MELD Privacy Policy

‍Overview

Your privacy is important to us. MELD group of companies (“MELD,” “we,” or “us”) wants you to be familiar with how we collect, use, and disclose your Personal Information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and disclose your Personal Information when you visit or use services made available through our websites (“Websites”) and associated platforms operated by us, from which you are accessing this Policy (collectively, the “Services”). The data we protect is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, sometimes called a data subject (“Personal Data”). This Policy also describes other important topics relating to your privacy.

This Privacy Policy is designed to address regulatory requirements of the jurisdictions in which MELD offers its Services, including the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), as enacted by the European Commission. In this Privacy Policy, the term “Service” and “Services” has the same meaning as described in the General MELD Terms and Conditions (“General Terms”). If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, in general, or any part of it, you should not use the Services. We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time by posting an amended version on our website.

1. Information about MELD

Our Services are offered through one or more subsidiaries of the MELD group of companies. By using the Services, you understand that your Personal Data may be processed by one or more of those subsidiaries (each, a “Data Controller”). You may contact our Data Protection Officer (“DPO”) by email at privacy@meld.com.

2. Collection of Personal Data

When you access or use the Services, we collect the following information:

Information you may provide to us:
You may give us information about yourself by filling in forms on our website or through our app, or by corresponding with us by phone, email, or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you register to use the Services and when you report a problem with the website or with our app.

Information we collect about you:
With regard to each of your visits to our website or app, we automatically collect the following information:

• Login Information: We log technical information about your use of the Services, including browser type and version, wallet identifier, last access time of your wallet, IP address used to create the wallet, and the most recent IP address used to access the wallet.
• Device Information: We collect information about the device you use to access your account, including hardware model, operating system and version, and unique device identifiers. This information is anonymized and not tied to any particular person.
• Wallet Information: If you create a MELD Wallet through our Services, you generate a public and private key pair. When you log out of the Wallet, we collect an encrypted file that, if unencrypted, would contain these keys along with your transaction history. When you enable notifications through your Account Settings, we will collect the unencrypted public key to provide such notifications. We do not collect an unencrypted private key nor can we decrypt any Wallet file data.
• Transaction Information: For our Conversion Service (as defined in our User Agreement), we may collect and maintain information on transactions in your Wallet that convert one virtual currency to another.
• Fraud Protection Information (via app): We collect Battery Usage, Device Identifier, Device Storage, MAC Address, and SIM information for fraud protection.

Information Collected by Law, Rule, or Regulation:
For our Conversion Service, we may collect and maintain the following information required by applicable law:

• Full name
• Residential address
• Contact details (telephone number, email address)
• Date and place of birth, gender, place of citizenship
• Bank account information and/or credit card details
• Status as a politically exposed person
• Source of funds & proof of address
• Passport and/or national driver’s license or government-issued identification card to verify your identity
• Transaction history and account balances related to your use of certain Services.

Information from Other Sources:
We also receive information from other sources and combine it with the information collected through our Services. For instance:

• Third-party services, which may be co-branded as MELD, will collect information per their own privacy policies.
• We use "cookies" to personalize your online experience. A cookie is a small text file stored on your computer to make your visit more “user-friendly.” Please see our Cookies Policy for more details about cookies. Cookies provide us with information about your use of the site, which can help us improve the site and your experience.
• Banks or payment processors used for transferring fiat currency may provide us with basic Personal Data, including name, address, and bank account information.
• Advertising or analytics providers may provide us with anonymized information on how you found our website.

3. Use of Personal Data

We will use your Personal Data to:

• Understand and strive to meet your needs and preferences in using our Services.
• Develop and enhance existing service and product offerings.
• Manage and develop our business and operations.
• Carry out any actions for which we have received your consent.
• Prevent and investigate fraudulent or other criminal activity.
• Address service requests and resolve user questions.
• Meet legal and regulatory requirements.

We also reserve the right to use aggregated Personal Data to understand how users use our Services, provided that those data cannot identify any individual. We use third-party web analytics tools to understand how users engage with our website. These tools may use first-party cookies to track user interactions and compile reports to help improve our website without identifying individual visitors. You can opt out of these analytics tools by contacting privacy@meld.com.

4. Disclosure of Personal Data

We may share your information with selected recipients to perform functions required to provide Services to you and prevent fraudulent or other criminal activity. The categories of recipients include:

• Companies within the MELD group located in Caymans, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the EEA.
• Cloud service providers for data storage and disaster recovery services.
• Fraud detection service providers for fraud detection checks.
• Spam and abuse detection providers to prevent unauthorized use of the Services.

We may also share Personal Data with a buyer or successor in the event of a merger, restructuring, or other transfer of MELD’s assets. We will require any third party receiving your Personal Data to agree to comply with this Privacy Policy or substantially similar requirements. We also require third parties, including government or enforcement entities, seeking access to the data we hold, to present a court order or equivalent proof of statutory authorization.

5. Security of your Personal Data

We protect Personal Data with appropriate physical, technological, and organizational safeguards. Our server uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) to encrypt your Personal Data, preventing unauthorized access as it travels over the internet. Our site also includes security measures to protect against loss, misuse, and unauthorized alteration of the information under our control.

6. Retention of Personal Data

The length of time we retain Personal Data outside our back-up system depends on the purpose for which it was collected:

• Data provided upon subscribing to Services: Retained while the user is active.
• Country location data: Retained while the user is active.
• Preferences data: Retained while the user is active.
• IP address login: Retained until a subsequent login from a new IP.

When Personal Data is no longer necessary, we will remove identifying details or securely destroy records. Anti-money laundering laws may require us to retain certain data for five years after our relationship ends, including:

• Records used for client due diligence.
• Supporting evidence and records of transactions.

7. Storage of Personal Data

MELD stores your Personal Data at secure locations in the MELD company or third-party provider's country of residence, ensuring security standards for safeguarding, confidentiality, and security. We may transfer Personal Data outside the EEA to subsidiaries, service providers, and business partners. Transfers to the U.S. may rely on applicable standard contractual clauses.

8. Information Recorded On-Chain

“On-chain” operations occur on a blockchain and are permanently recorded on the blockchain. Any information attached to an “on-chain” operation may be viewed by the public and cannot practically be corrected or revised. Use caution before requesting operations “on-chain” as MELD cannot control or delete such information.

9. Cayman Islands Data Protection Act

The Cayman Islands Data Protection Act (DPA) applies to MELD entities in the Cayman Islands. Where you engage services from these entities, they are data controllers responsible for processing your Personal Data in line with the DPA.

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Consent

By using the Services, or by otherwise choosing to submit Personal Information to MELD, for users outside of the UK and EEA, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your information as outlined in this Policy. If you are a user in the UK or EEA, please refer to our section "Users in UK and EEA" which provides information on the basis on which we may process your personal information. At any time, you have the right to remove your consent to the collection, and future use and disclosure of your information, subject to reasonable notice and legal, contractual and technological limitations. You may make this request by writing to the e-mail address set out below.

Modifications

We may change this Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will take reasonable steps to notify you, such as by revising the effective date at the top of the Policy or placing a notice on our Websites and associated platforms through which you use our Services, or at our discretion, contacting you using any contact information you have provided. We encourage you to review the Policy whenever you access the Services to stay informed about our information practices.

Summary

The following is a short summary of the key elements of this Policy. You can read the full version of the Policy following this summary. 

We may collect the following Personal Information and other information from you: 

• Your name;
• Your e-mail address;
• Your phone number; 
• Your blockchain public addresses;
• Information you provide directly to us when you request that we conduct a specific task on your behalf using the Services, or other information you provide when you communicate with us; and
• Online identifiers such as general geographic location, IP address, and details regarding your use of the Services.

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We may use your Personal Information for the following purposes:

• To provide you with the functionality of the Services;
• To contact you regarding your use of the Services; 
• To understand how you and our users use the Services in order to improve the Services, and our marketing efforts; and
• For other purposes required by applicable law, including confirming your identity to comply with our regulatory obligations. 

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We may share your Personal Information with the following parties / for the following purposes: 

• To service providers selected by you in your use of the Services;
• To other third-party service providers to facilitate services they provide to us, including analytics providers that help us understand how our Services are used; and 
• As otherwise required by applicable law. 

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How to contact us:

• If you have questions about this Policy or would like to contact us regarding the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information, please contact us at legal@meld.com

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What Personal Information Do We Collect About You?

Personal Information refers to any information about an identifiable individual. 

‍We collect the following Personal Information and other information when you request to open an account on MELD and our Services provided on MELD, including MELD Wallet: 

• Your name; 
• Your e-mail address; 
• Your mobile phone number;
• Your Google account information; and 
• Your blockchain public address.

We also collect information that you provide directly to us when you access and use the Services, including:

• Information that you provide when you request that a token be configured using the Services, such as information describing the tokens and the issuer as well as e-mail addresses for intended token recipients; 
• Information regarding the services you use, such as information you provide for identification purposes, such as your name, nationality, and birth date; and 
• Information that you provide when you request customer support from us. 

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Please note that where you provide us with the information of another person such as a token recipient, you must have their permission to give it to us for that purpose. 

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Information that we Collect 

When you access or use the Services, we collect certain information using cookies, web beacons, and similar tracking technologies. Cookies are small data files stored directly on the device you are using that allow us to collect information to help the Services function properly, and to report on activities and trends so that we can improve the services. This information includes: 

• Online identifiers such as IP address, geolocation, device information, and browser type; 
• Details regarding how you interact with the Services, such as time spent on the Services and which links you click on; and 
• Metrics such as number of visitors to our Websites, pages visited, frequency of clicks to assess behaviors, usage data, failed attempts, spam attempts, and similar information.

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Your browser gives you the ability to reject cookies. However, setting your browser or device to reject cookies generally hinders performance and may adversely affect your experience while using the Services. 

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How do we use your Personal Information?

Information we collect is used by MELD and its service providers to:

• Provide you with the functionality of the Services and fulfill your requests, for example;

• We use your blockchain public address for operations you initiate on MELD when you create your account and associated decentralized identity to enable you to access the Services;

• Create your MELD Wallet to enable you to access the Services;
• Send you technical notices, updates, security alerts and support and administrative messages including confirmations and receipts;
• Respond to your comments, questions and requests and provide customer service;
• Communicate with you about products, services, and events we think will be of interest to you;
• To understand users and potential users and their interests in MELD products and services, manage our relationship with users, enhance user experience on our platform and applications, improve our platforms and applications; 
• Monitor and analyze trends, usage and activities in connection with our Services so that we can improve our Services;
• Conduct audits to verify that our internal processes function as intended and to address legal, regulatory, or contractual requirements; 
• Carry out any other purpose for which the information was collected and for which you have provided your consent; and
• For other purposes that are permitted or required by applicable law such as verifying your identity in accordance with our client identification requirements. 

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We may aggregate and anonymize Personal Information so that it may not be used to identify you or any other individual. We do so to generate data for our use, which we may use and disclose for any purpose, if permitted by applicable law. 

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Who do we share your information with?

We share information about you as follows or as otherwise described in this Policy:

• To service providers selected by you in order to request services on your behalf. You, and not us, are responsible for your selection of and relationship with such service providers. For information about how they process your Personal Information please refer to their Privacy Policy(ies).
• To analytics vendors, including Google Analytics, in order to help understand how users interact with the Services, including to understand users and potential users and their interests in MELD products and services, to manage our relationship with users, enhance user experience on our platform and applications, improve our platforms and applications. These services may also collect information regarding the use of other websites, apps, and resources. You can learn about Google’s practices by going to https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and opt out of them by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available at: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. 
• To other third-party service providers that assist us with carrying out the purposes we describe in this Privacy Policy. We provide them information to facilitate services they provide to us. This includes providers of services such as website hosting, information technology, auditing, and other services contemplated by this Policy. For the purposes of the European Data Protection Laws, these service providers act as our processors.

• In response to a request for information if we believe disclosure is required or permitted in accordance with any applicable law, regulation or legal process;
• To cooperate with law enforcement, protect our rights or those of third parties (for example, to detect and prevent fraud), or as otherwise required by any applicable law;
• In connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, consolidation, restructuring, sale of company assets, or disposition of all or a portion of our business to another company, including, without limitation, during the course of any due diligence process; and
• With other third parties when we have your consent.

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Information Recorded On-Chain

“On-chain” operations refer to those operations that occur on a blockchain and are permanently recorded on the records of the blockchain. 

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Any information that you attach to an “on-chain” operation may be viewed by the public, meaning that others will have access to this content and it may be viewed, collected and used by others. Further, due to the nature of blockchain technology, information that is recorded “on-chain” cannot practically be corrected or revised.

If you choose to voluntarily disclose Personal Information in an “on-chain” operation, that information will be available to the public (for example, anyone who views the public blockchain). We will not be able to control how members of the public access or use such information, nor can it be deleted as it is released outside of our control. Think carefully and use caution relating to the disclosure of any Personal Information before you request any operations to be processed “on-chain” as described herein.

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Users in UK and EEA

The following information is only applicable to users located in the UK or the EEA or otherwise within the scope of European Data Protection Laws. 

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Basis for Processing

We are allowed to process your Personal Information for the following reasons and on the following legal bases:

• To enter and perform a contract with you (i.e. the terms and condition of the Services) or to perform any steps you require from us before entering into a contract.

• To pursue our legitimate interests i.e. we have good, sensible, practical reasons for processing your Personal Information which is in our interests. In this case, we use your Personal Information to provide you with the Services as agreed in our Terms of Service with the entity on whose behalf you act or you directly. We also use the Personal Information to establish, manage or conclude our business relationship with you or the entity on whose behalf you act.

• Where you have specifically consented to us processing your Personal Information.

• To comply with our legal obligations and establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.

Where Personal Information is processed with consent, you may choose to withdraw your consent at any point by contacting us as described below in the "Contact Us" section.

Rights as Data Subjects

As a data subject, you have the following rights under the European Data Protection Laws: 

• Object to processing: You may object to us processing your personal information where we rely on a legitimate interest as our legal grounds for processing your Personal Information.  

• Access personal data relating to you: You have the right to obtain a copy of your Personal Information as well as other supplementary information (this largely corresponds to the information provided in this Privacy Policy). This is so that you can understand how and why we are using your Personal Information and check we are doing it lawfully.

• Rectification: You have the right to have inaccurate personal information rectified, or completed if it is incomplete.  

• Automated decision making: These rights do not apply as we do not make any automated decisions about you. 

• Restriction: You have the right to restrict us from processing your Personal Information in certain circumstances such as where you are contesting the accuracy of your Personal Information or you have objected to us processing your Personal Information. Whilst the restriction is in place we cannot do anything with the Personal Information in any way except to store it. 

• Data portability: You have the right to receive personal information that you have provided us in order to share it with a separate controller in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format. You can also request us to transmit this information directly to another controller. This is only applicable where the lawful basis we rely on to process your Personal Information is consent or for the performance of a contract. 

• Erasure: You have the right to request that we erase your Personal Information in certain circumstances such as where your Personal Information is no longer necessary for the purpose which we originally collected it for or we are relying on consent as lawful basis for holding your Personal Information and you have withdrawn your consent. 

• Withdraw your consent: Where we have relied on your consent to process your Personal Information, you have the right to withdraw the consent you have given us at any point. This is a vital and necessary aspect of consent. To withdraw your consent, you can contact us at the details in the “Contact Us” section. 

For you to exercise these rights, please get in touch with us using the information in the section "Contact Us". We will respond to any rights that you exercise within a month of receiving your request, unless the request is particularly complex and/or if we receive a high number of requests, in which case we will respond within three months.

Please be aware that there are exceptions and exemptions that apply to some of the rights which we will apply in accordance with the applicable laws. Moreover, due to the nature of blockchain technology, information that is recorded “on-chain” cannot practically be corrected, revised or deleted. Please see the section “Information Recorded On-Chain” for more information.

It is important that you ensure you have read this Privacy Policy - and if you do not think that we have processed your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy - you should let us know as soon as possible using the information at the section "Contact Us". 

Similarly, you may complain to the relevant supervisory authority in your country. Ideally, we recommend that you get in touch with us first so we can resolve any issues directly with you as quickly as possible.

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Transfer of Personal Information Outside UK and EEA 

Any transfer of your Personal Information outside the UK and the EEA will be carried out in accordance with the European Data Protection Laws to safeguard your privacy rights and give you remedies in the unlikely event of a security breach or to any other similar approved mechanisms.

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Retention

The Personal Information we collect is stored on our servers or those of our service providers. We retain Personal Information in accordance with our record retention policies. Our record retention periods are established taking into account requirements of privacy laws, the purposes for which the information was collected, legal and regulatory requirements to retain the information for minimum periods, limitation periods for taking legal action, and our business needs. We may retain anonymous and aggregate information indefinitely.

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Security

MELD uses physical, technological, and organizational security measures to help protect information about you from loss, theft, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. Our employees, representatives and agents will have access to your Personal Information as necessary for the purposes described in this Policy.

Personal Information may be accessed by persons within our organization, or our third party service providers, who require such access to carry out the purposes indicated in this Policy, or such other purposes as may be permitted or required by the applicable law. 

However, while we have taken steps to help protect your Personal Information, we cannot fully eliminate security risks associated with Personal Information. No security measures can provide absolute protection. We cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us. 

We may Transfer Personal Information Outside of your Country

Some or all of the Personal Information we collect may be stored or processed outside of your jurisdiction of residence, including in the United States. Your Personal Information may be processed and stored in the United States and the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of the United States may be able to obtain disclosure of your Personal Information through a lawful order made where the information is located.

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By providing us with Personal Information, for users outside of the UK and EEA, you understand and expressly agree that we may transfer your information to another country, including the US. If you are a user in the UK or EEA, please refer to our section “Transfer of Personal Information Outside UK and EEA”.  If you do not agree to the transfer of your Personal Information outside of your jurisdiction (including to the US), as described here, do not provide us with Personal Information.

This Policy does not apply to third party sites

Our Services may contain links to websites owned by third parties. These other websites may have their own privacy policies and terms and conditions that are not governed by this Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any website(s) owned and operated by third parties. Other websites may collect and treat information collected differently, so we encourage you to carefully read and review the privacy policy for each website you visit.  Any links from our Services to other websites, or references to products, services or publications other than those of MELD, do not imply the endorsement or approval of such websites, products, services or publications by MELD.

Access and Correction

You may request access to your Personal Information and to request a correction if you believe it is inaccurate. 

Please contact us by e-mail at legal@meld.com if you would like to exercise either of these options. Please note that in some circumstances we may not be able to allow you to access certain Personal Information, for example if it contains Personal Information of other persons, or for legal reasons. We may require you to verify your identity before allowing you to access your Personal Information.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Policy, please contact our Legal Department at legal@meld.com.