Client Risk Disclosure Statement

HASHKEY MENA FZE (“HMF”)
CLIENT RISK DISCLOSURES STATEMENT

 

Last updated on:  24 April 2025 

All terms used in this Risk Disclosure Statement are defined in the Investor Business Terms and have the same construction as in the Investor Business Terms.

Please note that this Risk Disclosures Statement explains some principal risks but is not an exhaustive list of all possible risks. This statement does not explain how risks relate to your personal circumstances. Before entering into a Transaction, you should therefore be satisfied that you fully understand the precise nature of the Transaction, how it works, the extent of your exposure to risks and the potential losses that you could incur.

You should also read the relevant product specific terms, namely the Additional Terms, and the terms set out in the Investor Business Terms. This Risk Disclosures Statement also does not deal with issues of taxation or other legal consequences pertaining to any transactions which you enter into.

1. General Risk
Subscribing for any Digital Asset related products or services involves a high degree of risk. The value of Digital Assets may not be backed or supported by any government. As such, Digital Assets may suffer significant volatility in value. If you wish to trade Digital Asset related products, you should carefully read and understand the nature, terms and risk of the relevant Products and carefully consider the risk exposure. You must have the financial ability, sophistication, experience, tolerance, and willingness to bear the risks of any Digital Asset related products or services, and a potential total loss of the underlying assets. Digital Asset products and services are not suitable for all investors. Before acquiring a Digital Asset product or service, please carefully review your financial situation, experience and objectives for engaging in the transaction, ability to bear risks and other relevant circumstances to determine whether such products or services is suitable for you. You should consult professional advisors (including legal, tax, financial and accounting) as may be appropriate. By entering into any Transaction, you agree that you assume all the risk of your Transactions and that we will not be responsible for any losses you may suffer.

2. No personal advice or monitoring
We do not provide personal advice in relation to HMF Services. We sometimes provide factual information, information about transaction procedures and information about the potential risks. No communication or information provided to you by HMF is intended as, or shall be considered or construed as, investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, legal advice, or any other sort of advice. You are solely responsible for determining whether any investment, investment strategy or related transaction is appropriate for you according to your personal investment objectives, financial circumstances and risk tolerance.

3. Issuer Default Risks
Unless expressly stated otherwise, HMF does not issue Digital Assets. Digital Assets are issued by third parties. Investors should read the applicable terms, information and risk disclosures provided by the applicable issuers carefully before entering into any Transaction. Investors should note that the offering document or product information provided by the issuer have not been subject to scrutiny by any regulatory body.

For any Digital Assets authorised by a regulator, investors should note that authorisation does not imply any official recommendation or endorsement of the asset by such regulator, nor does it guarantee the commercial merits of such asset or its performance.

In the event that a Digital Asset issuer becomes insolvent and defaults on their issued products, investors will be considered as unsecured creditors and will have no preferential claims to any assets held by the issuer. Investors should therefore pay close attention to the financial strength and credit worthiness of the Digital Asset issuers and conduct their own assessment on the potential of their project. Since Digital Assets are not legal tender and Digital Asset products are not backed by assets or any government and authorities, in the event of issuer bankruptcy or ceasing of operations, their Digital Assets issued may no longer have any value and investors can lose their entire investment. We make no representations or warranties about whether any Digital Asset will always continue to trade on the HashKey Platform. Any Digital Asset is subject to delisting without prior notice in the sole discretion of us. Investors should seek independent professional advice before making any investment decision.

For the avoidance of doubt, Digital Asset issuers or projects with affiliations with HMF are subject to the same listing requirements as third party issuers. The risks set out under this subheading or otherwise under this Client Risk Disclosure Statement shall continue to apply in the trading of such Digital Assets and investors should conduct no less due diligence on such Digital Assets than they would for other Digital Assets.

4. Token Diligence
We do not provide any guarantees or endorsements regarding any listed Digital Assets. The information provided on our website and/or our trading platform is for general information and education purposes only and we make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of such information and it is not a recommendation to purchase or sell any listed Digital Asset. You should not consider such information as investment advice. It is your responsibility to assess the quality, legitimacy and value of any Digital Assets. We advise you to exercise caution and perform your own independent research and due diligence before engaging in any trading activities.

5. Liquidity and Conversion Risks
Where digital asset transactions are denominated in particular Digital Assets or fiat currencies (if and where applicable) other than the primary reference asset of the investors, or where the investors convert Digital Assets upon carrying out a Transaction, there is a risk of the exchange markets moving against the investor, resulting in maturity or any earlier dealing the net proceeds may be significantly less than the initial amount in your primary reference asset, and any income or gains may be entirely negated.

The value of a Digital Asset may be derived, among other things, from the continued willingness of market participants to exchange fiat currency (if and where applicable) for that Digital Asset, this means that the value of a particular Digital Asset may decline, or be completely and permanently lost should the market for that Digital Asset disappear. Investors should further note that there is no assurance that a market that existed for a particular Digital Asset will continue to exist in the future, or that a person who accepts a Digital Asset as payment today will continue to do so in the future.

Liquidity risk is the risk of losses attributable to a lack of liquidity (for example very few active market participants) in a particular market. This is usually indicated by wide bid / offer spreads and very few transactions being carried out in a particular product or market. The risk is that changes in the underlying market price may be infrequent but very large, and that it is not possible to unwind or transfer a particular transaction in a timely manner, at near the price the investor had expected, or at all. Such liquidity risk in an asset may be caused by the absence of buyers, limited buy/sell activity or lack of or underdeveloped secondary markets for certain Digital Assets. Investors should note that there is no assurance that a person who accepts a Digital Asset as payment, will continue to do so in the future.

Investors may also suffer loss as a result of depreciation of the value of the fiat currency (if and where applicable) paid as a result of foreign exchange controls imposed by the country issuing the foreign currency. Repayment or payment of amounts due to the investor may be delayed or prevented by exchange controls or other actions imposed by governmental or regulatory bodies over currencies which they control or regulate.

6. Market risk
Digital Asset trading venues are relatively new and, in most cases, largely unregulated. They are typically not subject to the same robust regulation as trading platforms in traditional financial markets, and are not typically required to protect customers to the same extent that regulated securities exchanges or futures exchanges are required. Digital asset trading platforms may therefore be more exposed to theft, fraud, failure, security breaches, market manipulation and insider dealing, compared to established, regulated exchanges for securities, derivatives and other currencies. In particular, some digital asset trading venues have collapsed or closed due to the above issues. As a result, the prices of Digital Assets may be subject to larger and/or more frequent sudden decline than assets traded on more traditional exchanges.

7. Market liquidity Risks
In setting the prices, spreads, and other features of a Digital Asset related product, HMF may take into account the market conditions of the relevant Digital Assets which may change significantly in a short period of time. Due to market conditions or other circumstances, you may not be able to sell your holding in a Digital Asset as quickly as you would like. HMF is not liable for any loss that you may suffer to the extent that you cannot sell your product due to issues arising from the market liquidity of a Digital Asset.

8. Volatility Risks
The volatility and unpredictability of the price of Digital Assets relative to other digital Assets or fiat currencies (if and where applicable) may result in significant losses over a short period of time. Such fluctuations could affect the price of any Digital Assets. Digital Assets may decrease in value or lose all of its value due to various factors including discovery of wrongful conduct, market manipulation on trading, lending or other dealing platforms, change to the nature or properties of the Digital Asset, governmental or regulatory activity, legislative changes, suspension or cessation of support for a Digital Assets or other exchanges or service providers, public opinions, or other factors outside of our control. Technical advancements, as well as broader economic and political factors, may cause the value of Digital Assets to change significantly over a short period of time. Digital Assets are highly risky and investors should exercise caution when trading any Digital Assets.

9. Trading Suspension Risks
During the suspension of trading of any Digital Assets, investors and potential investors cannot buy and sell units on the trading platform. In terms of providing a fair and orderly market with regard to the interests of investors, the trading platform may suspend trading whenever it deems appropriate. If trading is suspended, the subscription and redemption of such Digital Assets may also be suspended. It may also be difficult or impossible to liquidate a position in the Digital Assets under certain circumstances. Certain Airdrops, Forks or Network Events may occur rapidly and affect our ability to conduct a Transaction. Information relating to such events may be difficult to ascertain ahead of time and may be subject to limited oversight by any third party who is capable of intervening to stabilise the network.

10. Not a Bank Deposit under Applicable Laws
Any fiat currencies (if and where applicable) or Digital Assets held by us for your benefit are not held as “deposits” and are not eligible for any external investor compensation, customer asset protection, private deposit insurance protection or other protection programmes of a similar nature. For the avoidance of doubt, HBML is not regulated by the UAE Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority in respect of the foregoing.

11. Jurisdiction Risks
Residents, Tax residents or persons having a relevant connection with certain jurisdictions are excluded from carrying out Digital Asset transactions. Changes in the investor’s place of domicile or the Applicable Laws may result in the investor violating legal or regulatory requirements of the applicable jurisdiction. The investor is responsible for ensuring that any digital asset transaction is, and remains lawful despite changes to Applicable Laws, the investor’s jurisdiction of residence and circumstances.

 

12. Country Risks
If a Digital Asset transaction is made in respect of Digital Assets issued by a party subject to foreign laws or transactions made on markets in other jurisdictions, including markets formally linked to a domestic market, recovery of the sums invested and any profits or gains may be reduced, delayed or prevented by exchange controls, debt moratorium or other actions imposed by the government or other official bodies. Before conducting any Digital Asset transaction, the investor should satisfy himself/herself as to the sufficiency of his understanding of any rules or laws relevant to the particular Digital Asset transactions.

Investors should note that their local regulatory authority will be unable to compel the enforcement of the rules of regulatory authorities or markets in other jurisdictions where the investor’s transactions have been effected. It is the sole responsibility of the investor to obtain independent advice about the different types of redress available in both the investor’s home jurisdiction and other relevant jurisdictions before starting to trade. If the investor’s jurisdiction of residence imposes restrictions on Digital Asset transactions, we may be required to discontinue your access to the Account, and may not be permitted to transfer any Digital Assets back to you or permit you to transfer Digital Assets from the Account to yourself or others, until such time as the regulatory environment permits us to do so.

13. Legal and Regulatory Risks
Legal and documentation risks include the risk that transactions and/or their related framework arrangements may not be legally enforceable or that the conduct of the parties violates applicable laws and regulations. You understand and acknowledge that the regulatory status of Digital Assets is currently unsettled, varies among jurisdictions and is subject to significant uncertainty. There is also legal uncertainty on whether Digital Assets can be regarded as “property” under the Applicable Laws. This may affect the nature and enforceability of your interest in such Digital Asset. Legislative and regulatory changes or actions relating to Digital Assets at a state or international level may adversely affect or restrict, as applicable, the use, transfer, exchange, and value of Digital Assets, as well as the provision of the Services. You are solely responsible for knowing and understanding how the laws applicable to you or your property, rights or assets or tax the Digital Assets you trade or the leverage you provide. Legislative and regulatory changes may occur quickly and without prior notice.

14. Regulatory Measures
Digital Assets may be overseen by the legal and regulatory authorities of a number of jurisdictions globally. We may receive notices, queries, warnings, requests or rulings from one or more authorities upon short notice, or may even be ordered to suspend or terminate any action in connection with any Digital Assets as a whole without prior notice. Furthermore, many aspects of the Digital Assets involve untested areas of law and regulation, and could be subject to new laws or regulations. Therefore, their legal and regulatory outcome in all relevant jurisdictions is not possible to predict. The planning, development, marketing, promotion, execution or otherwise of the Digital Assets may be seriously affected, hindered, postponed or terminated as a result of such new laws and/or regulations. Since regulatory policies can change with or without prior notice, any existing regulatory permissions for or tolerance of Digital Assets in any jurisdiction may be withdrawn without warning. Cryptographic-tokens and cryptocurrencies could be deemed from time to time as a commodity or virtual commodity, a digital asset or even as money, securities or currency in various jurisdictions and therefore the Digital Assets could be prohibited from being entered into, traded or held in certain jurisdictions pursuant to local regulations. In turn, the Digital Assets could be deemed to be a regulated or restricted product. There is no guarantee that the Digital Assets can maintain any particular legal or regulatory status in any particular jurisdiction at any time.

 

15. Risks Relating to Authorised Persons
There are substantial risks in allowing another person to trade or operate your Account, and it is possible that Instructions could be given by persons who are not properly authorised. You accept all of the risks of such an operation and irrevocably release us from all liabilities arising out of or in connection with such Instructions.

16. Digital Assets may be Complex Products
Digital Assets may be complex products by virtue that the terms, features and/or risk are not understood due to the complex structure, novelty and reliance on technological features. Investors should take steps to understand the nature of such complex products and the risks involved.

17. Commissions and Fees
The investor should obtain details of all fees, costs, charges, expenses and commissions (which are available on the Website (updated from time to time for which he/she will be liable before conducting any Digital Asset transaction. If any of the foregoing is unclear to the investor, it is the responsibility of the investor to clarify such fees, costs, charges, expenses and commissions before entering into the Digital Asset transaction.

The fees, costs, charges, expenses and commissions to be paid by the investor will vary depending on a variety of factors, including the nature of the investor’s relationship with HMF in relation to the relevant services, the transaction size, complexity and type of asset.

18. Tax Treatment and Accounting
Some Digital Asset transactions may be subject to the tax laws and regulations in an applicable jurisdiction. The tax treatment and accounting of Digital Assets is a largely untested area of law and practice that is subject to change. Tax treatment of Digital Assets may vary amongst jurisdictions. We may receive queries, notices, requests or summons from tax authorities and as a result may be required to furnish certain information about the Digital Asset transaction.

Among the accounting profession, there are no agreed standards and practices for how an auditor can perform assurance procedures to obtain sufficient audit evidence for the existence and ownership of the Digital Assets, and ascertain the reasonableness of the valuations.

You have sole responsibility for determining what taxes you might be liable to, how and when they apply, and meeting such tax obligations when transacting through HashKey’s services. It is you responsibility to report and pay any taxes that may arise from entering into Digital Asset Transaction using the Hashkey services. If you are unsure about the tax implications of your Digital Asset transactions, you should seek independent professional advice before carrying out a Digital Asset transaction.

19. Inflation Risks
Digital Assets may, either because of the inherent design of the Digital Assets or through Forks, Airdrops or Network Events, not be a fixed supply of assets. Where additional Digital Assets are created, their price may decline due to inflationary effects of the increased amount of total Digital Assets available.

20. Concentration Risks
At any point in time, one or more persons may directly or indirectly control significant portions of the total supply of any particular Digital Asset. Acting individually or in concert, these holders may have significant influence, and may be able to influence or cause Forks or Network Events which may have a detrimental effect on price, value or functionality of the Digital Assets. Network Participants may make decisions that are not in your best interest as a holder of Digital Assets.

21. Insolvency Risk
The insolvency or default of any exchanges or brokers involved with the Services and Products may lead to your trading positions being liquidated or closed out without your consent. In such circumstances where, for example, the exchange’s or broker’s assets are subject to insolvency proceedings, you may lose the assets that you have invested. HMF will use reasonable endeavours to notify you promptly of the occurrence of such insolvency.

22. Conflicts of Interest
We or other Digital Asset trading service providers may be acting as agents for you as well as acting as principals against you. We or other relevant service providers may facilitate the initial distribution of Digital Assets (such as, initial coin offerings), secondary market trading, or both, in manners similar to a traditional exchange, alternative trading system or securities broker. If these operations are not under the purview of any regulator, it would be difficult to detect, monitor and manage conflicts of interest. HMF has implemented rigorous conflict of interest procedures and policies to mitigate against customer harm.

23. Money-laundering risk
Digital Assets are generally transacted or held on an anonymous basis. In particular, Digital Asset trading platforms which allow conversions between Digital Assets and fiat currencies (if and where applicable) are inherently susceptible to higher risks of money laundering and terrorist financing. Digital Asset investments may be the subject of law enforcement action as a result of criminal activities and investors may not be able to recover any of their investments as a result.

24. Cryptographic Protection
Cryptography is evolving and there can be no guarantee of security at all times. Advancement in cryptography technologies and techniques, including but not limited to code cracking, the development of artificial intelligence and/or quantum computers, could be identified as risks to all cryptography-based and/or blockchain based systems including the underlying assets of the digital assets. The security of our trading platform cannot be guaranteed as the future of cryptography or security innovations is unpredictable.

25. Abandonment or Development Failure
Due to the technically complex nature of our trading platform, we could face difficulties from time to time that may be unforeseeable and/or unresolvable. Accordingly, the development of the trading platform could fail, terminate or be delayed at any time for any reason (including but not limited to a lack of funds). Development failure or termination may render the Digital Asset not transferable, not exercisable, and/or obsolete.

26. Loss of Private Key is Permanent and Irreversible
Investors should note that Digital Assets not received nor held by HMF and/or HashKey Xpert Limited in your Account is the investor’s sole responsibility, and that the investor alone is responsible for securing his/her private key for any address with respect to such Digital Assets. Any loss of control of the private key by the investor will permanently and irreversibly deny the investor access to such Digital Assets and a means of proving their ownership in the Digital Assets. Neither HMF nor any other person will be able to retrieve or protect the Digital Assets not held by HMF and/or HashKey Xpert Limited in your Account. Once lost, the investor will not be able to transfer such Digital Assets to any other address or wallet. This means that the investor will also not be able to realize any value or utility that the Digital Assets may hold now or in future.

27. Cyber-attacks and Fraudulent Activity, including Theft of Digital Assets on the Trading Platform
There may be attempts to steal Digital Assets on the trading platform. The nature of Digital Assets exposes the investor to an increased risk of fraud or cyber-attack. Digital Assets, the investor’s Account, any service provided by HashKey Exchange, and the Website may be targeted by malicious persons who may attempt to steal Digital Assets or fiat currencies (if and where applicable), or otherwise intervene in a Digital Asset transaction or any service provided by HashKey Exchange. This includes (but is not limited to) interventions by way of distributed denial of service, sybil attacks, phishing, social engineering, hacking, smurfing, malware, double spending, majority-mining, consensus-based or other mining attacks, misinformation campaigns; Forks; and spoofing.

These malicious persons may target an investor in an attempt to steal any asset held by the investor, or to claim any asset that the investor may have purchased. This may involve unauthorised access to your Account, the investor’s private keys, addresses, passwords, email or social media accounts, log-in details or access method for the Account, as well as unauthorised access to the investor’s computer, smartphone and any other devices used by the investor. The investor is solely responsible for protecting himself/herself against such actions.

Digital Assets, the investor’s Account, any service provided by HashKey Exchange, and the Website may also be vulnerable to exploitation of vulnerabilities in smart contracts and other code, as well as to human error.

A limited amount of your Digital Assets may be stored in hot wallets (i.e. online environments which provide an interface with the internet), which can be prone to hacking or cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks resulting in the hacking of Digital Asset trading platforms or other targeted schemes, and thefts of Digital Assets are common. Victims may have difficulty recovering any losses resulting from these attacks. This could result in significant loss and/or other impact that may materially affect an investor’s interests.

The above events may affect the features, function, operation, use, access or other properties of the Digital Assets, the investor’s Account, the Website or any services provided by HashKey Exchange. While HMF will endeavour to adopt industry best practices to keep the Digital Assets safe (including but not limited to the use of cold storage and multi-signature authentications), successful cyber thefts and other fraudulent activities set out above may still occur and may not benefit from legal protections.

28. Flaw in the Source Code
While we adopt quality assurance procedures to help ensure the source codes as accurately as possible reflect their intended operation, the flawlessness of the source codes, some of which are open source codes, cannot be guaranteed. They may contain bugs, defects, inconsistencies, flaws or errors, which may disable some functionality, create vulnerabilities or cause instability. Such flaws may compromise the predictability, usability, stability, and/or security of the trading platform. Open source codes rely on transparency to promote community-sourced identification and solution of problems within the code.

29. Unpermissioned, Decentralized and Autonomous Ledger
The trading platform is being developed to serve various distributed ledger systems which are unpermissioned protocols that could be accessed and used by anyone. Some Virtual Asset Transactions will not be private and will be recorded on public distributed ledgers. In addition to the use of decentralized ledgers, we intend to make use of supporting technologies that also operate on decentralized ledgers. The utility and integrity of our trading platform relies on the stability, security and popularity of these decentralized ledgers. Risks arising from relying on such distributed ledger technology include the existence of technical flaws in the technology, targeting by malicious persons, majority-mining, consensus-based or other mining attacks, changes in the consensus protocol or algorithms, decreased community or miner support, rapid fluctuations in value of relevant digital assets, the existence or development of competing networks, platforms and assets, flaws in the scripting language, disputes between developers, miners and/or users and regulatory action. We are envisaged to be an open, decentralized community and its composition can include users, supporters, developers and other participants worldwide who may or may not be connected with us in any manner. The trading platform is intended to be decentralized and autonomous in nature as far as its maintenance, governance and evolution are concerned.

30. Compromised Security
We rely on open source software and unpermissioned decentralized distributed ledgers including but not limited to the Ethereum blockchain. Accordingly, anyone may intentionally or unintentionally compromise the core infrastructural elements of our trading platform and its underlying technologies. This may consequently result in the loss of any Digital Assets held on the trading platform and may cause our system to fall.

31. Inadequacy of Processing Power
The ramp up of the trading platform may be accompanied by sharp increases in transaction numbers and demand for processing power. If the demand for processing power outgrows that forecasted, the network of the trading platform could be destabilized and/or stagnated. This may create opportunities for fraudulent activities including but not limited to false or unauthorized transactions (such as "double-spending") to arise. All these may adversely impact the usability, stability and security of the trading platform.

32. Unauthorized Claim of Digital Assets
Digital Assets can be claimed in bad faith by any person who successfully gains access to the wallet, email or the investor's accounts they have registered with us. This can be as a result of deciphering or cracking the user's password, phishing scams and/or other hacking techniques. Subsequently, these Digital Assets may be sent to anyone and such remittance is not revocable or reversible. It is recommended that all investors should take appropriate security measures to safeguard their wallet, email and accounts. Investors are responsible for the security of their wallet, email and account on the trading platform at all times.

33. Risk relating to unavailability of blockchain networks
Blockchain networks may also go offline as a result of bugs, Forks, or other unforeseeable circumstances. Further, unlike securities prices of traditional exchanges, the prices of Digital Assets change continuously throughout the day. Outages are not uncommon, and investors may not be able to execute a trade on Digital Assets or liquidate a position when the market price of Digital Assets continues to change.


34. Forking and Attacks
Many cryptographic tokens are developed on the Ethereum blockchain, which is an open source protocol. Once released to the open source community, anyone may develop a patch or upgrade for the source code of Ethereum without prior permission by anyone else. The acceptance of patches or upgrades by a significant, but not necessarily overwhelming percentage of the Ethereum holders could result in a "fork" in the Ethereum blockchain.

The temporary or permanent existence of forked blockchains could adversely impact the operation of the trading platform. Such a fork can undermine the sustainability of the trading platform ecosystem, and may destroy or frustrate the trading platform. While a fork in the blockchain could possibly be rectified by community-led efforts to re-merge the two separate branches, success is not guaranteed and could take an undetermined amount of time to achieve.

Digital Assets may also be subject to attacks on the security, integrity or operation of the networks, including Network Events. Such foregoing events (including a Fork) may affect the features, function, operation, use or other properties of any Digital Assets, network or platform.

The events may also severely impact the price or value, function and/or the name of any Digital Assets, or even result in the shutdown of the network or platform associated with the Digital Assets. Such events may be beyond the control of HMF, or to the extent HMF has any ability to impact such event, HMF’s decision or actions may not be in your best interests.


35. Reliance on the Internet and Other and Technology-related Risks
Digital Asset transactions rely heavily on the internet and other technologies. However, the public nature of the internet means that either parts of the internet or the entire internet may be unreliable or unavailable at any given time. Further, interruption, delay, corruption or loss of data, the loss of confidentiality in the transmission of data, or the transmission of malware may occur when transmitting data via the internet and/or other technologies. The result of the above may be that your Digital Asset transaction is not executed according to your Instructions, at the desired time, or not at all.

The nature of Digital Assets also means that any technological difficulties experienced by the HashKey Exchange may prevent investors from accessing their Digital Assets.

No authentication, verification or computer security technology is completely secure or safe.

The internet or other electronic media (including without limitation electronic devices, services of third-party telecom service providers such as mobile phones or other handheld trading devices) are an inherently unreliable form of communication, and such unreliability may be beyond HMF’s control.

Any information (including any document) transmitted, or communication or transactions made, over the internet or through other electronic media (including electronic devices, services of third party telecommunication service providers such as mobile phones or other handheld trading devices or interactive voice response systems) may be subject to interruption, transmission blackout, delayed transmission due to data volume, internet traffic, market volatility or incorrect data transmission (including incorrect price quotation) or stoppage of price data feed due to the public nature of the internet or other electronic media.

36. Past Performance
You acknowledge and agree that the past performance of any Services or Product is not an indication of future performance. In providing the Services and Products, HMF does not guarantee the performance of any Services or Product or provide any assurance about the performance or market price of Services and Products available through HMF.

37. Transactions Deemed Executed Only when Recorded or Confirmed
Some Digital Asset transactions may be deemed to be executed only when recorded and confirmed by HashKey Exchange, which may not necessarily be the time at which an investor initiates the transaction.

38. Risks Relating to Timing
A Digital Asset transaction is binding upon completion of the steps described in the Investor Business Terms. Following this, the Digital Asset transaction will not be reversed. There is a risk that the final binding Digital Asset transaction does not occur at the same time as Instructions are provided. You may suffer loss due to the fact that a Digital Asset transaction is not carried out at the desired time.

39. Unauthorised Access
Unauthorised third parties may access or use your Account and effect Digital Asset transactions without your knowledge or authorisation, whether by obtaining control over another device or account used by you, or by other methods.
40. Irreversible Transactions
Transactions in Digital Assets may be irreversible, and, accordingly, losses due to fraudulent or accidental transactions may not be recoverable. Investors should note that once a transaction has been verified and recorded on a blockchain, loss or stolen Digital Assets generally will not be reversible. This means accidental or fraudulent transactions in respect of Digital Assets may not be recoverable.

41. Third Party Risks
Third parties, such as payment service providers and banking partners may be involved in the provision of certain HashKey Services. Your use of some HashKey Services may be subject to the terms and conditions of these third parties. Unless expressly provided otherwise, HashKey will not be responsible for any loss that may be incurred by you as a result of or arising from the services provided by such third parties.

 

42. Other Important Notes

In addition to the above, investors should also note:

a. the continuing evolution of Digital Assets and how this may be affected by global regulatory developments. The polymorphous and evolving features of Digital Assets mean that they may be, or claim to be, a means of payment, may confer a right to present or future earnings or enable a token holder to access a product or service, or a combination of any of these functions. Although Digital Assets are becoming more popular in some parts of the world, the global regulatory landscape remains uneven. There may be inconsistent and inadequate regulation or other legal, trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange control programs and political changes that may negatively impact the value of Digital Assets;

b. most trading, lending or other dealing platforms, custodians of Digital Assets or other Digital Asset service providers are private companies which may be unregulated or only subject to light-touch regulation (e.g. for payment purposes). As such, they may not be subject to the same robust regulation and transparent rules as service providers or products in traditional financial markets, posing additional counterparty risks for Digital Asset related products, and may be exposed to market manipulative and abusive activities. In particular, the offering documents or product information relating to Digital Asset related products provided by the relevant issuer may not be subject to regulatory approval. Legal and regulatory changes beyond the control of the Digital Asset service providers may restrict or otherwise impact the trade of Digital Assets;

c. counterparty risks when effecting transactions with issuers, private buyers and sellers or through trading, lending or other dealing platforms. There is a risk that these counterparties may become insolvent;

d. risk of the loss of Digital Assets, especially if held in hot wallets (i.e. online environments which provide an interface with the internet). These can be prone to hacking. Cyber-attacks resulting in the hacking of Digital Asset trading platforms and theft of Digital Assets are common. The holders of the Digital Assets may not recover any of their Digital Assets, and may have difficulty recovering losses from hackers or trading platform operators.;

e. new risks which may arise from investing in new types of Digital Assets or market participants’ engagement in more complex transaction strategies. Digital Assets and the digital industry are therefore subject to substantial speculative interest, rapid price swings and uncertainty. In addition, Digital Assets operate without central authority (such as a bank) and are generally not backed by government. The slowing, stopping or reversing of the development or acceptance of a particular Digital Asset may adversely affect the Digital Asset’s price; and

f. we, or an applicable regulatory authority, may reasonably determine additional disclosures related to trading in Digital Assets to be necessary for the protection of clients from time to time. The most recent risk disclosures provided by us will apply to your investment, and you are responsible for reviewing any updated disclosures.