Terms of Use.

These Terms of Use ('Terms') form a binding agreement between you and the Bantu Blockchain Foundation ('the Foundation', 'BBF', 'we', 'us'). They govern your access to and use of the website at bantufoundation.org, any Foundation-operated service that links to these Terms, and any content published by the Foundation through those channels (together, the 'Site').

By accessing or using the Site you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, you must not use the Site.

These Terms do NOT govern your use of the public Bantu blockchain itself, the BantuPay wallet, third-party validators, third-party exchanges, third-party RPC providers, or any other third-party application built on Bantu. Each of those is independently operated and publishes its own terms.

The Foundation reserves the right to restrict or terminate access to the Site for any user who breaches these representations.

The Bantu Blockchain Foundation is a non-profit organisation incorporated in the Republic of Seychelles. It has no shareholders, distributes no dividends, and operates with no profit motive. The Foundation has never run a public sale or initial coin offering, does not sell XBN tokens to the public, is not registered as a securities issuer, broker-dealer, investment adviser, money-transmitter, or e-money institution in any jurisdiction, and does not provide financial services to retail users.

The Foundation operates some — but not all — of the infrastructure that supports the Bantu blockchain. Validators are independent organisations. The chain itself is open-source, permissionless, and cannot be unilaterally modified by the Foundation.

Subject to your continuous compliance with these Terms, the Foundation grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and view the Site for your personal, non-commercial use, or for your internal business evaluation of the Bantu blockchain.

This licence does not include any right to: republish or redistribute Site content in a way that competes with the Foundation; remove copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices; or use any portion of the Site for the training of machine-learning models without our prior written consent. Use of Site content to train AI models is expressly reserved by the Foundation and requires a separate written licence.

The Bantu blockchain is a public, permissionless, distributed system. Transactions are cryptographically signed and, once confirmed, are final and irreversible. There is no central party that can roll back, reverse, freeze, or undo a confirmed transaction on your behalf — including the Foundation.

You assume sole responsibility for evaluating, and bearing, every risk associated with using the Bantu blockchain.

Nothing on the Site constitutes financial, legal, accounting, tax, or investment advice, or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security, token, commodity, derivative, or other financial product. Content on the Site is provided for general informational and educational purposes only.

The Foundation does not recommend any particular digital asset, exchange, wallet, validator, project, or investment strategy. Before making any decision that has financial, legal, or tax consequences for you, consult a qualified professional licensed in your jurisdiction. Your use of the Site is no substitute for that advice.

XBN is the native unit of account of the Bantu blockchain. It is not a security, share, or interest in the Foundation. The Foundation does not promise any profit, return, dividend, or appreciation in respect of XBN or any other Bantu-native asset, and any historical price information shown on the Site is provided for context only.

Network statistics displayed on the Site (block height, finality, supply, fees, transaction counts, and similar metrics) are obtained from the public Bantu network via the EXPANSION API and are provided 'as is'. The Foundation does not warrant that any such figure is exact, current, complete, or free from interruption, and reliance on those figures is at your own risk.

Except for content licensed under an open-source licence and clearly marked as such, all material on the Site — including text, graphics, photographs, logos, icons, audio, video, the look and feel, and the underlying compiled code — is the property of the Foundation or its licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property laws.

'Bantu', 'BantuPay', 'EXPANSION', 'HFBA', the Bantu mark, and other Foundation logos and word-marks are trademarks of the Bantu Blockchain Foundation. You may not use them without our prior written consent, except in plain, accurate references to the Foundation or its products that do not imply endorsement or sponsorship.

Substantial portions of the Bantu ecosystem are released under open-source licences (typically Apache 2.0 or MIT, as indicated in each repository). Where you obtain or use such code, your rights and obligations are governed by the licence accompanying that repository — and not by these Terms. Nothing in these Terms restricts, limits, or modifies any right granted to you under any applicable open-source licence.

The Site contains links to third-party websites, services, and resources — including exchanges, wallets, validators, ecosystem applications, social-media platforms, and code repositories. The Foundation does not own, control, endorse, or audit those third parties beyond any criteria expressly stated on the linking page. Your use of any third-party service is at your own discretion and subject to that third party's own terms and policies. The Foundation is not responsible for any loss or damage caused by your dealings with third parties.

You must comply with all sanctions, export-control, and trade-restriction laws that apply to you. You agree not to access or use the Site if doing so would breach any sanctions programme administered by the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States (including OFAC), Switzerland, or your local jurisdiction. The Foundation may, at its sole discretion and without prior notice, block access from any IP range, geography, or identifier where access would risk a sanctions or export-control violation.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SITE AND ALL CONTENT, INFORMATION, AND SERVICES PROVIDED THROUGH IT ARE PROVIDED ON AN 'AS IS' AND 'AS AVAILABLE' BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.

The Foundation expressly disclaims, to the fullest extent permitted by law, all implied warranties — including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement — and any warranty that the Site or any information will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, free from harmful components, or fit for any particular use.

The Foundation makes no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or reliability of any blockchain data, price information, or third-party content displayed on the Site, nor does it warrant the availability of any third-party validator, RPC provider, exchange, or wallet that may be referenced.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL THE FOUNDATION, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, ADVISORS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES — including loss of profits, loss of revenue, loss of business opportunity, loss of data, loss of goodwill, loss of digital assets, or loss arising from interruption of service — arising out of or in connection with these Terms, the Site, the Bantu blockchain, or any third-party content or service, whether based on contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, statute, or any other theory, and whether or not the Foundation has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

In jurisdictions that do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation of liability for incidental or consequential damages, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by that jurisdiction's law. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited — for example, liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

Where the foregoing limitations are unenforceable, the Foundation's aggregate liability to you under these Terms shall not exceed one hundred United States dollars (US$100).

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Foundation, its directors, officers, advisors, employees, contractors, and contributors from and against any claim, demand, loss, liability, damage, cost, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with: your access to or use of the Site; your breach of these Terms; your breach of any law or regulation; or your violation of any third party's rights.

The Foundation is not liable for any failure or delay in performing its obligations under these Terms to the extent caused by events outside its reasonable control — including natural disasters, war or armed conflict, civil unrest, acts of governmental or regulatory authorities, sanctions, internet outages, network or blockchain-level failures, cryptographic compromise, cyber-attacks, denial-of-service events, power failures, pandemics, or any other event of force majeure.

Your use of the Site is subject to our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. The Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why, how long we keep it, who we share it with, and the rights you have over your personal information.

The Foundation may amend these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be highlighted at the top of this page for a reasonable period before they take effect, and the effective date and version above will be updated. Your continued use of the Site after the new effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree with a revision, you must stop using the Site.

The Foundation may suspend or terminate your access to the Site at any time, without prior notice, where it reasonably believes you have breached these Terms, where required by law, or to protect the integrity of the Site or its users. You may stop using the Site at any time. Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including the disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, governing law, and miscellaneous provisions — will survive.

These Terms, your use of the Site, and any non-contractual obligation arising out of or in connection with them, are governed by the laws of the Republic of Seychelles, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles.

Subject to any mandatory consumer-protection law of your country of residence that grants you a different forum, the courts of the Republic of Seychelles have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms.

Before initiating formal proceedings, you agree to first attempt to resolve any dispute informally by sending a written notice to general contact describing the dispute and the relief you seek. The Foundation will respond in good faith within 30 days. If the dispute remains unresolved after 60 days of the notice, either party may proceed in accordance with Section 20.

Questions about these Terms: general contact. Security or vulnerability disclosures: security team. Our registered office is in the Republic of Seychelles; please email first if you need the current postal address.