Stakin - Terms & Conditions

Last Updated: January 3, 2025

The following terminology applies to these Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy and Disclaimer Notice and any or all Agreements: "Delegator", “You” and “Your”, “Client” refer to the individual accessing the website or using any Stakin service and accepting the delegation service's terms and conditions. "Stakin", "Validator", "Validation Service", "Staking Service", “Service”, "Baker", "We" and "Us", refers to the delegation service. Any use of the above terminology or other words in the singular, plural, capitalisation and/or he/she or they, are taken as interchangeable and therefore as referring to the same.

By accessing the website or using any Stakin services, including delegation, staking, or interacting with any related functionalities, you consent to and agree with these Terms & Conditions.

Disclaimer - Exclusions and Limitations

The information on this website is provided on an "as is" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, this Delegation Service: excludes all representations and warranties relating to this website and its contents or which is or may be provided by any affiliates or any other third party, including in relation to any inaccuracies or omissions in this website and/or the Delegation Service’s literature; and excludes all liability for damages arising from your use of our website or services. This includes without limitation, direct loss, loss of business or profits (whether or not the loss of such profits was foreseeable, arose in the normal course of things or you have advised the Delegation Service of the possibility of such potential loss), damage caused to hardware such as your computer, computer software, systems and programs and the data thereon or any other direct or indirect, consequential and incidental damages.

Stakin is not liable for network-level risks such as protocol bugs, governance decisions, hacks, or slashing penalties. You assume full responsibility for understanding and accepting these risks before using our services.

Regulatory Compliance

You, as a Client, must warrant and represent that your use of Stakin’s services complies with all applicable laws and regulations. This includes, but is not limited to, data privacy laws such as GDPR and applicable financial regulations.

Stakin is not liable if its services fail to meet specific regulatory criteria in your jurisdiction. You are solely responsible for ensuring compliance with your local laws.

Prohibited Jurisdictions and Activities

You are prohibited from using Stakin’s services if you are located in or are a citizen of any jurisdiction subject to sanctions, including but not limited to North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and any country or region subject to comprehensive trade or economic sanctions by the United Nations, European Union, or the United States.

You may not use our services to engage in any illegal activities, including but not limited to:

• Money laundering
• Terrorist financing
• Fraud or cybercrime
• Use of malicious software (e.g., viruses, worms, trojans)

Stakin reserves the right to block access to its services for any user or entity that violates these prohibitions.

Services

Stakin offers Staking Services, acting as node operator or Validator on various Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain networks, which allow for the holders of applicable tokens to become Delegators. When delegating, Delegators stake the Tokens and delegate the voting powers attributable to such staked tokens to Stakin acting as Validator. This allows Stakin to participate in the governance of different PoS blockchains. All decisions made by Stakin related to the PoS blockchains are exempt to any disputes from the delegators.

Rewards

In accordance with the terms of the applicable blockchain network, Delegators and the Validator may be entitled to staking rewards payable to them directly by the Network. Stakin is not responsible for delays in reward distribution, changes in reward rates and network issues affecting rewards.

Non-custody

The Delegator may wish, from time to time and in its sole discretion, to delegate to Stakin a certain amount of certain tokens, for Stakin to act as Validator in connection therewith. Such Delegation shall not involve the transfer of any tokens or ownership or custody from the Delegator to Stakin or vice versa, and any delegated tokens shall at all times remain the property of, and under the control of the Delegator. The Delegator can unstake its tokens at any time from Stakin’s Delegation service. Each PoS network has their own rules about the unbonding or lock-up period, meaning the tokens might not be unstaked instantly. Stakin as a Validator has no control over this time period meaning the Delegator itself would bear any financial risk from price fluctuations. The Delegator acknowledges that he remains in full control of its keys, seed phrases, and should be the sole responsible for the security of its own digital assets. As a non-custodial service, Stakin does not hold or manage private keys, does not have any control over the tokens of the Delegators and will not be able to recover these tokens in case of theft or loss.

Governance

When acting as a Validator, Stakin may get involved in protocol level governance decisions, and use the Delegated voting power to express its views on future network upgrades, grant fundings, and other decisions. When a client delegates tokens to the nodes owned by the company to earn staking rewards, the voting rights bound to the tokens are transferred to the company with no commitment requirement, and the voting power can be used by the sole discretion of the company. The delegator is still able to express its own view and join the community in debating governance proposals. Depending on networks, the Delegator is able to vote by himself and override Stakin governances votes. We encourage all Delegators to also vote by themselves when possible. Stakin cannot be held legally liable for protocol level decentralized governance votes and decisions.

Log Files

We use website usage data, including anonymised IP addresses to analyse trends, administer the site, track user actions, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. In addition, if you choose to use any product developed by Stakin, your email and public wallet address might be collected. Additionally, for systems administration, detecting usage patterns and troubleshooting purposes, our web servers automatically log standard access information including browser type, access times/open mail, URL requested, and referral URL. This information is not shared with third parties and is used only within this Delegation Service on a need-to-know basis. Any individually identifiable information related to this data will never be used in any way different to that stated above without your explicit permission. More about the data we collect and use can be found from our Privacy Policy.

Ownership and Intellectual Property

Stakin owns all proprietary rights in the Service which include the domain and all of its subdomains (“https://stakin.com/”), such marketing materials as logos, color schemes, design, and also, but not limited to, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, service marks, development practices, proprietary software, and other intellectual property rights. You as a Client are obligated to respect all intellectual property of Stakin mentioned above, which are protected by law.

Use License

You shall not perform any unlawful actions against Stakin, that may create a huge load on our infrastructure interfering the normal work of the Service; attempt to bypass or circumvent any security mechanisms, gain unauthorized access to any type of our computer systems, conduct any activities that may disrupt the work of the Service, run malicious code such as worms, trojans, cryptojacking software and other types of the viruses against the Service, including, but not limited to, computer networks or computer systems. It's also prohibited to launch any software ("crawlers", "spiders", "auto-responders") or devices on the Service, that will automatically or manually collect any data on the Website, or will spam on the Service. The “Use License” automatically voids in case an Individual violates the aforementioned rules. In case a User or any other individual has damaged any part of the Service due to any type of the cyber attack, then this case will be reviewed and provided to Law Enforcement which will act accordingly in this situation.

Client Rights And Obligations

You as a Client of the Service must cover all applicable taxes associated with staking rewards or payouts, which may be the subject of the official taxation process in different jurisdictions. In this case, Stakin is not responsible for any Client taxes that were imposed by different legislation systems. If you want to initiate the withdrawal process, then you have to wait until the unbonding or lock-up period whose length strictly depends on a particular Blockchain network. It’s important to mention that you won’t be able to withdraw your staked cryptocurrency before the end of the unbonding or lock-up period.

Experimental Technologies

Stakin operates Validation Services on Proof-of-Stake blockchain protocols and infrastructure for a wide range of blockchain networks. Blockchains, and consensus algorithms such as Proof-of-Stake among others, are experimental technologies. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks are highly risky to invest in but also to interact with. There are considerable risks in the technology and mechanics of each network. You, as a Client, understands that Stakin is not responsible in case of blockchain protocol fault, bugs, hacks or other failure. Stakin does not provide any investment, financial, legal, regulatory, accounting, tax, or similar advice. Stakin is an agnostic infrastructure provider operating for a wide range of blockchain networks, and You should always conduct your own due diligence when buying cryptocurrencies, interact with the services of a blockchain network, and using our Service. Additionally, You acknowledge that Stakin is not part of the development teams of blockchain protocols, and as such does not take part in the development of the code and mechanics of the networks.

Notification of Changes

Stakin reserves the right to change these conditions from time to time as it sees fit and your continued use of the site will signify your acceptance of any adjustment to these terms. If there are any changes to our privacy policy, we will announce that these changes have been made on our home page and on other key pages on our site. You are therefore advised to re-read this statement on a regular basis. These terms and conditions form part of the Agreement between the Delegue and ourselves. Your accessing of this website and/or undertaking of a delegation indicates your understanding, agreement to and acceptance, of the Disclaimer Notice and the full Terms & Conditions contained herein.