Updated on December 4th, 2024

General

The following terminology applies to these Terms & Conditions: "Delegator", “You” and “Your”, “Client” refers to you, the person accessing this website and accepting the delegation service's terms and conditions. "H2O Nodes", "Validator", "Validation Service", “Service”, "Baker", "We" and "Us", refers to the delegation service. Any use of the above terminology or other words in the singular, plural, capitalisation and/or he/she or they, are taken as interchangeable and therefore as referring to the same. Once an individual accesses the Website, starts using the Website functionality or any other H2O Nodes services, but not limited to, providing or submitting any information to Us, an individual gives consent and agrees with these Terms & Conditions.

Disclaimer - Exclusions and Limitations

The information on this website is provided on an "as is" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, this Delegation Service: excludes all representations and warranties relating to this website and its contents or which is or may be provided by any affiliates or any other third party, including in relation to any inaccuracies or omissions in this website and/or the Delegation Service’s literature; and excludes all liability for damages arising out of or in connection with your use of this web site or any of its forwardings to network connected delegation services. This includes, without limitation, direct loss, loss of business or profits (whether or not the loss of such profits was foreseeable, arose in the normal course of things or you have advised the Delegation Service of the possibility of such potential loss), damage caused to your computer, computer software, systems and programs and the data thereon or any other direct or indirect, consequential and incidental damages.

Regulatory Compliance

You, as a Client, must warrant and represent that your Service usage will stay compliant with all applicable regulations and laws. You are completely responsible for understanding whether or not the Service is suitable for you in respect of such data privacy laws and regulations as GLBA, GDPR, similar or any other applicable laws. In case you use our Service and you are the subject to the aforementioned laws or regulations, then H2O Nodes is not liable if the Platform doesn't meet those required criteria. Moreover, you take complete responsibility for any other laws and regulations in your jurisdiction whether they restrict or allow you to use such services as H2O Nodes. H2O Nodes is not liable for any of your actions that violate your laws in your jurisdiction through the usage of the Service.

Representations, Warranties, and Our Disclaimer 

• Each party represents and warrants to the other that they:

  • Are duly organized, validly existing, and in good standing under its jurisdiction of organization and has the right to enter into these Terms of Service; 

  • That the execution, delivery, and performance of these Terms of Service and the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby are within their corporate powers and have been duly authorized by all necessary corporate action, and constitute a valid and binding agreement to which they are bound;

  • They have the full power, authority, and right to perform the obligations and rights hereunder; 

  • Their performance under these Terms of Service shall comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations, including, without limitation, all applicable national and international laws, regulations, notices, and guidelines relating to information privacy;

• You further represent and warrant to us:

  • That you have obtained and shall obtain all necessary rights and consents to provide us with the Your Content including, with respect to any personal information contained therein, the express consent from any applicable individuals to disclose and transfer such information to us for the purposes contemplated herein;

  • That Your Content and our Service(s) do not and shall not infringe, misappropriate, or otherwise violate the rights of any third party including, without limitation, intellectual property rights;

  • That you are not located in a country subject to an embargo instated by United States (“U.S.”) Government, or that has been designated by the U.S. Government as a “terrorist supporting” country or similar list, nor similar iterations issued by the European Union (“EU”); and

  • You may not use any of our Service(s) if you are the subject of sanctions or of sanctions consistent with the laws of the EU or U.S. as imposed by the governments of the country where you are using our Service(s). You must comply with all EU, U.S., or other export and re-export restrictions that may apply to goods, software, technology, and services.

Services

H2O Nodes offers services, acting as node operator or Validator on various Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain networks, which allow for the holders of applicable tokens to become Delegators. When delegating, Delegators stake the Tokens and delegate the voting powers attributable to such staked tokens to H2O Nodes acting as Validator. This allows H2O Nodes to participate in the governance of different PoS blockchains. All decisions made by H2O Nodes related to the PoS blockchains are exempt to any disputes from the delegators.

Rewards

In accordance with the terms of the applicable blockchain network, Delegators and the Validator may be entitled to rewards payable to them directly by the Network.

Non-custody

The Delegator may wish, from time to time and in its sole discretion, to delegate to H2O Nodes a certain amount of certain tokens, for H2O Nodes to act as Validator in connection therewith. Such Delegation shall not involve the transfer of any tokens from the Delegator to H2O Nodes or vice versa, and any delegated tokens shall at all times remain the property of, and under the control of the Delegator. The Delegator can unstake its tokens at any time from H2O Nodes’s Delegation service. Each PoS network has their own rules about the unbonding or lock-up period, meaning the tokens might not be unstaked instantly. H2O Nodes as a Validator has no control over this time period meaning the Delegator itself would bear any financial risk from price fluctuations. The Delegator acknowledges that he remains in full control of its keys, seed phrases, and should be the sole responsible for the security of its own digital assets. As a non-custodial service, H2O Nodes does not have any control over the tokens of the Delegators and will not be able to recover these tokens in case of theft or loss.

Governance

When acting as a Validator, H2O Nodes may get involved in protocol level governance decisions, and use the Delegated voting power to express its views on future network upgrades, grant fundings, and other decisions. When a client delegates tokens to the nodes owned by the company to earn rewards, the voting rights bound to the tokens are transferred to the company with no commitment requirement, and the voting power can be used by the sole discretion of the company. The delegator is still able to express its own view and join the community in debating governance proposals. Depending on networks, the Delegator is able to vote by himself and override H2O Nodes governance votes. We encourage all Delegators to also vote by themselves when possible. H2O Nodes cannot be held legally liable for protocol level decentralized governance votes and decisions.

Log Files

We use website usage data, including anonymised IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user actions, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. In addition, if you choose to use any product developed by H2O Nodes, your email and public wallet address might be collected. Additionally, for systems administration, detecting usage patterns and troubleshooting purposes, our web servers automatically log standard access information including browser type, access times/open mail, URL requested, and referral URL. This information is not shared with third parties and is used only within this Delegation Service on a need-to-know basis. Any individually identifiable information related to this data will never be used in any way different to that stated above without your explicit permission.

Ownership and Intellectual Property

H2O Nodes owns all proprietary rights in the Service which include the domain and all of its subdomains (“www.h2o-nodes.com”), such marketing materials as logos, color schemes, design, and also, but not limited to, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, service marks, development practices, proprietary software, and other intellectual property rights. You as a Client are obligated to respect all intellectual property of H2O Nodes mentioned above, which are protected by law.

Use License

You shall not perform any unlawful actions against H2O Nodes, that may create a huge load on our infrastructure interfering the normal work of the Service; attempt to bypass or circumvent any security mechanisms, gain unauthorized access to any type of our computer systems, conduct any activities that may disrupt the work of the Service, run malicious code such as worms, trojans, cryptojacking software and other types of the viruses against the Service, including, but not limited to, computer networks or computer systems. It's also prohibited to launch any software ("crawlers", "spiders", "auto-responders") or devices on the Service, that will automatically or manually collect any data on the Website, or will spam on the Service. The “Use License” automatically voids in case an Individual violates the aforementioned rules. In case a User or any other individual has damaged any part of the Service due to any type of the cyber attack, then this case will be reviewed and provided to Law Enforcement which will act accordingly in this situation.

Client Rights And Obligations

You as a Client of the Service must cover all applicable taxes associated with payouts associated with the services performed and rewards received by the protocol, which may be the subject of the official taxation process in different jurisdictions. In this case, H2O Nodes is not responsible for any Client taxes that were imposed by different legislation systems. If you want to initiate the withdrawal process, then you have to wait until the unbonding or lock-up period whose length strictly depends on a particular Blockchain network. It’s important to mention that you won’t be able to withdraw your staked cryptocurrency before the end of the unbonding or lock-up period.

Experimental Technologies

H2O Nodes operates Validation Services on Proof-of-Stake blockchain protocols and infrastructure for a wide range of blockchain networks. Blockchains, and consensus algorithms such as Proof-of-Stake among others, are experimental technologies. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks are highly risky to invest in but also to interact with. There are considerable risks in the technology and mechanics of each network. You, as a Client, understands that H2O Nodes is not responsible in case of blockchain protocol fault, bugs, hacks or other failure. H2O Nodes does not provide any investment, financial, legal, regulatory, accounting, tax, or similar advice. H2O Nodes is an agnostic infrastructure provider operating for a wide range of blockchain networks, and You should always conduct your own due diligence when buying cryptocurrencies, interact with the services of a blockchain network, and using our Service. Additionally, You acknowledge that H2O Nodes is not part of the development teams of blockchain protocols, and as such does not take part in the development of the code and mechanics of the networks.

Notification of Changes

H2O Nodes reserves the right to change these conditions from time to time as it sees fit and your continued use of the site will signify your acceptance of any adjustment to these terms. If there are any changes to our privacy policy, we will announce that these changes have been made on our home page and on other key pages on our site. You are therefore advised to re-read this statement on a regular basis. These terms and conditions form part of the Agreement between the Delegator and ourselves. Your accessing of this website and/or undertaking of a delegation indicates your understanding, agreement to and acceptance, of the Disclaimer Notice and the full Terms & Conditions contained herein.