1. Why this information is important
This document sets out the terms and conditions for your Bitech’s personal account (your account) and its related services. It also sets out other important things that you need to know.
These terms and conditions, along with the fees page and any other terms and conditions that apply to our services, form a legal agreement (the "agreement", or the "terms") between:
● you, the account holder; and
● Us, Bitech Exchange
The main way we provide our services is through the Bitech’s mobile app. However, we provide our services in other ways too, like through web pages, other apps, and other means. These terms apply whenever and however you access our services. This means they apply to all the ways you can access a particular service, even if we refer to the service being accessed through a specific means in these terms.
2. What type of account is my Bitech Account?
Your account is a 'virtual' account that holds your e-money. It may hold e-money in different currencies at the same time.
E-money is an electronic alternative to cash. If you or someone else gives us money in one currency, we'll issue an equivalent value of e-money in that currency. We'll store the e-money in your account, and other people will accept it as payment. In these terms, we use ‘money’ to refer to e-money.
3. Can I open a Bitech account?
You must be 18 or over to open a Bitech account. If you are under 18 and we let you have a Bitech account or any other service, we'll let you know any special terms and conditions that apply.
When you ask us to open an account, we or someone acting for us will ask for information about you and where the money you will put in your account comes from. We do this for a number of reasons, including to check your credit score and identity, and to meet our legal and regulatory requirements. Our Customer Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your information for these and other purposes. When we have the information we need, we will open your account.
You can’t:
● open more than one Bitech Personal account;
● open a new Bitech Personal account if we've previously closed a Bitech Personal account in your name.
Please keep your details up to date and let us know immediately if any information you've given us changes. If we discover that any of your information is incorrect, we will update it.
To meet our legal and regulatory requirements we might sometimes need to ask for more information about you (for example, if your spending increases). Please provide this information quickly so that there is no disruption to your account or our services.
4. How do I get information on payments into and out of my account?
You can check all payments into and out of your account through the Bitech Exchange app. We will not make any changes to your account information. It will be available to you through the app while you are a customer. If you need to keep a copy of the information after your account is closed, you will need to download it while your account is still active. You can download this information from the app at any time.
We will send a notification to your mobile device each time a payment goes into or out of your account. You can turn off these notifications, but if you do, you should regularly check your payments on the app. It's important that you know what payments go into and out of your account, so we recommend that you do not turn off notifications.
We'll usually communicate with you through the Bitech Exchange app.
This is how we will provide account information and tell you about any fraud, or suspected fraud, relating to your account. It is also how we will tell you if there is a security threat to your account. Make sure you regularly check the Bitech Exchange app for this information.
To help keep your account safe, download the latest software for your mobile device and the latest version of the Bitech Exchange app as soon as they are available.
We may also communicate with you by text message or email, so you should regularly check your text messages and email account.
We will usually communicate with you in English.
5. How do I close my account?
You can close your account, and so end this agreement, at any time by letting us know. You can do this through the Bitech app, by writing to us at our head office or by emailing us at support@bitechexchange.com.
If you, or we, close your account, we will give you at least 60 days to withdraw the money we hold for you (unless there are reasons preventing the transfer). This means any ordinary payment limits, and fees, will also still apply. For example, any limits on the minimum value of payments that apply while your account is open will also apply when your account is closed.
After these 60 days, you will no longer be entitled to any free payments that your plan entitled you to while your account was open. For any transfer you request, we charge our standard fee, subject to a minimum of $1.
If you want us to send you money in a different currency than the currency we're holding for you, we will convert the currency using the rate that applies at the time, and take our usual fee, before sending the money to you.
If your account has been temporarily restricted, we may not be able to close your account until we have completed our enquiries.
6. What happens after my account is closed?
We'll hold back enough money to cover any payments that you approved before your account was closed. You'll also still owe us any money that you owed us while your account was open.
Once your account is closed you can withdraw your money in any currency you hold in your account at that point by transferring it to another bank account. If you need to carry out a currency exchange prior to withdrawing, you will only be able to convert the money into your base currency (the currency of the country you live in).
7. How is my money protected?
When we become aware of a payment for your account, or you add money to it, we issue the equivalent value of e-money to your account immediately.
When we receive that payment or the money you add, we quickly either:
● place it into one of the dedicated client money bank accounts that we hold with large commercial or central banks (client money accounts keep your money separated from our own money, and the types of banks we can use are set by regulations); or
● invest it in low-risk assets that have been approved by our regulator, which are also kept in dedicated client accounts with financial institutions.
We call this "safeguarding".
The time at which we receive a payment for you or receive the money you add depends how we receive it:
● We only become aware of inbound bank transfers when they arrive in our bank account. When we receive these transfers, we issue the e-money to your account straight away.
● When you add money to the Bitech Exchange app (for example, by using your stored card, Apple or Google pay, or some other payment methods), we know the payment is coming before we actually receive it, so we issue the e-money to your account straight away. However, we don’t safeguard the money for these payments until we actually receive it. If it’s been more than five business days since we issued you the e-money but the payment still hasn't arrived, we safeguard the money for you, using our own money, anyway.
A business day is a day other than a weekend or bank holiday in England.
We keep safeguarding your money until you pay it out. This happens when you spend or withdraw it using your Revolut card, send it to another bank account or Revolut user, or spend it in any other way. What would happen in an insolvency?
Safeguarding helps protect you if we were to become insolvent. If that were to happen, you (and all our other customers) would be paid out your e-money balances from our client money bank accounts. This process would be handled by an insolvency practitioner, not by us. However, safeguarding regulations make sure that once any costs related to an insolvency are paid out you will be paid from our client money accounts before anyone else.
8. Keeping your Exchange account safe
We do everything we can to keep your money safe. We ask you to do the same by keeping your security details safe.
This means you shouldn't keep your security details near the device you use to access your account, and you should disguise or protect them if you write them down or store them. Don’t share your security details with anyone other than an open-banking provider or third-party provider who is acting in line with regulatory requirements. We've explained more about open-banking providers and third-party providers in section 10.
Sometimes it's easy to forget to take the steps you should take to keep your money safe. Here are a few tips:
● make sure you close your app (or any other means of accessing your account) when you're not using it;
● keep the devices you use to access your Bitech account secure;
● keep the factors used to log into your account (like your email account and sim card or phone number) secure and don't let other people use them; and
● download the latest software for the device you are accessing Bitech from and the latest version of the Bitech Exchange app as soon as they are available.
9. Are there any restrictions on using my Bitech account?
Please act reasonably and responsibly when using your Bitech Exchange account, or any service we provide to you under it.
You cannot use your Bitec account in the following ways, either directly or indirectly:
● for illegal purposes (for example, committing fraud);
● in a way that we reasonably believe might harm our ability to provide our services;
only to send money to and receive money from a card account;
● to control or use a Bitech account that’s not yours;
● to allow anyone else to have access to or use your account;
● to abuse, exploit or get around any usage restrictions set by a service provider your Bitech account is registered with.
● Please also act in a respectful way towards us and our support staff – we're here to help you.
10. Adding money to my account
You can add money to your account using a card registered with us (we call this your "stored card"), bank transfer or by cash. Your stored card must be in your name.
When you add money by bank transfer, you must use the account details stated in the Bitech Exchange app. When we receive the money we will add the equivalent value of e-money to your account. Make sure you follow the prompts from the app carefully to avoid any delays.
The account details you must use to add money to your account will depend on the currency of the money you are adding. For example, if you want to add money to your account in Naira (N), you must use the ‘Nigerian Naira account’ details stated in the Revolut app.
If you use a stored card or a bank account that is in one currency to add money to your account in another currency, your bank or card provider may charge a fee.
When you add money to your account by cash, you must follow the instructions, and comply with any limits, set out in the app.
Sometimes we might limit how much you can receive into or pay from your account, or how much you can withdraw or spend using your Revolut Card. We might also limit the value of currency exchange you can carry out at any one time or over a period of time. These limits can change from time to time.
It's important that any payment to your account is made in the currency of your account. Otherwise, the payment will be converted to the currency of your account. This means that your account might be credited with more or less than you expected. We won't be responsible for any losses if this happens.
We’ll always make sure you can add money without fees. However, some ways of adding money in some regions involve a cost to us. Where they do, we may pass that cost on to you as a fee. You will always be told what this fee is in advance.
11. What exchange rate do you use?
The exchange rate we use is set out in our Fees Page. You can always see our live exchange rate in the Bitech Exchange app.
All Standard and Plus users can make a set amount of exchanges at this rate every month. The set amount depends on what your base currency is and is set out on our Fees Page. Standard and Plus users who exchange more than this amount start paying a fair usage fee (but Premium, Metal and Ultra customers do not).
Once we've converted a currency, your transaction history in the Revolut app will show the exchange rate we used too.
The exchange rate may change between the time you told us you wanted to exchange currency and the time we actually carry out the conversion. This means that if you ask us to exchange currency, you may receive a little more or less back than what you had expected.
We’re not responsible if you lose any money as a result of a currency exchange.
We’re not responsible if you’re charged any fees or a different rate by someone else for a currency conversion either. This is because we don’t charge those fees or set that different rate. For example, imagine you're travelling overseas and when you pay your bill at a restaurant you agree (on the card machine) to pay in your home currency instead of the local currency of the restaurant. When you do, you’re asking the restaurant (or their bank) to convert the currency for you, and they may charge a fee or use a different rate.
12. Fees for making or receiving payments
We try to keep our payments free. However, sometimes we have to charge a fee to be able to provide a service. Where we do, we aim to keep our fees low. We’ll always show you any fee that applies to a
payment in the app before you make the payment, and you can also see our current fees on our Fees page
You will not be charged any fees by us for receiving any payments electronically. You will not be charged any fees by us for sending local payments in your base currency either.
We may charge you for adding money to your account by cash. Where we do, we’ll always show you any fees in the app in advance, and you can also see our current fees on our Fees Page
Other banks involved, such as the bank of the person you are paying or intermediary banks (meaning banks that help transfer the money between other banks) might sometimes take their fees from the payment you're sending or receiving. This could mean that you or the person you are paying receives less than expected. For example, you could only receive $90 from someone who has sent you $100 because the other person’s bank has charged a $10 fee.
If you make a card transfer, you will also be charged a fee. This fee will depend on the amount you are sending and where you are sending it to. This fee will be calculated in real time and shown to you in the app before you make the payment.
13. What happens if someone steals from my account?
If you think someone has stolen from your account, let us know as soon as possible through the Bitech Exchange app (and no later than 13 months after the money was taken). We'll pay the money back into your account if:
you couldn't have known that your security details or Revolut Card were at risk of being misused;
● the payment happened because someone we're responsible for made a mistake;
● the law required us to make you follow certain prompts when you instructed us to make the payment and we didn't do this.
We'll also pay back any charges you had to pay as a result of the payment being taken from your account.
We won't refund any money if you've acted fraudulently, or you intentionally or carelessly failed to keep your security details safe (unless you told us about this before the payment was taken from your account). For example, we won't refund you if you gave someone your Bitech account PIN and they made a payment using your account without your knowledge.
14. When we might block your account
The safety of your money is important to us. We might prevent you from making payments from your account if we're reasonably concerned about its security or that it might be used fraudulently or without your permission.
We'll tell you through the Revolut app before, or as soon as possible after, we block your Revolut app. We'll also let you know why we've done it (unless it would reduce your or our security or it would be unlawful).
15. When could you suspend or close my account?
We may close or suspend your account immediately in exceptional circumstances. Exceptional circumstances include, for example the following:
● if we have good reason to suspect that you are behaving fraudulently or otherwise criminally;
● if you haven't given us (or someone acting on our behalf) any information we need, or we have good reason to believe that information you have provided is incorrect or not true;
● if you've broken these terms and conditions in a serious or persistent way and you haven't put the matter right within a reasonable time of us asking you to;
● if we have good reason to believe that your use of the Bitech Exchange app is harmful to us or our software, systems or hardware;
● if we have good reason to believe that you continuing to use your account could damage our reputation or goodwill;
● If you behave in a disrespectful or abusive way to our Support or other staff, for example by harassing or insulting staff members or using offensive language while communicating with them;
● if we have asked you to repay money you owe us and you have not done so within a reasonable period of time;
if you've been declared bankrupt; or
● if we have to do so under any law, regulation, court order or ombudsman’s instructions.
If we close your account in exceptional circumstances, you will only be able to exchange funds into your base currency, liquidate your trading account, sell any commodities, and send money via external bank transfer before the account is closed. You will not be able to credit the account, make any card payments, withdraw money at an ATM, or send money to other Revolut accounts. Inbound payments will be rejected and returned to the sender.
We may also decide to close or suspend your account for other reasons. We would contact you through the Revolut app at least two months before we do this.
Closing your account and ending the agreement may also end any other agreements you have with us or through us. You can get more information through the Revolut app or by contacting us.
16. We can change these terms
We'll only change these terms and conditions for the following reasons:
● if we think it will make them easier to understand or more helpful to you;
● to reflect the way our business is run, particularly if the change is needed because of a change in the way any financial system or technology is provided;
● to reflect legal or regulatory requirements that apply to us;
● to reflect changes in the cost of running our business; or
● because we are changing or introducing new services or products that affect our existing services or products covered by these terms and conditions.
If we add a new product or service that doesn't change the terms and conditions of your account, we may add the product or service immediately and let you know before you use it.
Otherwise, we'll give you two months' notice through the Bitech Exchange app before we make any change. We'll assume you're happy with the change unless you tell us that you want to close your account before the change is made.
17. When you might be responsible for our losses
You may be responsible to us for certain losses.
If you have broken these terms and conditions, and this has caused us to suffer a loss, the following will apply:
● you will be responsible for any losses we suffer as a result of your action (we will try to keep the losses to a minimum);
if your actions result in us losing profits, you may also be responsible for those losses. You won't be responsible if this would mean that we are compensated twice for the same loss; and
● you will also be responsible for any reasonable legal costs that arise as a result of our losses.
18. How to make a complaint
If you’re unhappy with our service, we’ll try to put things right
We always do our best, but we realise that things sometimes go wrong. If you have a complaint, please contact us.
If you'd just like to speak to someone about an issue that's concerning you, please contact us through the Bitech Exchange app. We can usually settle matters quickly through the app. You’ll probably need to give us the information below. you can email us at support@bitechexchange.com.
You’ll need to tell us:
● your name;
● the phone number and email address associated with your account;
● when the problem arose; and
● how you'd like us to put the matter right.
We'll look into your complaint and respond to you by email. We will communicate with you in English, unless we tell you otherwise.
19. Data protection and confidentiality
We need to collect information about you to provide you with the services under the agreement. By entering into the agreement, you acknowledge that we will gather, process and store your personal information for the purpose of providing our services to you. This doesn’t affect any rights and obligations you or we have under data protection law.
Some of the features we make available in the Bitech Exchange app are social in nature. This means that other customers may be able to see limited information about you. For example, if a customer searches for your username in the app, they will see your full name and profile picture.
By entering into this agreement, you acknowledge that limited information about you may be accessible to other Bitech Exchange customers depending on your privacy settings. You can change your privacy settings in the app at any time.
20. Some legal bits and pieces
Only you and we have any rights under the agreement.
The agreement is personal to you and you cannot transfer any rights or obligations under it to anyone else.
We will only transfer any of your and our rights or obligations under the agreement if we reasonably think that this won't have a significant negative effect on your rights under these terms and conditions or we need to do so to keep to any legal or regulatory requirement. When we transfer rights and obligations we call this ‘novation’. When we only transfer rights, we call this ‘assignment’.
The Bitech Exchange app displays Google Maps features and content, which includes intellectual property that doesn’t belong to us. For this reason, the Google Maps/Google Earth Additional Terms of Service (maps.google.com/help/terms_maps.html) and Google Privacy Policy
(www.google.com/policies/privacy/) apply to your use of the Google Maps features and content.
If you have broken the agreement between you and us and we don't enforce our rights, or we delay in enforcing them, this will not prevent us from enforcing those or any other rights at a later date.
Bitech Exchange is powered by Smarttrio Technologies, which is a company registered under the corporate act law, by CAC Nigeria.