1. Scope of the Service

1.1 Pursuant to the terms and conditions of these specific terms, as amended and/or restated from time to time (the “Specific Terms”), Swissquote Bank Europe SA (the "Bank") offers to the client (the "Client") the opening and holding of a trading account (the “Trading Account”) in connection with and for the purposes of the following service (the "Service"):

(a) Trading: the ability to purchase and/or sell digital assets issued and transferable on a distributed ledger and/or blockchain (each a "Distributed Ledger"), including cryptocurrencies, tokens and other types of cryptographic assets (the "Digital Assets"); 

(b) Custody: the custody of Digital Assets;

(c) Staking: the participation in the validation mechanisms of certain Distributed Ledgers using proof-of-stake (PoS) algorithms, by committing or locking eligible Digital Assets; and

(d) Transfers: the ability to transfer Digital Assets to or from an address or wallet on the relevant Distributed Ledger (each a "DLA"). 

The Service is solely provided by means of the Bank’s electronic system (the "System").

1.2 Digital Assets available for Trading (as indicated in the System from time to time) may only be purchased and/or sold through the System against a limited number of legal tenders (e.g., U.S. dollars and euros) (each a “Permitted Currency”), as indicated in the System. Whereas the trading of Digital Assets is generally available all the time from Monday to Sunday (the “Availability Period”), the Client understands they are responsible for ensuring they have cleared funds in a Permitted Currency on their Trading Account prior to acquiring Digital Assets.

1.3 The provision of the Service by the Bank to the Client, and the use of and the access to the Service by the Client, shall be governed, in addition to these Specific Terms, by the completed account opening documentation (the “Account Opening Form”), the General Terms and Conditions, the "Important Legal Information" published on the Bank's Website and other contractual clauses forming part of the Client's relationship with the Bank (jointly, the “Agreement”). As far as the Service is concerned, these Specific Terms shall prevail in case of any conflict with the General Terms.

1.4 The Client acknowledges and agrees that:
- the Bank does not manufacture Digital Assets and the availability of Digital Assets to trade is dependent upon third parties;
- without prejudice to the remaining terms hereof, the Client does not have access to, under the Agreement, Digital Assets that may be, as at the date of the opening of the Trading Account, or that may become (at any time during the term of the Agreement), in each case, in the reasonable opinion of the Bank or as a result of the development of applicable laws, regulations and/or regulatory practices in any relevant jurisdictions (a) financial instruments¹, (b) payment instruments² , and/or (c) electronic money³ and, in accordance, the Bank reserves the right to, for the purposes of complying with its legal and/or regulatory obligations at all times (i) adapt the terms under which the Service is provided and/or (ii) cancel the provision of the Service with respect to one or more Digital Assets.
- the liquidity of Digital Assets, if any, relies on the prices offered by the Bank's liquidity providers, which may include regulated or unregulated markets, trading platforms, counterparties and other service providers (the "Liquidity Providers"), for the relevant Digital Assets;
- the Bank determines, at its discretion, which Digital Assets are available for trading through the System or are otherwise within the scope of the Service. This is subject to change at any time without prior notice to the Client. Such changes may result in situations of illiquidity;
- the Bank has no obligation to make available prices for any Digital Assets, in particular in situations of illiquidity where no prices are available from any of the Bank's Liquidity Providers;
- in the event of illiquidity of Digital Assets, the Bank may, but will be under no obligation to, set prices for the Digital Assets at the Bank’s discretion. In such a scenario, the Bank may, without obligation, determine the valuation by applying rates from electronic financial information systems or other reasonable sources as determined by the Bank;
- the Bank makes no representation as to whether evidence of a purchase of a Digital Asset on a Distributed Ledger would be seen as sufficient evidence by a court as evidence of ownership of that Digital Asset;
- the Bank is not liable to the Client for any risks associated with proving title through data held on a Distributed Ledger; and
- unless required by law or order of the court, the Bank is not required to undertake any act in order to perfect legal title to Digital Assets evidenced through data held on a Distributed Ledger
- the Bank has no obligation and does not undertake to accept all Digital Assets in custody or permit all transfers of Digital Assets that the Client may wish to execute.

The Client acknowledges and accepts that the Client will not be able through the System, unless specifically indicated otherwise by the Bank and/or provided in these Specific Terms, to:
- purchase, receive or transfer Digital Assets from an address or wallet on the relevant Distributed Ledger (each a "Distributed Ledger Address" or "DLA"), or from any other distributed ledger or exchange to the Trading Account, or otherwise to the System, except in the manner and on conditions determined by the Bank from time to time;
- purchase or sell goods or services with Digital Assets and/or request the transfer or delivery of Digital Assets to a specified DLA or exchange, or the delivery of any physical token, certificate or other instruments incorporating any Digital Asset.

1.5 Unless otherwise expressly stated, capitalized terms used in these Specific Terms and not otherwise defined herein shall have the meaning ascribed to them in the Bank’s general terms and conditions, as amended and/or restated from time to time (the “General Terms and Conditions”).

1.6 Your application to open a Trading Account with the Bank or your use or continued use of the Service will be taken as your consent to be legally bound by the Agreement, as such term is defined in clause 1.3.

¹ Within the meaning of Directive (EU) 2014/65, as amended.
² Within the meaning of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, as amended.
³ Within the meaning of Directive 2009/110/EC, as amended.

2. Duties of the Bank | Limitations

2.1 Without prejudice to the remaining terms of the Agreement, the Client acknowledges and agrees that the Bank's role, obligations and responsibility to the Client in relation to the Digital Assets as part of the Service shall be limited to:
(a) holding the Digital Assets as nominee (fiduciary) in its own name, but for the account of the Client, on the terms of this Agreement;
(b) executing, to the extent possible and subject to the limitations of the Agreement, Clients’ instructions in relation to the Digital Assets.

2.2 Unless otherwise indicated, the Bank has not performed any due diligence on the Digital Assets or on their issuer(s). In the event that the Bank performed any due diligence on the Digital Assets and/or the issuer, it did so for its exclusive benefit. The Client is not entitled to obtain any information on the due diligence performed by the Bank (if any) and shall have no right to rely on or benefit from such due diligence review, the manner in which such review was conducted or its conclusions or results.

3. Fees

3.1 The Service and each Transaction (as defined below) are subject to such fees (the "Fees"), details of which are stipulated in the current fee schedule published on the Bank's Website or agreed upon separately in writing. All Fees due for the provision of the Service will be known to the Client before the provision of the Service is requested by the Client from the Bank.

3.2 The Bank reserves the right to amend the Fees at any time and the Client shall be notified of such amendments accordingly in a manner deemed appropriate by the Bank in advance of any changes taking effect.

3.3 The Bank reserves the right to apply different Fees according to objective criteria defined by the Bank (e.g., volume of Digital Assets, size of the Order). The pricing methodology will be made available on the fee schedule available on the Bank’s Website.

4. Custody of the Digital Assets

4.1 Digital Assets acquired through the System may be kept by the Bank in custody (a) either directly, or (b) with a third party custodian, depositary or professional service provider (each a "Sub-custodian") in the name of the Bank, acting as nominee (fiduciary), but for the account and at the sole risk of the Client. Sub-custodians are selected by the Bank. Upon written request, the Bank will provide a list of criteria used by the Bank to identify suitable Sub-custodians. The Client acknowledges that, unless otherwise indicated by the Bank, the Bank determines in its sole discretion whether the Digital Assets are kept in custody directly by the Bank or by a Sub-custodian. A substantial part, and potentially all, Digital Assets may therefore be held with a Sub-custodian. All Digital Assets credited from time to time to the Trading Account of the Client and sub-deposited with a Sub-custodian will be held by the Bank solely as nominee on behalf of the Client, which remains the legal and beneficial owner of such Digital Assets.

4.2 The list of Sub-custodians which may be used by the Bank for the Digital Assets is available on the Bank’s Website and/or in the System and may be amended or updated by the Bank from time to time without prior notice. Unless otherwise indicated by the Bank, the Client is not allowed to submit instructions regarding the choice of Sub-custodians with which the Client's Digital Assets are to be kept in custody. The custody of the Client's Digital Assets through Sub-custodians is subject to the laws, customs, rules and conventions applicable to the Sub-custodian, in particular in the jurisdiction of the Sub-custodian.

4.3 Digital Assets held on behalf of the Client may however be pooled with Digital Assets of the same type belonging to other clients of the Bank, to the Sub-custodian and/or to other clients of the Sub-custodian. Accordingly, but without prejudice to the provisions on legal title to Digital Assets, the Client shall not have the right to any specific Digital Assets, but will instead be entitled, subject to any applicable laws and regulations and to the Agreement, to a quantity of Digital Assets of the same description and of the same amount or quality, or the corresponding claim for delivery thereof that the Bank holds, as nominee for the Client, against any Sub-custodian, or the counter-value of the sale thereof in a currency or cryptocurrency.

4.4 The Bank shall not be liable for any loss directly or indirectly attributable to an action or omission, or for the insolvency/bankruptcy or similar event affecting any Sub-custodian. In case the Bank is unable or deems it difficult to retrieve the Digital Assets deposited with a Sub-custodian, the Bank may assign to the Client any claims for the return of the Digital Assets or for the counter-value of the sale of such Digital Assets in another currency or cryptocurrency against the Sub-custodian, to the extent such a claim exists and can be freely assigned to the Client.

4.5 The Client acknowledges and accepts that applicable laws, the nature of the Digital Assets under any applicable laws and/or the terms of any documents constituting the offering documents of any Digital Assets (the “Offer Documents”) may, in fact, prohibit or otherwise prevent Digital Assets (or a quantity of Digital Assets) from being returned to the Client at any time during the life of the Digital Assets and/or the term of the Agreement and, save for the wilful misconduct or gross negligence of the Bank, the Client accepts to bear such risk in full and, accordingly, releases the Bank from any liability in connection with the foregoing.

4.6 The Client acknowledges and agrees that the Client bears the risk of the Digital Assets held directly by the Bank and/or through a Sub-custodian being compromised for any reason (e.g., hacking, theft, fraud, cyber-attack, loss of private key, etc.) (each a "Loss Event"), absent any fraud or gross negligence of the Bank. In particular, the Bank shall have no liability in connection with a Loss Event resulting from any action, omission, or otherwise attributable to any Sub-custodian.

4.7 In case of any Loss Event, the Bank shall promptly notify the Client and inform the Client of any measures taken to mitigate the impact of such Loss Event. For the avoidance of doubt, the Bank will not have any obligation to mitigate the occurrence or the impact of any Loss Event.

4.8 The Bank does not undertake to offer custody services for the Digital Assets during the entire duration of the Digital Assets. In case the Bank discontinues or is unable to continue offering custody services for the Digital Assets, for whatever reason, the Bank may prevent, condition or delay the transfer, or sale, of the Digital Assets if the Bank deems it necessary or appropriate for its own protection and/or to comply with its legal or regulatory obligations.

5. Services related to Staking

5.1 The Bank may, from time to time, accept instructions from the Client to designate certain eligible Digital Assets kept in custody with the Bank to be used to participate in the validation mechanisms of certain Distributed Ledgers using a proof-of-stake (PoS) algorithm (referred to as "Staking" such Digital Assets, and "to Stake" shall be construed accordingly). Users who participate in the validation of transactions and other operations of such Distributed Ledgers may, under certain circumstances, receive rewards in accordance with the rules and protocols of the relevant Distributed Ledgers ("Rewards"). The validation mechanisms of Distributed Ledgers are highly complex and are governed by rules and protocols that are subject to change at any time and are beyond the Bank's control. There can be no assurance that Staked Digital Assets will be entitled to or receive any Rewards. 

5.2 When the Client instructs the Bank to Stake certain Digital Assets, the Client gives to the Bank full authority to do what the Bank considers to be appropriate or necessary in order for the relevant Digital Assets to participate in the validation mechanism of the appropriate Distributed Ledger including the transfer to a Sub-custodian under the circumstances described below. The Bank and, where applicable, the Sub-custodian are in particular authorized to (a) transfer those Digital Assets to third parties including to validators, (b) lock the Digital Assets, and (c) include the Digital Assets in a pool or Smart Contract. When deciding to Stake his Digital Assets, the Client acknowledges the risk that these Digital Assets may be lost, stolen, compromised or subject to penalties.