Terms and conditions

1. Who we are and acceptance

This site is operated by Bitease, a project in development (“Bitease”, “we”). By using it you accept these terms and the Privacy policy.

2. What Bitease is and its current status

Bitease is a non-custodial smart-contract protocol, in development, to buy bitcoin in fixed installments in digital dollars. It is not available yet. This site only informs, lets you simulate and runs a waitlist.

3. The waitlist is not an offer

• Joining the list is not a credit application, an offer or the acceptance of a contract. It does not bind you, and it does not bind us to launch, to accept you as a user or to offer you any particular terms.
• Rates, terms, fees and other figures on the site are reference values and provisional. Actual terms are set in each protocol offer once it is available.
• The product may launch with different terms, may not be available in your country, or may not launch.

4. How the protocol would work

• A lender posts an offer in digital dollars (e.g. USDC) with its fixed annual rate, maximum term and minimum down payment. Each lender sets its rate, and it does not depend on your down payment.
• You put down a down payment. Down payment plus loan buy tokenized bitcoin (e.g. WBTC) at market price on a decentralized exchange.
• That bitcoin stays in a smart contract (the “vault”) as collateral until the last installment.
• You pay fixed installments in digital dollars (French amortization), every 30 days. With the last one you withdraw the bitcoin to your wallet.

Non-custodial: Bitease does not receive or hold your money or your bitcoin. You sign every transaction from your own wallet and are responsible for its keys. Blockchain transactions cannot be reversed.

Administration: the contract has an administrator (a multisig wallet). It can pause the opening of new purchases and offers; and, with a public 48-hour waiting period, change parameters for new purchases, change the adapter that executes exchange sales and withdraw funds from the protocol reserve. It cannot move the bitcoin in your purchase or change the terms of an open purchase. Payments, claims, liquidations and withdrawals never pause.

5. Liquidation risk: how it works

Your risk is measured by LTV: what you still owe (all pending installments with their future interest, plus protocol fees and the liquidation fee) divided by the value of your bitcoin per the price oracle. If bitcoin falls, LTV rises.

• Full liquidation: if LTV reaches 95%, anyone can execute the liquidation. There is no grace period, no prior notice and no margin call. All your bitcoin is sold on a decentralized exchange; the proceeds reserve all your pending installments (which the lender collects on their original dates) and fees, and any surplus is paid to you in digital dollars. You can lose your entire down payment and everything you paid.
• Automatic protection (preventive partial sale): in the Bitease app it is on by default and you can turn it off. If LTV reaches 88%, anyone can execute the sale of the part of your bitcoin needed to return to 80%. Proceeds prepay your next installments. With a 25–30% down payment, each sale can be around 40% of your bitcoin, and it can repeat if the price keeps falling. You end up with less bitcoin: if the price later rises, what was sold is not recovered. In a sharp crash the protection may not act in time and the purchase is liquidated anyway.
• Missed installment (partial liquidation): if you miss an installment, after a 3 days margin from the due date anyone can execute the sale of just enough bitcoin to cover that installment and its fees, including the executor's. The purchase stays open, with less bitcoin.
• Prepayments: you can prepay installments or pay everything off at any time. Prepaying lowers your LTV and your risk, but does not reduce interest, because the lender collects each installment on its original date.

The first months are the riskiest: at the start you owe almost everything. A bigger down payment or prepaying gives you more room. The simulator shows how far bitcoin can fall before each threshold, but it is an estimate, not a guarantee.

6. Fees and costs

• Interest: the fixed annual rate of the offer you take. The simulator uses 8% a year as a reference; it is not an offered rate.
• Origination fee: 0.5% of the loan, at opening. It goes to the protocol reserve.
• Protocol fee: 1% of each installment.
• Liquidation fee: 0.5% of the amount sold (minimum US$5, maximum 2%), paid to whoever executes the liquidation.
• Automatic protection fee: 0.25% of the amount sold, paid to whoever executes the sale.
• Network costs (gas) and exchange price difference (slippage), paid by you.
• Any applicable taxes are your responsibility.

All these values are provisional until launch. Those in force when you open a purchase are fixed for that purchase.

7. Other risks you need to know

• Volatility: bitcoin can fall a lot, very fast (in March 2020 it fell about 50% in two days).
• Smart contracts: the software may have bugs or vulnerabilities and be attacked, even if audited.
• Price oracle: the price comes from an oracle (Chainlink). It can lag (the contract accepts prices up to [MAXIMUM PRICE AGE] old), fail or be manipulated, and liquidation can happen at a price different from what you see elsewhere.
• Tokenized bitcoin: WBTC or a similar token depends on its issuer and custodian. If it loses its peg to bitcoin, is frozen or fails, your collateral can be worth less or nothing, which can trigger a liquidation.
• Digital dollars: the stablecoin issuer (e.g. Circle for USDC) can freeze funds, or the stablecoin can lose its peg to the dollar.
• Liquidity: in sharp falls, the sale on the decentralized exchange can fill at a worse price than the oracle's.
• Blockchain and wallet: congestion, high network costs, network failures, key loss or fraud (phishing).
• Regulatory and tax: rule changes may limit or prevent the use of the protocol.

There is no deposit insurance or guarantee of any kind. Bitease is not a bank or a financial institution authorized by Argentina's Central Bank (BCRA). [CNV VASP REGISTRATION STATUS]. The protocol reserve is limited and guarantees no one.

8. If you lend

Lending on Bitease is not a term deposit and has no guaranteed return. The protocol is designed to pay you each installment on its date even if the buyer is liquidated, but if bitcoin falls so fast that the sale is not enough, the (limited) protocol reserve covers first and you can lose part of your capital. While no one takes your offer, your money earns nothing. Your claim is recorded as a transferable NFT, with no promise that a market to sell it exists.

9. No advice

Nothing on this site is financial, investment, legal or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or lend. Simulations are illustrative, use provisional parameters and a bitcoin price from public sources. Before deciding, assess your situation and, if needed, consult a professional.

10. Who can use it

• You must be 18 or older and have legal capacity to contract.
• You may not reside or be located in countries or regions subject to comprehensive sanctions, or be on sanctions lists (e.g. UN, OFAC or European Union).
• You may not use it for money laundering, terrorist financing or any illegal activity.
• You must comply with the laws of your country. The protocol may not be available in some jurisdictions, and we may request identity verification where the law requires it.

11. Use of the site

Do not use the site to submit false or third-party data, automate signups or disrupt it. The brand, texts and design belong to Bitease. Links to third-party sites do not mean we endorse them.

12. Liability

To the extent permitted by law, and without affecting your rights under Argentine Consumer Protection Law 24,240, Bitease is not liable for failures of blockchains, oracles, token issuers, decentralized exchanges or third-party wallets, or for losses from bitcoin price volatility.

13. Changes

We may update these terms. You will see the date and version above. Changes do not affect the terms of purchases already open in the protocol.

14. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by the laws of the Argentine Republic. Any dispute will be heard by [JURISDICTION AND COURTS]. If you are a consumer, you may also file claims before the courts of your domicile and the competent consumer protection authority.

15. Contact

Write to us through the waitlist form.