These digital assets risk disclosure (hereinafter the “Risk Disclosure”) provides a general overview of certain risks associated with Digital Assets (as defined in the General Terms and Conditions, hereinafter the “GTC“) in connection with the services provided by Aury Crypto Ltd. (hereinafter “Aury”) to the client (hereinafter the “Client”). This Risk Disclosure shall form an integral part of the relationship between the Client and Aury.
This Risk Disclosure includes a non-exhaustive and exemplary list of possible risks and does in no way disclose nor explain all risks in connection with investments in Digital Assets. The Client is strongly recommended to seek professional advice prior to making any investment decision in Digital Assets, in particular, because the distributed ledger networks are still at an early stage of development and might be subject to fundamental changes in the future. The risks outlined herein, as well as the likelihood of their realisation, may evolve or change over time and new risks may arise.
Furthermore, the Client is advised to consult the risk disclosures issued by all third parties involved, such as the issuers of a Digital Asset or other third parties involved in the transactions relating to Digital Assets, as may be contained in particular in prospectuses, key information documents, fact sheets and white papers which provide a more in- depth description of the risks associated with a particular Digital Asset. This Risk Disclosure does not discuss any matters of taxation or other legal matters in any jurisdiction relating to investments in and transactions of Digital Assets.
Where Digital Assets constitute, embody, incorporate, reference, or represent securities or other forms of financial instruments, as a general matter, the risks applicable to such securities or other financial instruments apply in the same manner as for traditionally issued and traded instruments. As these risks shall apply generally and are not specific to Digital Assets, they are not further described herein, but in the brochure of the Swiss Bankers Association regarding Risks Involved in Trading in Financial Instruments which form an integral part of the relationship.
Digital Assets may incorporate several financial and non-financial rights, claims and/or assets, including rights and obligations not typically comprised by (traditional) financial markets instruments. The Clients shall ensure they understand the rights and obligations comprised by the Digital Assets in question prior to any investment decision. Where the aim of the Client primarily is to sell the acquired Digital Assets at a profit and only subsidiarily, if at all, making use of the underlying rights comprised by the Digital Assets, such underlying rights may be of little or no benefit at all for the Client. This might be the case where Digital Assets grant their holders the right to request the performance of services (e.g. access to a platform), the right to the supply of goods or where Digital Assets serve as mean of payment. The fair value of Digital Assets may consequently be extremely difficult to assess and may ultimately prove to be much lower than anticipated.
The value of Digital Assets results primarily from the rights incorporated therein. It is in Aury’s sole discretion to cease or limit the execution of such rights while the Digital Asset is held with Aury. Consequently, the Client may not be able to exercise such rights and the potential benefits of the Digital Assets may be limited as long as the Client holds such Digital Assets with Aury. The Client may, for example, be unable to seize opportunities, e.g. to repurchase the Digital Assets and/or pay for products and/or services of the issuer or of third parties. To the extent Aury does not offer the possibility to execute such rights in whole or in part while the Digital Asset is held with Aury, the Client may solely be able to exercise such rights by first transferring the Digital Assets to a private wallet outside Aury’s environment. Such transfers may be subject to contractually imposed restrictions by Aury.
The technical functionalities of Digital Assets (e.g. the ability to transfer them, to create new Digital Assets, the number of decimals up to which a Digital Asset may be traded, etc.) depend on the mechanisms of the underlying network, e.g. smart contracts. Smart contracts are based on sophisticated computer codes and its interaction with the respective distributed ledger network is very complex. Therefore, the Client should ensure they understand the functioning of the relevant smart contract prior to investing in such Digital Asset.
There is no guarantee for a bug-free execution of smart contracts or the distributed ledger network it operates on. The rules and the network and/or the Digital Asset issuer may reserve the right to amend the code of the smart contract at any time, without prior notice and at its sole discretion. Depending on the rights and obligations defined in the smart contract, issuers have considerable discretion to manage the Digital Assets. For example, issuers may decide to cancel the Digital Assets and replace them with other forms of evidence such as paper certificates. Such changes to the code of the smart contract are entirely beyond Aury’s control and out of Aury’s sphere of influence. Aury shall not be obliged to provide alternative solutions to such changes, e.g. storage services for any Digital Asset, paper certificates or other products replacing Digital Assets.
In principle, Digital Assets are not listed on a security exchange and therefore its issuers may not be subject to applicable rules of investor protection, such as the duty of transparency and the equal treatment of investors. In particular, issuers may not be required to disclose, provide or publish relevant documentation related to Digital Assets which may lead to disadvantages for the Client and their Digital Assets.
The digital ledger technology (hereinafter “DLT”) on which the Digital Assets are based is still at an early stage of development and best practices are still to be determined and implemented. DLT will most likely be subject to significant technological changes and/or innovations in the future. Such technological changes and advances, for example in digital encryption or quantum computing, are entirely beyond Aury’s control, may pose a risk to the security of Digital Assets and, if exploited, lead to theft, loss of units or reduction in value (including reduction to zero) of the Client’s Digital Assets. In addition, alternative technologies to certain Digital Assets could be established, making them less relevant or even obsolete. Digital Assets which are traded on a distributed ledger that becomes less relevant or obsolete could negatively affect the price and the liquidity of the Client’s Digital Assets.
Due to the characteristics of Digital Assets (e.g., (i) they only exist virtually on a computer network, (ii) transactions on a distributed ledger are mainly done anonymously, (iii) they are irreversible and final and the ability to modify the history of transactions is computationally negligibly small), they make an attractive target for fraud, theft, and cyber-attacks. Various tactics have been developed respectively identified that are designed to steal Digital Assets or disrupt the underlying DLT. Such attempts can cause loss or at least scepticism about the long-term future of Digital Assets, prevent the adoption of Digital Assets, and increase the volatility and illiquidity of the Digital Assets in question. Further, if the Client initiates or requests a transfer of Digital Assets using an incorrect digital ledger address, it will be impossible to identify the recipient and reverse the transaction. This risk also applies if the Client attempts to transfer Digital Assets to Aury using an incorrect digital ledger address.
Due to technical restrictions, it may be possible that fractions or a certain minimal balance of Digital Assets cannot be transferred to other wallets. This may be applicable for certain networks of Digital Assets and is typically related to the gas price required to execute a transaction or to technical minimal balance requirements. The Client acknowledges that any potential remaining Digital Assets will remain with Aury without any further claims and rights to it.
Since there is no supervisory body (e.g. a governmental authority or a central bank) overlooking the development of the DLT, the functioning of distributed ledgers, as well as further improvements of such functioning (e.g. ability to increase the number of transactions, reduce the processing time or the transaction fees, implement security updates, etc.), relies on the collaboration and consensus of various stakeholders, among others, developers enhancing the open-source software related to cryptocurrencies or devices or persons that operate devices performing an act of creating valid blocks (hereinafter the “Network Participants”).
Any disagreement among stakeholders (e.g. developers and Network Participants) may result in a hard fork. A hard fork is an open-source software upgrade that is not downward compatible. Hard forks or potential hard forks may lead to the instability of the concerned distributed ledger, may limit Aury’s ability to process transactions and lead to an increase of the transaction fees. Aury excludes any and all liability for losses or damages relating to, arising out of or resulting from a hard fork. The Client hereby agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Aury and their respective directors, officers and employees, and each of the successors and assigns of any of the foregoing, from and against any and all claims arising out of or resulting from a hard fork. Hard or soft forks on a distributed ledger may lead to the creation of a new or competing kind of Digital Asset, and may adversely affect the functionality, convertibility or transferability or result in a full or partial loss of units or reduction (including reduction to zero) of value of the Client’s Digital Assets.
Aury is unable to foresee all upcoming hard forks. The Client ensures to educate themselves about the particularities of and remain informed about potential upcoming hard forks and its impact on the Digital Assets. It is in Aury’s sole discretion to support one, both or no chain resulting from the hard fork.
DLT may be contingent on independent Network Participants or other forms of consensus formation or validation susceptible to external attacks. Potential attacks include e.g. collision attacks, 51% attacks, dusting attacks and censorship attacks. If successful, such attacks may e.g. enable a perpetrator to take control of Digital Assets, engage in double spending of the same Digital Asset and/or otherwise abuse the identity or personal data of other users. Furthermore, any such attack may adversely affect the functionality, convertibility or transferability or result in a full or partial loss of units or reduction (including reduction to zero) of value of the Digital Assets. The risk of a successful attack is elevated in Digital Assets based on DLT architecture with a high degree of concentration of unit ownership or network functions with a small number of parties.
The technology underlying Digital Assets enables thorough forensic investigations that may be able to reach back and cover a period of time and number of transactions that would not be possible with similar effort in the context of traditional assets. Depending on the individual case, such forensic investigations could cover a period reaching back to the generation of the relevant Digital Asset. As a result, the Digital Assets may be subject to a risk of seizure by courts or governmental authorities where they have been previously used for or in connection with criminal activities or may otherwise be considered “tainted”. Depending on the way the Client invests in or holds Digital Assets and/or on the types of trades or transactions regarding Digital Assets that the Client engages in, the Client may from time-to-time hold be assigned, or receive in exchange, different units in the same Digital Asset, some of which may be subject to an elevated risk of seizure or may be “tainted” to differing degrees. Release of seized Digital Assets may be subject to foreign laws or regulations and the relevant procedures may result in costs, delays or other adverse effects to the Client. The functioning of Digital Assets is based on an open-source software. Developers of such open-source software are not appointed nor controlled by Aury. An open- source software code is freely accessible and may be copied, used and legally modified at any time. Vice versa, developers may cease developing the open- source software at a critical point in time when a security update and/or modification to the software is required. An open-source software is therefore generally exposed to vulnerabilities, programming errors and threats from fraud, theft and cyber-attacks.
A Digital Asset may under certain circumstances show characteristics of centrally issued financial instruments, for example in case of a concentration of ownership of issued/pre-mined units with the issuer, or network functions such as node operation or transaction validation with one single party or several parties, irrespective if such parties are directly involved or not. This may result in potentially detrimental effects on the Client’s Digital Assets and/or on parties other than those directly impacting such concentration of ownership or network functions.
In the unlikely event of a significant disruption to a distributed ledger network, Aury reserves the right to cease the services in connection with such distributed ledger network, and to take actions in its sole discretion as it deems appropriate to ensure business continuity.
The execution of transactions in Digital Assets on a blockchain or other distributed ledger may experience delays, e.g. due to third parties/nodes using evolving technology and other processes for the verification of the transaction. Furthermore, an increasing number of transactions coupled with the inability to implement changes to DLT may result in a slower processing time of transactions and/or a substantial increase in the transaction fees paid to Network Participants of cryptocurrencies for facilitating the processing of Digital Asset transactions. This may limit Aury’s ability to process transactions and consequently cause significant delays, during which the value of the Digital Asset may fluctuate significantly, or which may otherwise result in loss or damages and/or lead to an increase in the fees and costs.
Digital Assets only exist virtually on a computer network and have no physical equivalent. Evaluating a value for Digital Assets is difficult as the value depends on the expectation and trust that Digital Assets can be used e.g. for future payment transactions, as a medium of exchange or other purposes. Among others, persistent high volatility, changes and advances in technology, fraud, theft and cyber-attacks and regulatory changes may prevent the establishment of Digital Assets as an accepted long-term medium of exchange potentially rendering Digital Assets worthless.
The legal and regulatory framework governing Digital Assets is in formation respectively in constant development in Switzerland and globally imposed by various regulatory authorities (e.g. concerning anti- money laundering, securities law taxation, consumer protection or the characterization of specific Digital Assets classes). Changes to the legal and regulatory framework and related measures by regulators or other governmental authorities may affect e.g. the transferability or convertibility of the Client’s Digital Assets and potentially result in the illegality of Digital Assets and in a full or partial loss of or reduction of value (including reduction to zero) thereof.
The classification of a particular Digital Asset as a cryptocurrency or another kind of Digital Asset, such as a security or other financial instrument, remains in the sole and full discretion of Aury. This classification made by Aury is valid for the relationship between the Client and Aury and may differ from the classification imposed by relevant authorities or other involved and competent third parties in any jurisdiction at any given point in time. Aury cannot be held liable for any differing classification by authorities or other competent third parties in any jurisdiction at any given point in time, which may result in differing rights and obligations of the Client in respect of its Digital Assets in various jurisdictions over time, e.g. legal and regulatory duties, tax obligations or other requirements, non-compliance with which may result in measures and sanctions including criminal liability, or which may otherwise affect the legal position of the Client or the value, transferability or convertibility of the relevant Digital Assets.
The issuers of Digital Assets or other involved parties may become subject to regulatory investigations, injunctions or other measures which may impact the transferability or convertibility of the Client’s Digital Assets or may restrict or prohibit the Client from holding or transacting in Digital Assets.
The legal effectiveness of the underlying rights of Digital Assets may be subject to differing regulation in the relevant jurisdictions, including in particular the jurisdiction of the issuer and of the Client. The tokenization of assets or of the anticipated underlying rights and obligations and/or its transfer to the Client may not be legally effective and, consequently, would potentially result in a full or partial loss of units or reduction of value (including reduction to zero) thereof.
The Client’s Digital Assets held in custody by Aury must be considered “deposited assets” in accordance with the Swiss Banking Act, in order to segregate the Client’s Digital Assets held in custody by Aury in the event of bankruptcy. The qualification of the Client’s Digital Assets as “deposited assets” and consequently the segregation of the Digital Assets may have severe consequences for the Client. In case the Digital Assets are not segregated, they will fall into Aury’s bankrupt’s estate where the Client will be treated as a creditor of Aury and will compete with other creditors. Although the Client may in certain cases benefit from the depositor protection scheme contemplated by Swiss law, not all (and perhaps none) of the Digital Assets will be eligible for protection under the depositor protection scheme. Vice versa, in case the Digital Assets are segregated, the Digital Assets will not fall into Aury’s bankrupt’s estate and must be returned to the Client under Swiss law.
In case of Aury’s bankruptcy event, the corresponding processing of the impacted and segregated Digital Assets may lead to a delay in the transfer of the Client’s Digital Assets to the respective wallet outside of Aury’s environment.
Aury may involve sub-custodian(s) for depositary purposes of Digital Assets. A bankruptcy event of such sub-custodian(s) may also impact the Client’s Digital Assets. The Client is aware that such bankruptcy event of Aury’s sub-custodian(s) is subject to the laws and regulations applicable to the sub-custodian (which may not necessarily be Swiss law) and that a change in such laws may lead to a lack of segregation of the Digital Assets which consequently lead to a significantly more difficult retrieval of the Client’s Digital Assets. In such case, Aury (i) shall not be held liable for any losses directly or indirectly caused by the insolvency or bankruptcy event of the respective sub-custodian, and (ii) may assign to the Client for the return of the Digital Assets (or the reimbursement of their counter value) any claims to the extent such claim exists and can be freely assigned to the Client.
The value of Digital Assets may be subject to significant changes, even on an intra-day basis, the trading thereof is perceived to be highly speculative and its volatility significantly high. Investments in Digital Assets are susceptible to irrational bubbles or loss of confidence, with the potential result in a collapse demand relative to supply, e.g. because of unexpected changes imposed by the software developers, the creation of alternative Digital Assets, or a deflationary or inflationary spiral. Confidence might also collapse due to technical reasons, e.g. if significant amounts of Digital Assets are lost or the successful cyber-attack preventing a settlement of a Digital Assets transaction.
The trend of the value of Digital Assets is unpredictable and may be impacted by several factors, e.g. changes and improvements in technology, fraud, theft, cyber-attacks, and regulatory changes, with the potential result in full or partial loss of the Client’s Digital Assets. Digital Assets, in contrast to traditional financial instruments, lack historical fair values allowing a reliable assessment of volatility.
The execution and settlement of transactions in Digital Assets may be dependent on particularities of the relevant distributed ledger or on the participation of third parties on the relevant network, in particular on the availability of Network Participants or other processing entities. Delays or failures to execute or settle transactions may potentially result in losses or other adverse effects for the Client. In addition, trading platforms and systems in Digital Assets and their participants may be unregulated or subject to limited regulation and may not provide for the same or similar safeguards as applicable to traditional financial instruments, e.g. safeguards concerning market manipulation, information asymmetry, transparency, or insider trading.
Since there is no supervisory body (e.g. a governmental authority or a central Aury) supervising Digital Assets, there is no authority or institution which may intervene and stabilize the value of Digital Assets and/or prevent or mitigate irrational price developments.
Aury may use one single distributed ledger as a channel for the execution of Digital Assets transactions. Consequently, such channel may be the sole source of liquidity for the trading of Digital Assets, resulting in a higher illiquidity risk. The market for the relevant Digital Assets may experience periods of decreased liquidity or even periods of illiquidity. A lower liquidity may result in very rapid and irrational price developments, in wider spreads and/or in higher rejection rates. An insufficient liquidity in the market may lead to Aury’s inability to provide prices for the Client to trade Digital Assets and/or execute any transactions. The Client’s ability to trade Digital Assets, to compare the prices of Digital Assets and/or liquidate their positions may consequently be limited.
The single distributed ledger used as a channel as described in 7.5 may constitute a trading venue Aury itself operates. In case such trading venue experiences interruptions or other errors limiting the operation of such venue, and if Aury is otherwise unable to find a suitable solution (another market, trading venue or counterparty to trade Digital Assets with), the Client may not be able to trade their Digital Assets for a certain period of time or even permanently.
Aury is licensed as Aury and securities dealer firm and subject to prudential supervision by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA (Laupenstrasse 27, CH-3003 Berne) in accordance with Swiss law. Aury is not regulated as a Aury in the European Union/EEA nor subject to prudential supervision by any EU/EEA supervisory body. However, Aury is/may be subject to mandatory registration requirements for AML-CFT purposes in certain EU/EEA countries and/or operate according to one or more local third-country frameworks for third-country investment firms and/or credit institutions. Such registration/s shall not, under any circumstance, be construed or used in a way whatsoever as a positive assessment by the competent authorities of the quality of the services provided by Aury.
The Client should be aware that any transfer or transaction of Digital Assets may be recorded on the respective public distributed ledger and may therefore be visible to the public.
Distributed ledgers on which Digital Assets are issued and/or recorded are neither the property of Aury, nor does Aury bear any control of such distributed ledgers. The Client acknowledges that the information available on such networks may be exploited or misused by third parties.
Aury may amend this Risk Disclosure at any time and the Client will be notified about the modifications and/or amendments within a reasonable period of time in advance and by suitable means.
In the absence of any objection by the Client in writing within 30 days of the date of notification, such modifications and/or amendments shall be deemed to be accepted by the Client and shall be effective and binding upon the Client and Aury.
These staking terms and risk disclosure (hereinafter the “Staking Terms”) shall apply to all services provided by Aury Crypto Ltd. (hereinafter “Aury”) to the client (hereinafter the “Client”) relating to the staking of Digital Assets (as defined in the General Terms and Conditions, hereinafter the “GTC”) that are either registered on a blockchain or another digital distributed ledger or that are based on similar technology. These Staking Terms shall form an integral part of the relationship between the Client and Aury.
The Client may be required to accept additional terms and conditions concerning the staking of specific Digital Assets.
Staking describes the process by which token holders use their assets to secure and govern proof- of-stake (hereinafter “PoS”) blockchains. To participate in staking, token holders typically lock the blockchain’s native token and sometimes operate their own staking infrastructure. The network compensates token holders for staking by rewarding them with newly created tokens and/or distributing part of the network’s transaction fees to them. Depending on the network, different forms of staking with different requirements exist. Implementations differ in terms of minimum staking amounts, Lock-up Period (as defined below), and frequency of reward distribution. Some networks also reward users for other actions than participating in the PoS consensus algorithm, such as actively voting on governance proposals.
In a PoS network, PoS validators are selected from the pool of validators randomly or based on a predetermined algorithm or similar other factors depending on the mechanism design of the individual network. A selected validator proposes a block, and if other validators agree, the block is added to the network. The validator receives a reward in the form of the blockchain’s native currency.
Several adaptations of PoS consensus mechanisms exist, e.g., delegated-proof-of-stake (hereinafter “DPoS”). With DPoS, token holders who want to participate do not have to run a validator themselves but can provide their Digital Assets to an already running validator. This is known as “delegating”. The validator participates in the consensus mechanism of the network and receives rewards, which they then share with the “delegator”.
The validation mechanisms of distributed ledgers are highly sophisticated and subject to the rules and mechanisms of the underlying network, which can be changed at any time without prior notice and are completely beyond Aury’s control and out of Aury’s sphere of influence.
Aury shall offer the possibility to stake selected Digital Assets kept in custody with Aury and to earn rewards for staking such Digital Assets for a certain period, all subject to the rules and mechanisms of the relevant underlying network (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Staking Services”).
During the Lock-up Period (as defined below), the Digital Assets remain locked for some time and cannot be used for other activities. For some Digital Assets, Aury may offer additional services linked to staking, e.g. liquid staking, i.e. by providing for the staked Digital Assets so-called liquid staking tokens (hereinafter referred to as “Additional Staking Services”). In case these Staking Terms refer to Staking Services, the reference shall also include Additional Staking Services to the extent possible.
Staking Services may be available for selected Digital Assets where a staking functionality is available. The selection of Digital Assets for the Staking Services may be made by Aury in its sole discretion and may be changed at any time without stating any reason. Aury makes no representations, warranties, or guarantees that any particular Digital Assets shall be continuously available for staking or are generally available for Staking Services of Aury. By requesting Staking Services for Digital Assets held with Aury, the Client instructs Aury to stake such Digital Assets in part or entirely in accordance with the rules and mechanisms of the underlying network and/or protocols. Digital Assets are staked on the Client’s behalf through Aury’s own infrastructure, a third-party provider offering staking services or through public nodes (hereinafter the “Third-Party Provider(s)”), each acting as a (transaction) validator on the applicable network for the staked Digital Asset. Furthermore, the internal processes and processes of Third-Party Providers may result in certain Staking Services not being available or being delayed. Aury excludes any liability for Third- Party Providers to the fullest extent permitted by law.
The Client shall acknowledge that for the duration of the Digital Assets being staked, they may not be sold or transferred, depending on the rules and the mechanisms of the underlying network and/or protocols. The Client shall not be required to use the Staking Services and may revoke any such consent for the future at any time by opting-out of the Staking Services. The Client may select to opt-out for specific Digital Assets only. Unless otherwise specified, in case of opting-out of the Staking Services, the Client may opt back in at any time. For both opting-in and -out specific lock-up or waiting periods and fees may apply depending on the rules of the underlying network and/or protocols. The Client acknowledges that Aury has no influence over and is not committing to unstake Digital Assets within a particular time frame and/or whether Additional Staking Services are available.
Aury shall have no obligation to provide Staking Services and may accept or decline any staking requests by the Client at its sole discretion.
To provide the Staking Services, Aury may partner with Third-Party Providers that operate the infrastructure that allows the Client to stake Digital Assets. When the Client instructs Aury to stake certain Digital Assets, Aury shall, acting in its name but for the account and at the sole risk of the Client, give a corresponding instruction to the relevant Third-Party Provider.
If the Client instructs the Aury to stake the Client’s Digital Assets with a particular Third-Party Provider, Aury shall be entitled to accept or decline such instructions at its sole discretion. If Aury carries out such instruction, Aury shall be entitled to rely on the instruction and not to perform any due diligence, in particular with respect to how the Third-Party Provider handles the verification mechanisms of the relevant underlying network and/or protocols of the Digital Asset at stake. Aury shall not be subject to any liability if the Client instructs Aury to stake the Client’s Digital Assets with a particular Third-Party Provider. The Client shall acknowledge and agree that any decision to stake Digital Assets with a particular Third-Party Provider is the Client’s own decision and the Client shall guarantee that they have considered the associated (increased) risks and performed appropriate due diligence on the Third-Party Provider.
By participating in the validation of transactions and other operations of distributed ledgers (such as participation in the consensus mechanism), the Client may, under certain circumstances, receive rewards determined, calculated, and granted by the rules and the mechanisms of the underlying network and/or protocols (hereinafter the “Staking Rewards”). The Staking Rewards are determined by the network and/or protocols, and not managed by Aury. In addition, the availability of Staking Rewards may also depend on the technical implementation of Aury and Third-Party Providers. Aury has neither control over an auto- generation, over the effective delivery, nor over the extent or timing of such auto-generation.
Aury shall use reasonable efforts to stake or participate in any governance regarding any Digital Assets available for the Staking Services. When staking Digital Assets, the Client does not have a guaranteed entitlement to any Staking Reward. Aury does not guarantee or undertake that the Client shall effectively receive any Staking Reward for any staked Digital Assets, any specific percentage or type of Staking Rewards, or any staking return over time. Any statements made in brochures, on Aury’s website, online portal or on similar means regarding Staking Rewards that may be expected from staking are based on specific network conditions as well as historical data, may change over time and shall be understood as being merely indicative and non-binding.
Unless Aury or the rules and the mechanisms of the underlying network and/or protocols indicate otherwise, Staking Rewards shall not be automatically staked (partially or in full).
Any Staking Reward for the Client’s staked Digital Assets shall be distributed to the Client automatically by the underlying network and/or protocols or manually once received by Aury or the Third-Party Provider and consequently credited to the respective Digital Asset account with Aury. The timing of such manual remittance to the Client is in Aury’s full discretion. Further, Aury has no influence over the distribution mechanisms of the relevant underlying network and/or protocols. The Client acknowledges that fees and costs of Third-Party Providers (including their sub-providers, if any) or of Aury, as well as any applicable taxes, may be deducted from the Staking Rewards before they are paid to the Client. If not already deducted, Aury’s fees may be invoiced or directly charged to the Client in fiat currency and/or Digital Assets.
Some of the networks and/or protocols include (decentralized) governance and voting mechanisms. In this type of governance, token holders can participate in the network’s and/or the protocols’ decision-making process by voting on governance proposals. Proposals usually apply to the network and/or protocols by way of code updates upon a successful vote.
Depending on the network and/or protocols, different forms of governance with different requirements exist.
The Client shall acknowledge and agree that Aury may exercise any such governance decision and/or voting right on behalf of the Client and that the Client has no rights whatsoever with regards to the governance decisions derived from the staked Digital Assets.
While both Aury and any Third-Party Provider use best effort and undertake measures to ensure that the Staking Services are accessible 24/7, Aury or any Third-Party Provider cannot guarantee or provide any warranty for an uninterrupted or error-free operation of the Staking Services. Aury shall use reasonable effort to correct all defects and to prevent third-party disruptions or unauthorized third-party access. The Client shall acknowledge and accept that in the event of such disruptions, any staked Digital Assets may not be generating Staking Rewards.
Aury does neither own nor control any of the underlying networks and/or protocols (including liquid staking protocols or any additional underlying networks in the case of so-called “Layer 2 networks“) which govern the operation of Digital Assets. Generally, the underlying protocols are open-source, and anyone can use, copy, modify, and distribute them. Aury shall assume no responsibility for the operation of the underlying networks and/or protocols and is not able to guarantee the functionality or security of network and/or protocols operations. In particular, the underlying network and/or protocols may be subject to sudden changes in operating rules (including, without limitation, “forks”). Any such operating changes may materially affect the availability, value, functionality, and/or the name of the Digital Asset the Client owns. Aury does not control the timing and features of these material operating changes. In the event of any such operational changes, Aury reserves the right to take such steps as may be necessary to protect the security and safety of its Staking Services, including temporarily suspending operations for the involved Digital Asset(s), and other necessary steps; such changes are outside of Aury’s control and may occur without notice to Aury. Aury’s response to any material operating change is subject to its sole discretion and includes deciding not to support any new Digital Asset, fork, or other actions. The Client shall acknowledge and accept the risks of operating changes to Digital Asset networks and/or protocols and agrees that Aury shall not be responsible for such operating changes and not liable for any loss of value or missed Staking Rewards the Client may experience as a result of such changes in operating rules.
Some Digital Asset networks require that a certain amount of staked Digital Assets to be locked (restricted from sale or transfer) for a certain time frame (hereinafter “Lock-up Period”) while staking. Some Digital Asset networks further provide the option to voluntarily select or extend a Lock-up Period and its duration to increase the Staking Rewards generated during such Lock-up Period. Aury shall only initiate such voluntary Lock-up Period upon the Client’s specific instructions.
Aury has neither control over whether a network uses Lock-up Periods, nor over the extent, duration, or end date of such periods, which shall ultimately be determined by the respective underlying network. During a Lock-up Period the Client might not be able to transfer or withdraw Digital Assets staked with Aury. For the sake of clarity, in case of liquid staking, the Client shall have the appropriate amount of liquid staking tokens to unstake the Digital Assets. The Client may further be unable to unstake Digital Assets or only subject to a penalty or other consequences depending on the applicable Digital Asset networks.
Aury shall be entitled to refuse (in total or in parts) orders or instructions to sell or transfer staked Digital Assets during a Lock-up Period. Aury shall not refund or replace such Digital Assets that the Client wishes to unstake.
The Client shall confirm to be familiar with any Lock- up Periods applicable to staked Digital Assets and accepts the corresponding risks.
The tax treatment of Staking Rewards is uncertain, and it is the Client’s sole responsibility to determine what taxes, if any, arise from using the Staking Services, to report and pay any applicable taxes arising from the Staking Services and all related transactions (e.g., any exchange, transfer or sale of the staked Digital Asset). The Client acknowledges that Aury does not provide investment, legal, or tax advice to the Client in connection with Staking Services. Client shall conduct their own due diligence, if necessary, with external advisors before making any staking decision including whether to participate in staking and related transactions.
Aury and its Third-Party Providers shall not be liable for any damages, lost profits, or damages resulting from e.g. lost data or business interruption resulting from the use or inability to access and use of the Staking Services.
Aury’s liability shall be limited to direct loss or damage caused by Aury’s gross negligence or wilful breach of Aury’s contractual obligations or performance of the Staking Services. The limitation as per the previous sentence shall also apply to any direct loss or damage incurred as a result of (i) accessing Aury’s website or online services including the usage of information provided and services offered thereon, (ii) the inability to access or use any information or services on Aury’s website or online services, (iii) the unavailability of prices or other information concerning Digital Assets, iv) malfunctions or errors on systems, of hard- or software of services provided by third parties, (v) non-, partial or late execution of transactions, (vi) losses caused by illegitimate events such as hacking, theft, fraud, cyber-attacks or (vii) force majeure events. Any liability of Aury for direct, indirect or consequential losses, including loss of profit, as well as any loss or damage due to events or actions outside of Aury’s sphere of influence, shall be excluded.
With regards to any Third-Party Providers, Aury limits its liability to the due selection and instruction of such Third-Party Provider, to the extent legally possible.
Should Aury be held liable under or in connection with these Staking Terms, without prejudice of any other provision hereof, Aury’s aggregate liability in connection with the Staking Services shall at all times be limited to the proven value of the disputed Staking Rewards.
Staking or the use of Staking Services does in general not involve a transfer of ownership of the respective Digital Assets to Aury or a Third-Party Provider or any other party. Hence, staking does not involve the lending and borrowing of Digital Assets to generate returns, but the delegation of Digital Assets to a validator directly or via a protocol, or the participation in the network’s consensus mechanism more generally. Aury shall apply due care in providing the Staking Services. The general risks associated with Digital Assets are described in Aury’s Digital Asset Risk Disclosure (as amended). In addition, there are further risks associated with the staking of Digital Assets as outlined below.
By accepting these Staking Terms, the Client agrees and acknowledges all risks associated with the Staking Services and acknowledges that such risks are the sole responsibility of the Client. Notwithstanding the previous sentence, Aury shall use commercially reasonable efforts to identify and mitigate such risks associated with the Client’s Digital Assets.
The market for digital currencies is highly volatile, with often high intraday gains and losses. Staking Rewards are denoted in and linked to the underlying Digital Asset and might thus be subject to high volatility. If a Lock-up Period applies the Client will not be able to trade a staked Digital Asset in cases of volatile prices.
An important risk to be aware of is the possibility of losing the staked Digital Assets or already generated Staking Rewards due to slashing. Slashing is a mechanism built into the underlying networks of some tokens to discourage validator misbehavior and it is designed to encourage security, availability, and network participation. Each underlying network may determine penalties for certain events connected with the staking of Digital Assets such as, but not limited to, unavailability, validator downtime, incorrect, slow, or malicious performance, or any other case determined by the underlying network that could lead to non-payment of the Staking Reward and/or partial or complete loss of staked Digital Assets (so-called slashing penalty). Slashing can be caused by events outside of Aury’s control.
Aury shall use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that the Staked Digital Assets are not subject to slashing, but in the unlikely event that slashing occurs, the Client may lose some or all of the staked Digital Assets. Aury shall be under no obligation to replace any Digital Assets subject to slashing and excludes all liabilities to the fullest extent permitted by the applicable law.
For certain newer underlying networks staking may still be experimental and may involve various risks including the possible failure of the network and/or protocols. In particular, the Staking services may expose the Client to risks inherent in the protocols such as smart contract risks.
Staking Services shall be based on various staking networks and/or protocols and may require the transfer of Digital Assets into smart contracts on the underlying network that are beyond anyone’s control. Therefore, any malfunction, unintended function, or unexpected operation of the staking protocols and/or the underlying networks may cause the Staking Services to fail or operate in an unexpected or unintended manner.
Hackers and/or other groups or organizations may attempt to interfere with staking protocols, the Staking Services and staked Digital Assets in any number of ways, including, without limitation, denial of service attacks, sybil attacks, spoofing, smurfing, malware attacks or consensus-based attacks.
Critical bugs including, but not limited to the ones described above may result in a partial or entire loss of the staked Digital Assets.
The Client acknowledges that any future development and risks related to the underlying networks cannot be anticipated or foreseen by Aury. Such risks may further materialize as unanticipated variations or combinations of the risks outlined in the Staking Terms or other risks may occur.
These Staking Terms are not intended to be exhaustive and do not disclose all the risks of Aury’s Staking Services.
Nothing in these Staking Terms shall be considered as investment, legal, or tax advice. The Client shall conduct their own due diligence and consult their advisors before making any investment decision including but not limited to Staking Services and/or any other related transaction.
The Staking Services, any documentation, and any other materials provided by Aury and the Third- Party Provideall are provided “as is” and “as available” and neither Aury nor it’s Third- Party Providers shall make any representations or warranties with respect to the same or otherwise in connection with these Staking Terms, and hereby disclaims any and all express, implied, or statutory warranties, including, without limitation, any warranties of non-infringement, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, availability, error- free or uninterrupted operation, and any warranties arising from a course of dealing, course of performance, or use of trade. To the extent that Aury and its Third-Party Providers may not disclaim any implied warranty as a matter of applicable law, the scope and duration of such warranty shall be the minimum permitted under such law.
The Client shall bear all the economic and legal risks and implications (i) which result of measures taken by any authority of any relevant country or state, as well as by its respective regulatory or self-regulatory bodies, or (ii) resulting from the exercise of consensus or similar mechanisms in respect of Digital Assets, including, without limitation, any prohibitions or restrictions of payments or transfers, limitations to, suspension or exclusion of convertibility or changes to functionality, which may affect the Staking Services, with the exception of those implications that are a consequence of any non-compliance by Aury with its duty of care.
If at any time any provision of these Staking Terms is or becomes illegal, invalid, or unenforceable in any respect under the applicable law, neither the legality, validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions of these Staking Terms shall in any way be affected or impaired thereby.
Aury may amend these Staking Terms at any time and the Client shall be notified about the modifications and/or amendments within a reasonable period of time in advance and by suitable means.
In the absence of any objection by the Client in writing within 30 days of the date of the notification, such modifications and/or amendments shall be deemed to be accepted by the Client and shall be effective and binding upon the Client and Aury.
Last updated: 28.06.2025
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Phone: +41 41 123 45 67
Email: info@aury-brokerage.com
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