Legal & Privacy

These terms and conditions (“Agreement”) are a contract between you (“you”, “User”, or “your”) and Circle Internet Financial, LLC (“Circle,” “we,” or “us”) that applies to your use of Circle’s DD Account Services through the Customer Platform (as defined below). By purchasing Circle Credits or using your Circle Wallet Account, you agree that you have read, understood and accept all of this Agreement, including our Privacy Policy.

You agree that we may provide notices, disclosures and amendments to this Agreement, and other information relating to your Circle Wallet Account by electronic means.

About your Wallet Account

Following your request, Circle issues you a wallet account (“Wallet Account”) which allows you to purchase credits (“Circle Credits”) for use on the customer’s platform for which you will use Circle Credits (“Customer Platform”). The dollar value that you use to purchase Circle Credits is a prepayment for the goods and services on the Customer Platform. Circle Credits are only redeemable for products on the Customer platform.

Unless otherwise required by law or permitted by this Agreement, the dollar value you paid to purchase Circle Credits is nonrefundable and may not be redeemed for cash. The value of these credits can change at any time and the issuance and redemption of Circle Credits could discontinue at any time including if Circle’s relationship with the Customer Platform is terminated.

Purchasing Circle Credits

You may purchase Circle Credits, which will be held in your Wallet Account on the Customer Platform. You may not have more than a cumulative balance of $2,000 in value of Circle Credits in your Wallet Account in a single day, or $10,000 in value over the account lifetime. This means that the sum of the opening balance and deposits on your Wallet Account cannot exceed $2,000 over the course of a day or $10,000 over the lifetime of the account.

Fees and Expiration

We do not charge any activation, service, dormancy or inactivity fees in connection with your Wallet Account or Circle Credits. The Customer Platform may impose fees, please see the applicable Customer Platform terms of conditions.

Eligibility; Limitations

The Wallet Services are currently only available to individuals located in supported jurisdictions. For a complete list of currently supported jurisdictions, please see here.

You must be at least 18 years of age and must not have been previously suspended or removed from the Wallet Services or any other service or product offered by Circle or its affiliate entities, including but not limited to Circle UK Trading Limited, Circle Payments, LLC, Poloniex, LLC or Circle Trade Europe Limited, to enter into this Agreement.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Circle may determine not to make the Wallet Services, in whole or in part, available in every market, either in our sole discretion or due to legal or regulatory requirements, depending on the User’s location.  We may without liability to you or any third party refuse to let you register for a Wallet Account.

Receipts and Transaction History

When you use your Wallet Account, a receipt can be given to you by the Customer Platform, if you request one. Circle will not send you statements of transactions on your Wallet Account.

Fraud Associated with your Wallet Account

We will not allow any purchase of Circle Credits or the use of your Wallet Account, if we reasonably believe that the use is unauthorized (whether by the Customer Platform or by anyone other than the User), fraudulent, or otherwise unlawful, and we consider such action appropriate to limit our risk. Circle does not have any liability to you for any third-party fraud or unlawful activity associated with your Wallet Account and Circle Credits. If Circle discovers any Circle Credits were purchased or derived from fraud or other unlawful means, we may in our sole discretion, cancel all impacted Wallet Accounts and retain all Circle Credits without notice to you. We may use retained Circle Credits and Wallet Account balances to help offset our liability to card companies, networks and issuers of lost or stolen credit or debit cards used to purchase Circle Credits. In the event that any of the previously mentioned actions are taken by Circle, you will be notified by the Customer Platform and your only available recourse is with the Customer Platform.

Privacy Policy

Please read Circle’s Privacy Policy following this Agreement. You should carefully read our Privacy Policy, as it provides details on how your personal information is collected, stored, protected, and used, how to update or change your personal information, and how we communicate with you.

Security of User Information

You agree to notify the Customer Platform immediately if you become aware of any unauthorized use of your Wallet Account, Circle Credits or any other breach of security regarding your Wallet Account.  Circle will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your account information. We shall not bear any liability for any damage or interruptions caused by any computer viruses, spyware, or other malware that may affect your computer or other equipment, or any phishing, spoofing, or other attack.

Third Parties

Circle does not have control of, or liability for, any products or services that are purchased or sold by the Customer Platform in connection with the Wallet Services. Circle is not liable for any losses or issues that may arise from such third-party transactions, including, but not limited to, legality (including any consequences for illegal transactions that might be triggered under this Agreement), quality, delivery, or satisfaction with any products purchased by means of a Circle Credits transfer. If you are not satisfied with any goods or services purchased from, or sold to, a third party using the Wallet Services, you must handle those issues directly with the Customer Platform.

Changes to This Agreement

We may amend this Agreement at any time, in our sole discretion. We will post the amended terms to the Customer Platform terms, and for a period of thirty (30) days after we post the amended terms, we will include a notice stating which terms have changed. As permitted by applicable law, any change, addition or deletion will become effective at the time we post the revised terms to Customer Platform Terms. You are deemed to accept the changes, additions or deletions, if (i) you do not notify us to the contrary in writing within 20 days of the date of our notice or such other time specified in the notice, or (ii) you use your Wallet Account or Circle Credits after notice has been given. In the event that you do not agree with the amended terms, your sole and exclusive remedy is to terminate your use of your Wallet Account. You agree that we shall not be liable to you or any third party as a result of any losses suffered by any modification or amendment of this Agreement. If you notify us that you do not accept the changes, additions or deletions and you meet the customer onboarding requirements for a Wallets Plus Account, your Circle Credits may be converted pursuant to the USDC terms and conditions.

Cancellation of this Agreement

We may suspend or terminate this Agreement and revoke or limit any or all of the rights and privileges granted to you at any time. Termination may result from your fraudulent or unauthorized use of the Wallet Account and/or Circle Credits or the termination of the relationship between Circle and the Customer Platform.

Indemnification; Release

You agree to indemnify and hold Circle, its affiliates, and service providers, and each of their officers, directors, agents, joint venturers, employees, and representatives harmless from any claim or demand (including attorneys’ fees and any losses, fines, fees or penalties imposed by any regulatory authority) arising out of your breach of this Agreement, your violation of any law or regulation or your use of your Wallet Account.

For the purpose of this Section, the term “losses” means all net costs reasonably incurred by us or the other persons referred to in this Section that are the result of the matters set out in this Section and that may relate to any claims, demands, causes of action, debt, cost, expense or other liability, including reasonable legal fees (without duplication).

If you have a dispute with one or more Users, the Customer Platform, or third parties, you release Circle (and its affiliates and service providers, and each of their officers, directors, agents, joint ventures, employees and representatives) from any and all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature arising out of or in any way connected with such dispute.

Force Majeure

Circle shall have no liability for any failure or delay resulting from any condition beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to governmental action or acts of terrorism, earthquake, fire, flood, disease or epidemic, or other acts of God, labor conditions, power failures, equipment failures, and Internet disturbances.

Arbitration

This Section applies only if your country of residence is the United States.

Except for claims for injunctive or equitable relief or claims regarding intellectual property rights (which may be brought, in an individual capacity only, and not on a class-wide or representative basis, in the courts specified in Section 18 without the posting of a bond), any dispute between you and Circle related in any way to, or arising in any way from, our Wallet Services or this Agreement (“Dispute”) shall be finally settled on an individual, non-representative basis in binding arbitration in accordance with the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) rules for arbitration of consumer-related disputes (available from AAA on its website at www.adr.org), as modified by this Agreement, or in accordance with rules on which we may mutually agree; provided, however, that to the extent a Dispute is within the scope of a small claims court’s jurisdiction, either you or Circle may commence an action in small claims court, in the county of your most recent physical address, to resolve the Dispute.

Any arbitration will be conducted by a single, neutral arbitrator and shall take place in the county of your most recent physical address. The arbitrator may award any relief that a court of competent jurisdiction could award, including attorneys’ fees when authorized by law. The arbitral decision may be enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction. An arbitral decision is subject to very limited review by a court. This Agreement evidences a transaction involving interstate commerce, and therefore, the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) applies to this Agreement, including the agreement to arbitrate set forth in this Section. Circle and User each agree that the FAA, and not state law, shall govern whether a Dispute is subject to arbitration.

Assignment

You may not assign this Agreement without our prior written consent and any attempted assignment will be void. We may assign all or part of this Agreement without notice to you. We are then released from all liability. If you object to such transfer or assignment, you may stop using our Wallet Services and terminate this Agreement by contacting support  and asking us to close your Wallet Account.

Entire Agreement and Survival

This Agreement is the complete and exclusive statement of agreement between you and Circle, and supersedes and merges all prior proposals and all other agreements governing your Wallet Account (not including Circle’s Privacy Policy). If any provision of this Agreement is determined to be illegal or unenforceable, that provision will be eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that this Agreement shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable. Upon termination of your Wallet Account and this Agreement, all rights and obligations of the parties that by their nature are continuing will survive such termination.

Limited License; IP Rights

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, and non-transferable license, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, to access and use your Wallet Account solely for approved purposes as determined by Circle. Any other use of your Wallet Account is expressly prohibited. Circle and its licensors reserve all rights in the Wallet Account services and you agree that this Agreement does not grant you any rights in or licenses to the Wallet Account services except for the limited license set forth above. Except as expressly authorized by Circle, you agree not to modify, reverse engineer, copy, frame, scrape, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute, or create derivative works based on the Wallet Account services, in whole or in part. If you violate any portion of this Agreement, your permission to access and use the Wallet Account services may be terminated pursuant to this Agreement. "Circle.com", "Circle", and all logos related to the Wallet Services or Circle are either trademarks, or registered marks of Circle or its licensors. You may not copy, imitate, or use them without Circle's prior written consent. All right, title, and interest in and to the Circle website, any content thereon, the Wallet Services, and all technology and any content created or derived from any of the foregoing is the exclusive property of Circle and its licensors.

Governing Law; Venue

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Massachusetts notwithstanding any conflict of law rules.

Inquiries or Questions

Please contact the Customer Platform at [LINK] if you have any questions and in the event you are unable to reach the Customer Platform, you may contact Support at [email protected] to report any violations of this Agreement or to ask any questions regarding this Agreement.

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Circle Internet Financial, Inc. (“Circle”) collects, uses, stores, shares and protects your information whenever you use Circle through the website (www.circle.com) or Circle’s mobile applications. We know how important privacy is to our users, which is why we only collect the information we need and will not share your personal information with any third parties unless it is necessary. Even within Circle, access to your personal information is limited to only those employees who require such information to handle matters relating to compliance, identity verification and customer support.

Circle (including its affiliate entities that may handle your information) complies with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union to the United States.  Circle has certified to the Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles.  If there is any conflict between the terms in this Privacy Policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern.  To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/.

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do make updates, we’ll let you know by changing the date above. If it is a big update, we’ll send you a notification or post a notice on our website. If you ever have any questions about changes made to the Privacy Policy, just reach out to Support.

By using Circle’s website or mobile apps, you consent to the practices contained in this Privacy Policy.

Information We Collect

What You Directly Provide Us

When you create a Circle account, we’ll collect some important details about you such as your name, address, phone number, email, birth date, password, etc.

If you want to link a debit card, credit card or bank account, we’ll need to collect the card number or account/routing numbers and related account information. As Circle adds additional features, you may also be prompted to provide additional information.

Sometimes we need to request more information to verify your identity or to meet legal and regulatory obligations. When that is necessary, you will be prompted to provide such information.

In the event that Circle integrates with other platforms, you may be prompted from time to time to grant Circle access to additional information from such platform (or grant such partner platform access to information you have provided to Circle). For example, if Circle implements an integration with a social media platform, you would have the option of linking your account on that platform to Circle in order to streamline the signup process, populate your contact list or other specified purposes.

What is Automatically Collected

There is some information that is automatically collected as you use Circle. This information allows us to deliver cool new features, more easily handle your customer support issues and better protect your account. This information includes:

Device Information. We collect information about your device, including the type of device (Computer vs. iPhone vs. Android), operating system, mobile phone number, browser type and language, and device identifiers (such as IMEI and MAC address).

Location Information. With your permission, we collect your device location so that we can offer you location-based features such as the ability to send funds to nearby Circle users.

Contacts. To make it easier to send money to your contacts, we will - with your permission - collect information from your phone’s address book or other contact lists that you grant us access to (for example, your Facebook friends list).

Photos, Videos & Other Media. If you want to attach photos, videos or other media to your payments, payment requests or other communication using Circle, we require access to the photos on your phone. Any photos, videos or other media you attached will be stored and accessible to Circle, but we will never download or store any photos, videos or other media from your phone that aren’t attached to payments, payment requests or other communications using Circle.

Message Content. If you include a message with your payments, the content of that message is stored and accessible to Circle.

Transactions. We collect information about your payment activity such as the amount, date, time, recipient for each transaction.

Cookies. Like most mobile apps and websites, we use cookies. Cookies are small data files that we place on your device that allow us to identify you as a Circle user and provide a customized Circle experience. We use both session and persistent cookies when you access our website or content. Session cookies expire and no longer have any effect when you log out of your account or close your browser. Longer lasting cookies, known as persistent cookies, remain on your browser until you erase them or they expire. You are free to decline our cookies if your browser or browser add-on permits, but doing so may interfere with your use of Circle. The help section of most browsers or browser add-ons provides instructions on blocking, deleting or disabling cookies.

Protecting Your Information

Throughout this policy, we use the term “personal information” to describe information that is associated with you or can be used to identify you. We do not consider personal information to include information that has been anonymized.

We protect your information using physical, technical, and administrative security measures to reduce the risks of loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure and alteration. Some of the safeguards we use are firewalls and data encryption, physical access controls to our data centers, and information access authorization controls. Sometimes in order to better secure your information and use it for the purposes contemplated by this Privacy Policy, certain personal data may be stored with our third party partners and service providers.  All of our physical, electronic and procedural safeguards are designed to comply with applicable laws and regulations.

How We May Use Your Information

We collect all of this information so that we can provide you with a safe and seamless way to make and receive payments. The information we collect allows us to:

Deliver the full range of payments and functionality of the Circle product;

Keep in touch with you - whether it be for providing customer service, notifying you of cool new features that have been added to the mobile apps, or providing security notices or information;

Verify your identity so that we can prevent fraud or unauthorized activity;

Improve Circle or add new product features by analyzing usage trends;

Personalize the Circle experience by matching product features to things that we think you specifically might be interested in; and

Fulfill any other purpose for which the information was collected.

We will never sell or rent your personal information to third parties. We may combine your information with information we collect from other companies and use it to improve and personalize the Services, as well as our content and advertising.

How We May Share Your Information

Sharing With Third Parties

In order to provide you with the Circle product and meet our legal and regulatory obligations, we may share the information we collect as detailed below:

If you link a debit card, credit card or bank account, we will share your account information with our banking partners so that we can process payments. In order to make adding an account as easy as possible, we’ve partnered with Plaid Technologies, Inc. (“Plaid”), who will receive your account information during this process. All information shared with Plaid will be treated in accordance with Plaid’s own privacy policy, which can be found at https://plaid.com/privacy. We also may need to share your information with your own banking institution in order to verify and complete payment transactions.

In order to prevent fraud, we will sometimes need to share your information with third party identity verification services. This lets us make sure you are who you say you are, by comparing the information you provide us to public records and other third party databases.

In order to improve Circle’s functionality, we will sometimes share information with service providers that help us analyze how people are using the app. This allows us to refine popular features and improve or eliminate features people don’t use.

As a regulated financial institution, we may need to share your information with law enforcement or government officials. We will only do this when we are compelled to do so by a specific regulation, subpoena, court order or formal request, or we otherwise believe in good faith that we need to share such information to prevent physical harm, financial loss, or are obligated to report illegal activity.

Circle allows you to send and receive money with customers of Circle affiliates, including Circle UK Trading Limited in Europe and Circle Payments, LLC in California and Wyoming. In order to complete these transactions, we will need to share information regarding your account with those other Circle entities in order to complete such transaction and allow them to meet their legal and regulatory obligations.

From time to time Circle may partner with other companies (“Partners”) to allow you to send and receive money with individuals that are customers of such Partners and not Circle. In order to complete these transactions, we will need to share information regarding your account (such as name, email address, phone number and date of birth) with the applicable Partner so they can meet their legal and regulatory obligations. Your information will only be shared with such Partners to the extent you actually transact or interact with customers of such Partner.

In order to complete third party financial, technical and legal audits of Circle’s operations, we may need to share information about your account as part of such review.

If Circle merges with or gets acquired by another Company, they will have access to the information you have provided to us. If this happens, we will require that the new entity follows this Privacy Policy and will notify you of any such change.

We will share your information with other third parties if you specifically authorize us to do so.

Sharing With Other Circle Users

In order to make Circle payments about more than just sending money from A to B, we may share additional information with other Circle users, but only to the extent that you give us permission to do so. This information includes:

Transaction Details. At the risk of stating the obvious, when you send someone a payment or payment request, they will be provided with the details of that transaction, including the payment amount, currency, date, time and a unique transaction ID number.

Messages & Photos. If you attach a message or photo, video or other media to a payment, payment request or other communication using Circle, that information will be visible to the person(s) receiving the payment. You should know that the recipient of a message or photo (or other media) can always save them - so don’t send anything you wouldn’t want shared publicly.

Your Identity & Photo. In order for other Circle users to transact with you (sending money, receiving money, requesting money, etc.) they will be able to see your full legal name.  If you upload a profile photo or avatar to your account, this will also be visible to other Circle users. If Circle adds additional features that allow you to share more identity information, further information may be shared if you opt in to such features.

Location. If you have your location enabled in your settings, the location from which a payment was initiated may be visible to the recipient. This also lets other users take advantage of the “nearby users” function, which makes it easier for them to send you a payment if you’re nearby and not otherwise in their contacts.

Status as a Circle User. Other Circle users may be able to see that you have a Circle account. This lets them know they can send you a payment and you will receive it instantly without having to first set up a Circle account.

Sharing of Transactions. In the future, Circle may give users the ability to share certain payment information through group payments, a public feed, social media integration or other means. The information may include sender, recipient, date and time of transaction, avatars, location, media or other information regarding the transaction. If this feature is enabled, you will be able to determine how much information is shared in your account settings or opt out of sharing information by not using such features.

Other Information. As we add new product features, there may be additional information that is shared with other Circle users. If those new features require sharing any personal information, we’ll always get your permission first and will do our best to allow you to disable such features in your account settings. We’ll also provide information to other Circle users if you specifically request that we share such information.

How To Change or Delete Your Information

If you need to add or change any information, you can just log in to your Circle account and make the change in your settings. If it doesn’t look like you can make the change on your own, just reach out to Support and we’ll take care of it.

If you want to know what information we’re keeping on you, check out the categories listed above. We can also provide you with a copy of this information, but we won’t include any sensitive financial information.

If you want to close your Circle account, know that as a regulated financial institution we are required to retain certain information you have provided for a number of years.

Children’s Privacy

Unfortunately, if you’re under 13, you can’t use Circle. So we don’t knowingly solicit or collect information from anyone under 13. If we become aware that a child under the age of 13 has provided us with personal information, we’ll delete it immediately.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please reach out to your Services Provider.