and may access and otherwise process such communications in accordance with the Privacy Policy.
Communication that has not occurred on our platform or that has been hidden, encrypted or otherwise obstructed from view is not taken into consideration during dispute review and dispute resolution..
When a buyer and a seller are in disagreement over trade, either party or BTC Exchange can start a dispute to initiate a mediation process on the bitcoin held in escrow. Disputed trades are reviewed and resolved by BTC Exchange support staff. You and BTC Exchange agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to this User Agreement or the Services, shall be finally settled in binding arbitration, on an individual basis.
Disputes can only be started on trades that are open and marked as paid by the buyer but not yet released by the seller. Trades that are not marked as paid by the buyer, have been released by the seller, or already disputed and resolved are considered completed and cannot be disputed, reversed, or altered. BTC Exchange support has the right to re-open trades when the payment has been made but the trade has been cancelled.
BTC Exchange does not become a guarantor of any party’s performance of a trade. Therefore, although BTC Exchange helps in resolving disputes, you assume the risk that any party with whom you trade (“counterparty”) fails to perform in accordance with your agreement with the counterparty. By using BTC Exchange’ Services, you release BTC Exchange from any liability arising out of or related to a counterparty’s failure to perform as agreed.
When you are involved in a bitcoin trade, it is important that you remain active and available from the time the trade is started to the time that the trade is completed, canceled, or resolved. This means that you must be able to provide a response to a request by BTC Exchange support in a disputed trade within 6 hours or you may be deemed as unresponsive and the dispute may be resolved against you.
During a dispute review, BTC Exchange support may give you instructions that you are required to follow. The instructions given to you may require you to provide proof of payment, proof that you have or have not received payment (e.g. bank transaction history), additional ID verification, photo; audio; or video evidence, or any other documents deemed relevant by BTC Exchange. Unless otherwise specified by BTC Exchange, these documents must be added to the disputed trade itself. Failure to follow the instructions may lead to the dispute being resolved against you.
A disputed trade is most commonly resolved by BTC Exchange support moving the escrowed bitcoin to the buyer or the seller of the disputed trade once the dispute resolution criteria are met.
In rare situations where neither party fulfills the criteria, or it is in other ways unclear or not possible to determine which party has fulfilled the dispute resolution criteria, BTC Exchange may decide to resolve the dispute by splitting the escrowed bitcoin between the buyer and the seller evenly or unevenly.
BTC Exchange can resolve a disputed trade to a bitcoin buyer when one of the following criteria are met:
• The buyer has made payment according to the instructions provided by the seller in the trade chat, advertisement terms of trade, or advertisement payment details and the buyer has provided sufficient proof that the payment was made according to these instructions.
• The seller has become unresponsive.
BTC Exchange can resolve a disputed trade to a bitcoin seller when one of the following criteria are met:
• The buyer has not provided payment or not provided payment in full
• The buyer has become unresponsive
• The payment made by the buyer has been held/frozen/stopped by the payment provider
• The buyer has not provided payment according to the instructions provided to them by the seller in the trade chat, advertisement terms of trade or advertisement payment details.
• The payment is made by a third party to the trade OR the payment is made from a payment account not registered in the name of the buyer.
If the buyer or the seller of a disputed trade provides fraudulent information or fraudulent documents or makes false claims or otherwise tries to force a certain outcome of a disputed trade the dispute may be immediately resolved against the user.
If you believe BTC Exchange has resolved a dispute you are a part of in a way that is not in accordance with these terms you have a right to request a review. To request a review you need to notify us and specifically request a review by contacting customer support no later than 120 days after the dispute resolution.
You acknowledge that the dispute resolution is a service that we provide and which will be conducted in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. You agree and accept that we assume no responsibility for the outcome thereof and in any event our liability for dispute resolution is limited to the amount of the fee payable to us.
In the event of an incorrect dispute resolution which is corrected in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, we assume no liability for any damage, loss, cost or inconvenience.
You can create bitcoin trade advertisements ("advertisement" or "ad" or "ads") to advertise that you want to buy or sell bitcoins. Other users can open trade requests by responding to your advertisements that you’ve created. When a trade request is opened on your advertisement a bitcoin trade is automatically started.
When you have advertisements enabled you are required to be active and available to reply to trades started from these advertisements. If a dispute is initiated in a trade against an advertiser who is not active and available the advertiser may be deemed unresponsive as per this agreement and the dispute may be resolved against them.
Information and payment details you provide in advertisements and trades must at all times be correct and up to date. Disputes may be resolved against you if you include out-of-date payment details and a buyer completes payment accordingly. Refusal to complete trades or to provide payment details for trades opened from your advertisements is considered a violation of this User Agreement.
The price or price equation that is defined in the advertisement details must contain any and all fees that the advertiser requires the buyer to pay. After the initiation of trade, the price is locked and cannot be changed or any additional fees added without consent from both parties of the trade.
Multiple ads for the same payment method are not allowed in the same country unless the ads are limited to certain customer groups and the advertisements have a price difference of at least 1%.
Occasionally situations arise where we may need to limit, suspend, or terminate your account. Account limitation ("limit", "limitation") results in a temporary or permanent loss of access to a certain specific part or parts of the services we offer. Account suspension ("suspension", "block", "ban") results in a temporary loss of access to most parts of the services we offer. Account termination ("termination", "permanent ban") results in permanent loss of access to all services we offer as well as the termination of this Agreement.
We have the right to, limit, suspend, or terminate your account or access to the services that we provide to you if:
• we have a reason to believe that you have acted in violation of these Terms of Service or applicable laws or regulations or if we have a reason to believe that any content or material submitted or shared by you in or through the Services violates these Terms of Service or applicable laws or regulations or third party rights;
• we suspect that you use the services to engage in, attempt to engage in, or in connection with fraudulent activity, money laundering, terrorist financing or other financial crime;
• we have reason to believe that you have supplied false, misleading or deceptive information in connection with your registration, identity verification, trades or any other use of our services, either to us or to another user;
• we are required to do so under any applicable law, regulation or an order issued by an authority;
• make available content or behave in a way that libels, defames, invades privacy, stalks, is obscene, pornographic, racist, abusive, harassing, threatening or is offensive;
• if you use the services in a manner which may cause the services to be interrupted or damaged or such a way that the functionality of the services is in any way impaired or attempt to bypass or break any security mechanism of the services or if BTC Exchange believes in good faith that such action is reasonably necessary to protect the security of its services or its property or brand or the security, property, and rights of its users or those of third parties;
• attempt any unauthorized access to user accounts or any part or component of the service.
We will normally give you notice of any limitation, suspension, or termination of your account but we may if it is reasonable to do so (for example we consider it advisable for security reasons), limit, suspend or terminate your account without prior notice to you.
You acknowledge that our decision to limit, suspend, or terminate your account, may be based on confidential criteria that are essential to our risk management and security protocols and that we are under no obligation to disclose the details of our risk management and security procedures to you.
In the event that we limit, suspend or terminate your account we will lift the suspension as soon as possible once the reasons for the suspension or termination no longer exist.
In certain situations, your ability to access, conduct bitcoin transactions, or start trades using bitcoin held in your BTC Exchange wallet may be limited.
This limitation may be applied specifically to your account in order to safeguard bitcoin stored in your wallet when we e.g. suspect a third party has gained unauthorized access to your account; if we suspect you of engaging in or being involved in fraudulent or illegal activity; if we are provided with valid legal request from an authority.
This limitation may be applied generally to all users or a subset of our users during service outages or maintenance outages of the website; during bitcoin hard forks or other situations where we believe there is a high risk to your bitcoin balance.
In the event that we limit access to your wallet, we aim to remove the limitation as soon as possible once the reasons for the suspension or termination no longer exist.
We will normally give you notice of any limitation of access to your wallet but we may, if it is reasonable to do so (for example we consider it advisable for security reasons), limit access to your wallet without prior notice.
You acknowledge that our decision to limit access to your wallet may be based on confidential criteria that are essential to our risk management and security protocols and that we are under no obligation to disclose the details of our risk management and security procedures to you.
The services are provided to you against fees determined on a per transaction and/or per trade basis in accordance with the prices and pricing principles set out on our website. Such fees may include fees for incoming and outgoing transactions, percentage-based fees for trades completed, and percentage-based fees for merchant invoicing services deducted from the paid invoice amount.
Unless otherwise specified fees are automatically deducted from your BTC Exchange wallet balance or deposit at the time when the service is rendered or completed.
We reserve the right to change the fees or the principles of pricing from time to time in accordance with the terms of this User Agreement.
From time to time, new and alternative cryptocurrencies and/or forks of the bitcoin blockchain may be created. This may result in holders of private keys containing a bitcoin balance receiving a corresponding amount of the new cryptocurrency on the newly created blockchain (“air-drop”). We reserve the right at our sole discretion to decide if and how we support any new cryptocurrencies and/or blockchain forks in our services including defining which blockchain shall be deemed as bitcoin within the meaning of this Agreement. We strive to communicate our decisions concerning any significant new forks or cryptocurrencies on our website in a timely manner. If we decide to not support a new cryptocurrency we may but are not obligated to, compensate users who held bitcoin in their BTC Exchange account at the time of the air-drop in a manner deemed appropriate by us. We reserve the right to provide compensation by converting all of the available new cryptocurrency to bitcoin and sharing all of the converted bitcoin between users who held a bitcoin balance on their account at the time of the creation of the new cryptocurrency. In case such a conversion takes place we may charge you a processing fee in any amount deemed reasonable by us at our sole discretion but not exceeding the amount of compensation payable to you.
If we decide to support a new cryptocurrency, unless otherwise communicated by us, these Terms of Service, including any reference to bitcoin, shall be equally applied to the new cryptocurrency.
We cannot guarantee that the decisions we take under this Section will be suitable, desirable or practical to you. If you are concerned about our decisions, stances or the lack thereof regarding any given blockchain fork or new cryptocurrency, we recommend that you withdraw your balance and handle the situation on your own as you see fit. We are not in any circumstance liable for any damage, losses, expenses or harm resulting to you from the use of our rights under this Section.
To use services provided by BTC Exchange you may need to fulfill certain legal obligations in your country and/or state of residence. By accepting these terms and service you confirm that you have reviewed your local laws and regulations and that you are aware of, and fulfill, any and all such obligations.
You acknowledge and agree that all copyrights, trademarks and all other intellectual property rights in and related to this site and our services are exclusively the property of BTC Exchange and our licensors. We grant you a revocable, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable and limited license, subject to the terms of this Agreement, to access and use our site and service, as well as related content, materials and information (collectively, the "Content") solely for approved purposes as permitted by us from time to time. Any other use of the Content is expressly prohibited and you agree not to copy, transmit, distribute, sell, license, reverse engineer, modify, publish, or participate in the transfer or sale of, create derivative works from, or in any other way exploit any of the Content, in whole or in part.
This site and the services are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis for your information and use without any representation or endorsement. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we make no warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, in relation to the site or the services, including but not limited to, implied warranties of satisfactory quality, functionality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security, accuracy, condition or completeness, or any implied warranty arising from course of dealing or usage or trade.
BTC Exchange or BTC COINS is not associated with or does not itself support or claim to be in partnership with any of the payment methods, services or companies which may appear visible in the Online Payment method lists or advertisement details. Also, services provided by BTC Exchange or BTC COINS are not authorized, approved, endorsed or sponsored by any of the payment methods listed on the website or their respective trademark owners. Payment method listings are visible on BTC Exchange for informative purposes only.
BTC Exchange is not responsible for any user-generated content on its site including but not limited to messages, feedbacks or advertisements but may remove or modify said content without notice or liability at any time in its sole discretion.
This site may contain links to other sites on the Internet. These sites may contain information or material that some people may find inappropriate or offensive. These other sites are not under the control of BTC Exchange, and you acknowledge that (whether or not such sites are affiliated in any way with BTC Exchange) BTC Exchange is not responsible for the accuracy, legality, decency, or any other aspect of the content of such sites.
BTC Exchange reserves the right to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, all or any part of this site and/or any software, facilities and services on this site, with or without notice, and/or to establish general guidelines and limitations on their use.
If and to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we will not be liable for:
• any economic losses (including without limitation loss of revenues, profits, contracts, business or anticipated savings);
• any loss of goodwill or reputation;
• any special or indirect or consequential losses, howsoever arising.
in any case whether or not such losses were within the contemplation of either of us at the date on which the event giving rise to the loss occurred. Without limitation, you (and not us) assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction in the event of any such loss or damage arising.
Nothing in these Terms of Service shall exclude or limit our liability based on willful conduct or gross negligence. If and to the extent applicable law does not allow the above limitations of warranty and liability, such limitations shall not apply to you.
Notwithstanding any other provision in these Terms of Service, nothing shall limit your rights as a consumer under mandatory provisions of applicable consumer protection legislation.
You agree and understand that in no event shall we or any BTC Exchange Service Provider be liable for any delays, failure in performance or interruption of service which result directly or indirectly from any cause or condition, whether or not foreseeable, beyond our or any BTC Exchange Service Providers’ reasonable control, including, but not limited to, any act of God, nuclear or natural disaster, epidemic, action or inaction of civil or military authorities, act of war, terrorism, sabotage, civil disturbance, strike or other labor dispute, accident, state of emergency or interruption, loss, or malfunction of equipment or utility, communications, computer (hardware or software), Internet or network provider services.
You agree that any claims relating to this User Agreement (whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation, or any other legal theory, and whether the claims arise during or after the termination of this Agreement) shall be brought against the other party in an arbitration on an individual basis only and not as a plaintiff or class member in a purported class or representative action. You further agree to waive any right for such claims to be brought, heard, or arbitrated as a class, collective, representative, or private attorney general action, to the extent permissible by applicable law. Combining or consolidating individual arbitrations into a single arbitration is not permitted without the consent of all Parties, including us.
You agree to be fully responsible for (and fully indemnify us against) all claims, liability, damages, losses, costs and expenses, including legal fees, suffered by us and arising out of or related to any breach of this Agreement by you or any other liabilities incurred by us arising out of your use of the services, or use by any other person accessing the services using your user account, device or internet access account; or your violation of any law or rights of any third party.
It is your responsibility to comply with local laws in respect to the legal usage of the Services and the regulatory qualification of cryptocurrencies in your jurisdiction and to determine what, if any, taxes apply to the transactions you have conducted through our Services, and it is your responsibility to report and remit the correct tax to the appropriate tax authority. You agree that BTC Exchange is not responsible for determining whether taxes apply to your cryptocurrency transactions or for collecting, reporting, withholding or remitting any taxes arising from any cryptocurrency transactions.
We may transfer or assign our rights and duties under this User Agreement to any party at any time without notice to you, but this will not affect your rights or our obligations under this User Agreement. You may not, however, transfer or assign any of your rights and duties under this User Agreement to any other party.
This User Agreement (as amended from time to time) contains the entire agreement and understanding between us in respect of all matters which are referred to herein and supersedes any prior written or oral agreement between us relating to such matters. No oral explanation or oral information given by either of us shall alter the interpretation of this User Agreement. You confirm that, in agreeing to accept this User Agreement, you have not relied on any representation that is not expressly included herein and you agree that you shall have no remedy in respect of any misrepresentation which has not become a term of this User Agreement. However, nothing in this User Agreement purports to exclude liability for any fraudulent statement or act.
If any part of provision this User Agreement is deemed unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed to be severable from this User Agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any of the remaining provisions of the User Agreement.
Our failure to enforce any right or provision in this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of such right or provision unless acknowledged and agreed to by us in writing. Except as expressly set forth in this User Agreement, the exercise by either party of any of its remedies under this User Agreement will be without prejudice to its other remedies under this Agreement or otherwise permitted under law.
You agree that this Agreement and any dispute between you and us shall be governed in all respects by the laws of South Africa, and you unconditionally submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of South Africa.
We make no representations that the Services are appropriate or available for use in any specific countries. Users of BTC Exchange are themselves responsible for making sure they are in compliance with legislation of the jurisdiction they operate and reside in. If your local laws do not permit you to use the Services provided by BTC Exchange, you are not eligible to access this Website.