Terms of Service

Section 1

Who we are

The Services are operated by DIRE MONEY TRANSMITTER LLC, a limited liability company formed under the laws of the State of Washington, United States, trading under the name DireBit.

Full details of our registrations and what they do and do not mean are set out in our Licensing & Regulatory Status page.

Section 2

Acceptance of these Terms

By registering for an account, accessing the website, downloading or using the DireBit or DireBit Wallet applications, or using any part of the Services, you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by these Terms and by the documents incorporated into them by reference.

The following documents form part of your agreement with us and should be read together with these Terms:

• the Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle your personal information;
• the AML & KYC Policy, which explains our anti-money-laundering obligations and what we require from you;
• the Risk Disclosure, which describes the material risks of dealing in digital assets;
• the Cookie Policy, which explains our use of cookies and local storage.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the Services.

Section 3

Eligibility

To open and maintain an account you must, at all times, meet every one of the following conditions. You represent and warrant that you do.

• You are a natural person at least 18 years of age, or a legal entity duly organized and in good standing, and you have full capacity to enter into a binding contract.
• You are acting on your own behalf and for your own account, and not as a nominee, trustee or agent for an undisclosed third party.
• You are resident in the United States, and are accessing the Services from the United States, in a state or territory where DireBit is licensed or otherwise permitted to provide them. DireBit does not offer the Services outside the United States. Eligible states are confirmed to you during account opening and may change as our licensing position changes.
• You are not a person whose dealings are prohibited by, and are not located in any country or territory subject to comprehensive economic sanctions administered by, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC").
• You are not listed on OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, or on any other applicable sanctions, debarment or law-enforcement list.
• You have not previously had a DireBit account closed by us for breach of these Terms.

Section 4

Accounts and identity verification

4.1 Verification is mandatory

DireBit is a money services business registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") and licensed as a money transmitter in the State of Washington. We are legally required to identify and verify every customer before providing transactional services. You cannot deposit, trade, transfer or withdraw until your identity has been verified. We do not offer anonymous accounts under any circumstances.

4.2 Information you must provide

As part of our Customer Identification Program you will be asked to provide, at minimum, your full legal name, residential address, date of birth and a government-issued identification number, together with a valid photographic identity document. We may also require proof of address, a live photograph or video for biometric comparison, evidence of source of funds or source of wealth, and, for business accounts, ownership and control information for beneficial owners. Full details are in our AML & KYC Policy.

4.3 Accuracy and ongoing obligations

You must provide information that is true, accurate, current and complete, and you must keep it up to date. You agree to notify us promptly of any change to the information you have given us. We may re-verify your identity at any time, and may request updated documentation as part of ongoing customer due diligence.

4.4 Account security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You must use the security features we make available, including two-factor authentication where offered, and you must notify us immediately at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorized access. We are not liable for losses arising from your failure to keep your credentials secure.

4.5 One account per person

You may hold only one personal account unless we agree otherwise in writing. Accounts are personal to you and may not be sold, assigned or transferred.

Section 5

Services we provide

Subject to eligibility, verification and these Terms, DireBit provides the following Services:

• Digital asset exchange. Facilities to buy, sell and exchange supported digital assets against supported fiat currencies and against other supported digital assets.
• Hosted wallet services. Storage of supported digital assets in wallets that we control on your behalf, and the ability to send and receive supported digital assets.
• The DireBit Wallet application. A companion application supporting wallet workflows, including integration with supported hardware wallets.
• Market information. Read-only market data, price charts, trading pair information and watchlists, provided for information only.

The specific assets, order types, trading pairs and features available to you depend on your jurisdiction, your verification level and applicable law, and may change. We may add, modify, suspend or discontinue any part of the Services at any time. Where a change materially reduces the Services available to you, we will give you reasonable advance notice unless we are prevented from doing so by law or by an urgent security or legal need.

Market data shown on the website and in the applications is provided for informational purposes, may be sourced from third parties, and may be delayed or inaccurate. It is not an offer, a quotation, or a recommendation to transact.

Section 6

What we are not

It is important that you understand the limits of what DireBit is. These points are material to your decision to use the Services.

• We are not a bank. We do not accept deposits in the banking sense, we do not pay interest on balances, and we do not make loans. Balances held with DireBit are not bank deposits.
• Your assets are not insured. Digital assets and fiat balances held through the Services are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"), the National Credit Union Administration ("NCUA") or the Securities Investor Protection Corporation ("SIPC"), and are not covered by any other government deposit-insurance or investor-compensation scheme.
• We are not an investment adviser or broker-dealer. We do not provide investment, financial, tax, accounting or legal advice, and nothing we publish is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any asset.
• We do not guarantee returns. We make no representation about the future value or performance of any digital asset.
• We are not a custodian of private keys you control. Where you use a self-custody or hardware wallet, you alone hold the keys, and we cannot recover assets or reverse transactions made from it.

Section 7

Orders, pricing and execution

When you submit an instruction to buy, sell or exchange a digital asset, you are making an offer that we may accept or decline. An instruction becomes binding when we execute it. Before you confirm, we will show you the amount, the applicable price or exchange rate, and the fees that apply.

• Instructions are irreversible. Once executed, a transaction cannot be cancelled, reversed or recalled by you or by us. Digital asset transactions recorded on a blockchain are final.
• Prices move. Quoted prices are valid only for the short period stated at the point of quotation. Where a quote expires before you confirm, you will be shown a new price.
• We may decline or delay. We may refuse, delay or reverse an instruction where we are required to do so by law, where we suspect fraud, market abuse, error or breach of these Terms, where a technical fault has produced a manifestly incorrect price, or where you have insufficient available balance.
• Manifest error. Where a transaction is executed at a price that is clearly and materially wrong because of a system fault or data error, we may void or adjust it and will tell you promptly.
• Limits. Transaction, daily and cumulative limits may apply based on your verification level, your jurisdiction and our risk assessment. Current limits are shown in the application.

Section 8

Custody of your digital assets

Where we hold digital assets or fiat funds for you, the following applies.

• Customer assets are recorded in our books as belonging to you and are held separately from the corporate assets of DIRE MONEY TRANSMITTER LLC. We do not use customer assets for our own account, and we do not lend, pledge, rehypothecate or otherwise encumber them.
• As a Washington-licensed money transmitter we are required to maintain permissible investments in an amount not less than our outstanding transmission obligations, in accordance with the Washington Uniform Money Services Act.
• Digital assets may be held in pooled (omnibus) wallet structures shared across customers. Your entitlement is to the balance recorded in your account, not to any specific coin, token or wallet address.
• We use a combination of offline ("cold") and online ("hot") storage, access controls and transaction-signing procedures designed to protect customer assets. No security arrangement eliminates risk entirely.
• Holding digital assets with us does not make you a creditor of any deposit-insurance scheme. In an insolvency, your recovery may be limited, delayed, or less than the value of your balance. See the Risk Disclosure.

Section 9

Deposits, withdrawals and transfers

You may fund your account and withdraw from it using the methods we make available to you. The following conditions apply.

• Third-party funding is not permitted. Funds must come from, and be withdrawn to, an account or wallet held in your own name. We may return third-party funds and may charge the cost of doing so.
• Addresses must be correct. You are solely responsible for the accuracy of any blockchain address, network selection, memo or destination tag you provide. Assets sent to an incorrect or incompatible address are generally unrecoverable, and we will not be able to restore them to you.
• Unsupported assets. Do not send assets we do not support to a DireBit address. Such assets may be permanently lost, and we have no obligation to recover them.
• Network fees. Blockchain network fees are set by the relevant network, not by us, and are payable by you. Network congestion may delay confirmation.
• Compliance holds. We may delay or decline a deposit or withdrawal while we complete verification, sanctions screening, or an investigation required by law. Where legally permitted, we will tell you that a hold is in place.
• Travel Rule. For qualifying transfers we are required to collect and transmit originator and beneficiary information to the receiving institution. By instructing such a transfer you authorise us to do so.

Section 10

Fees

Our fees are disclosed to you before you confirm a transaction and in the fee schedule available within the DireBit application and on request from [email protected]. Fees may include trading or spread fees, deposit and withdrawal fees, network fees passed through at cost, and currency conversion charges.

We may change our fees. Where a change increases the cost of the Services to you, we will give you reasonable advance notice through the application, by email, or on this website. Continuing to use the Services after a fee change takes effect constitutes acceptance of it. You are responsible for any fees charged by your own bank or payment provider.

Section 11

Prohibited and restricted activity

You must not use the Services for, or in connection with, any of the following. This list is not exhaustive.

• Money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, sanctions evasion, or any attempt to disguise the origin, ownership or destination of funds.
• Fraud, theft, extortion, ransomware, phishing, or handling the proceeds of any crime.
• Market manipulation, including wash trading, spoofing, layering, front-running, or entering orders intended to create a false impression of price or volume.
• Trading on material non-public information.
• Purchasing or facilitating the purchase of controlled substances, unlawful weapons, stolen goods, child sexual abuse material, or any other unlawful goods or services.
• Unlicensed money transmission, operating an unregistered exchange, or reselling the Services to third parties.
• Gambling in any jurisdiction where it is unlawful, or where we have told you it is not permitted.
• Circumventing, or attempting to circumvent, our identity verification, geographic restrictions or transaction limits, including through the use of a VPN, proxy, false documentation or another person's identity.
• Accessing the Services by automated means, scraping, reverse engineering, probing or load-testing our systems, or introducing malicious code.
• Any activity that exposes DireBit to legal, regulatory or reputational risk, or that breaches applicable law.

Section 12

Legal and sanctions compliance

DireBit maintains a written anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing program in accordance with the Bank Secrecy Act and its implementing regulations, and with the Washington Uniform Money Services Act. The program includes a designated compliance officer, internal policies and controls, ongoing employee training, independent testing, customer identification and due diligence, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening and regulatory reporting. It is described in our AML & KYC Policy.

You agree that we may, without further notice to you, take any action we consider necessary to comply with applicable law, including freezing or blocking assets, rejecting or reversing transactions, filing reports with FinCEN or other competent authorities, and disclosing information to regulators, law enforcement or courts in response to a lawful request.

You must comply with all laws applicable to your use of the Services in your own jurisdiction, including tax, currency-control and reporting obligations.

Section 13

Suspension, restriction and closure

13.1 Our rights

We may suspend, restrict or close your account, or limit particular functionality, where: we are required to do so by law or by a competent authority; we reasonably suspect fraud, market abuse, sanctions exposure or other prohibited activity; you have breached these Terms; you fail to complete or maintain identity verification; we are unable to verify information you have given us; or continuing to provide the Services would expose us to unacceptable legal or regulatory risk.

13.2 Effect of closure

Where an account is closed and there is no legal impediment to doing so, we will return your remaining balance to you, net of any fees or amounts you owe us, using a method we reasonably determine. Where we are legally prohibited from returning assets — for example under a sanctions blocking requirement or a court order — we will hold or remit them as the law directs.

13.3 Your right to close

You may close your account at any time, provided you have no open positions and no outstanding obligations to us, by contacting [email protected]. Closure does not affect rights or obligations that accrued before it, and we will continue to retain records for the periods required by law.

13.4 Dormant accounts and unclaimed property

Where an account remains inactive for the period specified by applicable unclaimed-property law and we are unable to contact you, we may be required to deliver the balance to the relevant state authority. We will attempt to reach you at your last known contact details before doing so.

Section 14

Acknowledgement of risk

You acknowledge that you have read and understood the Risk Disclosure and that you accept the risks it describes. In particular you acknowledge that digital assets are volatile and speculative, that you may lose the entire value of your holdings, that transactions are irreversible, that digital assets are not legal tender and are not backed by any government, and that the legal and tax treatment of digital assets may change.

You confirm that you are financially able to bear the risk of loss, and that you are not relying on DireBit for any recommendation, evaluation or advice.

Section 15

Taxes

You are solely responsible for determining what United States federal, state and local taxes apply to your transactions, and for reporting and paying them to the correct authority. We do not provide tax advice. We may be required to report information about you and your transactions to tax authorities, and to request a taxpayer identification number or equivalent documentation from you; you agree to provide it on request.

Section 16

Intellectual property

The DireBit name, logo, applications, website, interfaces, text, graphics and software are owned by DIRE MONEY TRANSMITTER LLC or its licensors and are protected by intellectual property law. We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Services for their intended purpose. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, reverse engineer or create derivative works from any part of the Services, or use our marks without our prior written consent.

If you send us feedback or suggestions, you grant us a perpetual, royalty-free license to use them without obligation to you.

Section 17

Third-party services

The Services rely on third parties, including market data providers, banking and payment partners, identity verification vendors, blockchain networks and hardware wallet manufacturers. We are not responsible for the acts, omissions, availability or content of third parties, and links to third-party sites are provided for convenience only and are not an endorsement. Your use of a third-party service may be governed by that party's own terms.

Blockchain networks are decentralised and outside our control. We are not responsible for network congestion, forks, reorganisations, validator behavior, protocol changes or the failure of any network to process a transaction.

Section 18

Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Services are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranty of any kind, whether express, implied or statutory. We specifically disclaim the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that market data will be accurate, complete or current. We do not warrant that any digital asset will retain value, remain supported, or remain lawful in your jurisdiction.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for fraud.

Section 19

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, DireBit, its members, officers, employees and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or relating to the Services, whether based in contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise, and whether or not we were advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our aggregate liability to you for all claims arising out of or relating to the Services in any twelve-month period will not exceed the greater of (a) the total fees you paid to us in that period, or (b) one hundred United States dollars (US$100).

We are not liable for losses caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including blockchain network failures, forks, acts of government, sanctions actions, natural disasters, power or internet failures, or the acts of third-party providers.

Nothing in this section limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.

Section 20

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless DIRE MONEY TRANSMITTER LLC and its members, officers, employees and agents from any claim, demand, loss, liability, cost or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of your use of the Services, your breach of these Terms, your violation of any law or the rights of a third party, or the inaccuracy of any information you have given us.

Section 21

Complaints and dispute resolution

21.1 Contact us first

If you are dissatisfied, please contact us at [email protected] or on +1 206 235 4353, or write to DIRE MONEY TRANSMITTER LLC, 9000 Renton Ave S Unit 1, Seattle, WA 98118-5059, United States. Please mark your message "Complaint" and include your account details and what you would like us to do.

We will acknowledge your complaint promptly and aim to provide a substantive written response within 15 business days. Where we need longer, we will tell you why and when you can expect an answer.

21.2 Escalation to the regulator

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may refer your complaint to the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Consumer Services, PO Box 41200, Olympia, WA 98504-1200, telephone 1-877-746-4334, at dfi.wa.gov/consumers/complaint. You may also contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint.

21.3 Informal resolution

Before commencing any formal proceeding, the parties agree to attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute informally for a period of 30 days following written notice of it.

Section 22

Governing law and venue

These Terms and any dispute arising out of them are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, and by applicable federal law of the United States. Subject to section 21, you and DireBit submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in King County, Washington.

Nothing in these Terms deprives you of the protection of any mandatory consumer-protection provision of the law of the U.S. state in which you reside, or of applicable United States federal law.

Section 23

Changes to these Terms

We may amend these Terms. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page shows when the current version took effect, and previous versions are available on request. Where a change is material and adverse to you, we will give you at least 30 days' notice by email or through the application before it takes effect, unless a shorter period is required by law or necessary to address a security or legal risk.

If you do not accept a change, you may close your account before it takes effect. Continuing to use the Services after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

Section 24

General provisions

• Entire agreement. These Terms and the documents incorporated into them are the entire agreement between you and DireBit about the Services.
• Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remainder continues in force and the unenforceable provision is modified to the minimum extent necessary.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign them to an affiliate or successor on notice to you.
• Notices. We may give notice by email to the address on your account, through the application, or by posting on this website. Notices to us should go to [email protected].
• Language. These Terms are concluded in English. Any translation is provided for convenience, and the English text prevails.
• Survival. Sections concerning intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity, governing law and general provisions survive termination.

Section 25

How to contact us

Questions about these Terms should be addressed to: