Risk Disclosures

Using Hata’s Staking Services comes with risks that you should understand before using the Staking Services. We provide the information set out below in order to encourage you to educate yourself about the risks of protocol staking generally and using our Staking Services specifically. You must determine for yourself whether it makes sense for you to participate in protocol staking in light of the risks, and to understand that you alone accept responsibility for any losses that may occur regardless of how they occur. The risks set out below are not comprehensive nor discussed in depth, but you may use this information as your starting point for further enquiry, if necessary. Your use of the Staking Services is also subject to our Terms of Use, which you agree to by using our Staking Services.

Such risks include:

  • Third-Party Software. Our Staking Services relies in part upon third party software, as defined and as may be applicable in our Terms of Use. We did not build this software and do not maintain or even regularly monitor such software. You should familiarise yourself with the third party software developer(s) responsible for creating and maintaining the software and only use the offering if you are comfortable with that developer and their published software. Hata does not guarantee the security or functionality of any third-party software or protocol intended to be compatible with our Staking Services and is not responsible for any losses due to the failure or exploitation of the third-party software or protocol.
  • Price. Digital assets that you acquire or interact with whilst using our Staking Services are subject to volatility. Volatility may occur due to normal market forces or be caused by technical issues with third party software. There is no guarantee that a digital asset will remain stable or increase in value, or that you will be able to sell any digital assets. Hata makes no representations or warranties regarding any digital asset that is offered under our Staking Services. The decision to deal in any offered digital asset is solely that of our users and our users accept such inherent risks.
  • Suspension, Termination and Withdrawal. You may unstake or stop using the services at any time. Hata may suspend or terminate the Staking Services for any reason in our sole discretion and is under no obligation to disclose the details of our decision to take such action with you. Upon 90 days’ notice from Hata of termination of the Staking Services or suspension of your access, you must initiate and complete the unstaking process. After 90 days’ notice, we, in our sole discretion, may initiate the unstaking process on your behalf to your Hata Wallet.
  • No Guarantee of Rewards. Hata DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL RECEIVE STAKING REWARDS OF ANY STAKING REWARD RATES. SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER OF ANY STAKING REWARDS IS SUBJECT TO THE PROOF-OF-STAKE NETWORKS AND IS NOT UNDER OUR CONTROL. REWARD RATES ARE DETERMINED BY THE UNDERLYING PROTOCOLS AND NOT BY US, AND MAY FLUCTUATE INCLUDING BECAUSE THE UNDERLYING SERVICES GENERATING REWARDS ARE PERFORMED IMPROPERLY.
  • Underlying Blockchain Risk. The protocols you are accessing through our Staking Services exist on a blockchain network that may suffer a malfunction or breakdown that would negatively affect the operation of the protocol and thus may result in a loss to you. There is no certainty that the cryptography that underpins the blockchain will never be broken, potentially resulting in a loss to you. Further, upgrades to the blockchain (often called “forks”) may create instability, vulnerabilities or other problems that may result in a loss to you. Fundamentally, blockchain ecosystems are still young, and until they develop a longer track record of security, reliability, and resilience, you bear the risk that there may be problems which lead to the loss of your assets.
  • Legal Uncertainty. The regulatory landscape for blockchain technology and related services is constantly evolving around the world and changes may negatively affect your use of this offering, which could result in a loss to you. Hata has no obligation and will not notify you of any relevant changes in the law.

Acceptance of Terms

Please read these Staking Terms carefully before using the Staking Services because they affect your legal rights and obligations.

The following Terms and Conditions (these “Staking Terms”) apply, in addition to our standard Terms of Use, to any of our users that utilise our staking services (the “Staking Services”) through www.hata.io or any associated mobile applications, website, or APIs (together, the “Hata Site”). All terms and references used in this Staking Terms shall have the same meanings given to them in our standard Terms of Use (“Terms of Use”) and our Privacy Policy as updated from time to time (collectively, the “Hata Services Terms”).

Where a term is defined in both the Hata Services Terms and in these Staking Terms, the definition used in these Staking Terms shall prevail for the purposes of these Staking Terms only.

These Staking Terms shall supplement and shall be read together with our Terms of Use. References in our Hata Terms of Use to the Hata Site or Hata Exchange (collectively, the “Platform”) shall include references to our Staking Services contemplated under these Staking Terms unless expressly stated otherwise.

By using our Staking Service, you acknowledge and agree that you have read, understood and accepted all of the terms and conditions in these Staking Terms and you acknowledge and agree that you will be bound by and will comply with these Staking Terms. Additionally, you also agree to use our staking wallet infrastructure and by doing so, you are instructing us to commit your cryptocurrency to a third party validator. As a result, you will have the opportunity to participate in validating transactions subject to the applicable blockchain network’s rules. Third party providers will be utilised based on the assets they support, protections against slashing and other commercial considerations. You further instruct us to facilitate any ancillary services which are necessary to the performance of the Staking Services. If you do not understand and accept these Staking Terms in their entirety, you should refrain from accessing or using our Staking Services.

These Staking Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you and the Hata entity with whom you have contracted under the Terms of Use. If a matter is not specifically provided for in these Staking Terms, they will be regulated by the Terms of Use. If any conflict is identified between these Staking Terms and the Terms of Use, the provisions of these Staking Terms will prevail. Repetition in these Staking Terms of certain but not all of the provisions of the Terms of Use is for emphasis only and should not be interpreted as meaning that the provisions of the Terms of Use that have been omitted do not apply.

For the purposes of these Staking Terms, any reference to “we”, “us”, “our”, “Hata” and/or any similar term shall be construed as reference to the Hata entity with whom you are contracting.

By utilising our Staking Services, you unconditionally accept these Staking Terms and agree to be bound by and act in accordance with them. You also accept and agree that you are solely responsible for understanding and complying with all laws, rules, regulations and requirements of the jurisdiction in which you live that may be applicable to your use of our Staking Services.

This version of these Staking Terms shall replace and supersede any previous agreements between us with respect to our Staking Services and any previous versions of these Staking Terms that may have been accepted through, or otherwise made available on the Platform. By using our Staking Services, you confirm your acceptance of these Staking Terms and other applicable terms.

Amendment of Terms

We may amend these Staking Terms from time to time. You should visit the Hata website regularly to check when the Terms were last updated (as displayed at the top of this document) and to review the current Staking Terms. We will do our best to notify you of any amendments to the Terms that we consider likely to materially affect your rights and obligations, with any such notice to be posted on the Hata Site, or sent by email to the address associated with your Hata Account (see Electronic Communications in our Terms of Use).

The continued use of your Hata Account, after any amendment to these Staking Terms, constitutes your acceptance of the Terms, as modified by such amendment. If you do not accept the Staking Terms, or any amendments to them, you must immediately stop using the Hata Site and your Hata Account.

Staking Services

Our Staking Services has been structured in order to enable users to help secure blockchain ecosystems with confidence and transparency, supported by our strategic partnership with our staking provider. In order to stake, you will need to commit cryptocurrency to a blockchain “validator”. In exchange for staking assets, users may earn rewards, which typically come in the form of additional cryptocurrency or a share of transaction fees from that validator. By staking, users contribute to the overall stability and efficiency of the network while potentially generating passive income.

Our Staking Services are currently available for digital assets such as Solana (SOL) and Cosmos (ATOM), and may include other digital assets approved by regulators from time to time. Users are reminded that they are not required to stake with Hata, and that after staking your digital assets, you can request to unstake your digital assets at any time. Your ownership of your digital assets is not affected or changed by and your instruction(s) to stake your digital assets.

There may be delays during the time between when you elect to stake your cryptocurrency and when that cryptocurrency is utilised to verify blockchain transactions. This may be due to (i) the protocol and/or the validator requiring a specific amount of cryptocurrency to be placed on a node in order for that node to be eligible to verify transactions, or (ii) once staking has been initiated, a validator will have entered a queue to become activated (known as an “activation period”). Further, the rate of rewards displayed may sometimes differ from the rewards earned on your own staked funds due to network volatility.

Lock-in period. Our Staking Service operates with a range of fixed lock-in periods. This allows you to choose the length of time that you want to stake your cryptocurrency (“staking periods”). At the time of writing, Hata offers staking periods for 14 days, 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days and may offer other staking periods in the future. In the event that you unstake your cryptocurrency before the expiry of your selected staking period, this will result in the loss of any staking rewards accrued up until the point of your unstaking. Some cryptocurrency networks will require a certain amount of staked assets to be locked up for a period of time before, whilst or after the assets are being staked. During this lock-in period, you will not be able to sell or transfer your staked cryptocurrency. Given the volatile nature of cryptocurrency, we are not liable for any losses that you suffer due to price fluctuations when your cryptocurrency is being staked during the lock-in period or due to an unexpected extension of the lock-in period.

Waiting period. Certain protocols may impose rules that limit the period of time during which your staked assets can generate rewards (referring to the “activation period” in Paragraph 3 above). In some cases, withdrawing your staked assets may be delayed due to a protocol’s unstaking periods or network conditions. You acknowledge and agree that this may affect the time taken to process a withdrawal of cryptocurrency out of your staking wallet.

Slashing. Some cryptocurrency networks subject staked assets to a “slashing” penalty if the validator representing those assets incorrectly validates a transaction.

Governance and voting. For certain cryptocurrencies, the underlying protocols offer stakers the ability to vote on matters relating to the governance of protocol-level issues. We may or may not support voting for such assets, and may cease supporting voting at any time in its discretion.

Protocol Rules

We do not determine the rules which govern how staking operates on blockchains protocols. Further, blockchain protocols may undergo periodic reviews where their respective staking rules might change (such as duration of lock-in periods or activation periods). These changes might temporarily affect the earning of staking payouts or alter payout cycles. We will do our best to inform you of any significant changes, but this may not always be possible.

Ownership

We use a third party validator to provide the Staking Services. Further, your staked assets will not be transferred to a third party. We will continue holding these digital assets on your behalf and you remain the beneficial owner of your digital asset in accordance with our Terms of Use.

Staking Reward Payouts

You acknowledge and agree that the exact quantum of your staking reward, and hence any payouts, will be determined by the protocols of the applicable network, the third party validator or us, to the amount staked. Rewards will be credited to your wallet by taking into account the amount of your principal amount. We will credit your wallet with your principal amount and any earned rewards less any applicable fees after these rewards are deposited with us.

Slashing Penalties

Slashing penalties are punishments that blockchain networks impose on validators—those who help secure the network—when they act dishonestly or make mistakes. These penalties usually happen if a validator tries to sign two different blocks at the same time or makes conflicting proposals, which can threaten the network's safety. When a validator is slashed, they lose a portion of their staked assets, which is often a set amount (e.g. 1 ETH or a percentage of the staked assets).

By using the Staking Services you acknowledge that you are aware of this risk and agree that neither we or our validator providers are liable for any slashing penalties you may incur.

Fees

You acknowledge and agree that as consideration for developing and making the Staking Services available to you, we will earn fees payable by you to us. These fees and costs can be viewed on our Fees page. We reserve the right to change our fees and costs at any time and will update our Fees page accordingly. We may change these rates at our sole and absolute discretion, without giving any notice to you. We may also offer lower fees for certain cryptocurrencies on a promotional basis, and these promotional commissions may differ between Hata users at our sole and absolute discretion.

Withdrawals

You are able to unstake all or a portion of your staked cryptocurrency at any time. In some cases, the withdrawal of your staked assets may be delayed as a result of protocol unstaking periods or network conditions. As set out in Paragraph 4 (Lock-in period) above, if you unstake any of your staked cryptocurrency before the expiration of the Locked Staking Period, this will result in the loss of any staking rewards accrued up to the point in time that your cryptocurrency is unstaked. Furthermore, you acknowledge that funds which have not yet been staked, but which are in the queue to be staked are also subject to protocol withdrawal periods, during which time your funds will not be participating in the validation process and are therefore unable to earn staking rewards.

Service Availability

While we strive to ensure uninterrupted operations, we do not guarantee the availability of our Staking Services. Specifically, we cannot promise uninterrupted access to the Hata Site, Hata API, your Hata Account, or the Staking Services. There may be interruptions, delays, errors, or loss of transmitted information.

Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability

The Staking Services and related products are provided on an "as-is" and "where-available" basis, with all warranties—express or implied—disclaimed. This includes any warranties regarding merchantability or fitness for a specific purpose.

You acknowledge that your use of the Staking Services is at your own risk. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Hata, along with our affiliates, licensors, and their teams, will not be liable for any damages or losses - direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, punitive, or otherwise - related to the Staking Services or any associated data. This includes lost profits or special damages, even if we were informed of the potential for such losses.

These liability limitations apply as far as the law allows in the jurisdictions where we operate. Please note that some jurisdictions may not permit certain exclusions or limitations, so some of these terms may not apply to you.

Restriction, Suspension and Termination

We reserve the right to restrict, suspend, or terminate the Staking Services without notice to you where:

  • we suspect an operational error affecting your account or the Staking Services that needs correction;
  • we believe your account or the Staking Services are involved in unlawful, fraudulent, or prohibited activities, or violate our Staking Terms or standard Terms of Use;
  • your account is linked to high-risk activities such as money laundering, terrorism financing, fraud, or other financial crimes;
  • we suspect attempts to gain unauthorised access to any Hata Account or Staking Services;
  • your Hata Account and/or the Staking Services which Hata offers is or appears to be subject to legal, regulatory, or government actions, or we perceive a heightened risk of non-compliance;
  • we receive a valid subpoena, court order, or binding directive from a government or regulatory authority; or
  • your name appears on a government or international body sanctions list.

Hata will make reasonable efforts to notify you of any decision to restrict, suspend, or terminate your Hata Account or the Staking Services we provide, unless prevented by legal or regulatory requirements, or if it compromises our security or risk management. You acknowledge that we are not obligated to disclose the reason for any restriction, suspension, or termination and accept that we bear no liability in connection with these actions.