Terms of Use & Disclaimer

01Definitions

In these Terms, capitalised terms have the meanings given below.

• "Operator" means the individual practitioner publishing TraceByte (contactable at marshall.vip@gmail.com), and includes any successor entity.
• "User" or "You" means any person accessing the Site or using the Service.
• "Service" means the wallet-address screening tool, the regulatory commentary, the downloadable templates and datasets, the contact and advisory channels, and any other functionality made available via the Site.
• "Output" means any report, score, label, classification, narrative or other artefact produced by the Service in response to a User query.
• "Regulator" means AUSTRAC, ASIC, APRA, the RBA, OFAC, the FATF, or any other domestic or foreign supervisory authority referenced on the Site.
• "Engagement" means a written advisory agreement executed between the Operator and a client; no Engagement is created by use of the Site or the Service.

02Acceptance & scope

By accessing the Site or using any part of the Service, You agree to these Terms. If You do not agree, You must not use the Service. The Operator may modify these Terms at any time by updating this page, and any continued use after the Effective Date constitutes acceptance of the modified Terms.

The Service is offered solely for due-diligence research, education, and pre-engagement scoping. The Service is not, and shall not be construed as, a substitute for: (a) the customer due diligence required under Part 2 of the AML/CTF Act 2006 (Cth); (b) the issuer disclosure required under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth); or (c) any licensed sanctions-screening service offered by a third-party vendor.

03No advice; no fiduciary relationship

Use of the Service does not create any lawyer–client, fiduciary, advisor–client, or similar relationship between the User and the Operator. No retainer is implied or established by Your access to the Site, Your use of the screening tool, Your download of any template, or Your submission of an enquiry through the contact form. An Engagement begins only upon written acceptance of a scope of work signed by both parties.

Statements on the Site regarding AUSTRAC, ASIC, APRA, the RBA, OFAC, the FATF, the AML/CTF Act, the Corporations Act, the Digital Asset Platform framework or any other regulatory regime represent the Operator's general understanding as at the Effective Date. Such statements have not been prepared having regard to Your particular circumstances, business model, customer profile, transaction profile, or jurisdictional exposure.

04Nature of the screening Output

The Output is a screening indication derived from a defined set of public on-chain data sources (Etherscan, BscScan, Tronscan, CoinGecko), public sanctions lists (the OFAC SDN List and equivalents), and the Operator's curated address labels. The Output is heuristic in nature, may include false positives and false negatives, and is intended to inform — not to replace — human due diligence by a qualified reviewer.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Output is not:

1. A determinative finding that any wallet address is or is not associated with money laundering, terrorism financing, sanctions evasion, fraud, or other unlawful conduct;
2. A substitute for customer due diligence (CDD) or enhanced customer due diligence (EDD) required of a reporting entity under the AML/CTF Act;
3. A sufficient basis, considered alone, for filing a Suspicious Matter Report under section 41 of the AML/CTF Act or a Threshold Transaction Report under section 43;
4. Legal advice on whether Your product or business activity requires an AFSL, DCE registration, Digital Asset Platform authorisation, or any other licence or registration;
5. A licensed institutional sanctions-screening service comparable to Chainalysis KYT, TRM Labs, Elliptic, Refinitiv World-Check, or Dow Jones Risk & Compliance.

05User responsibility & risk-decision authority

A risk rating of HIGH indicates that one or more upstream data sources have flagged the queried address; it is not a court finding of unlawful conduct. A risk rating of LOW indicates that none of the data sources queried at the time of the request flagged the address; it is not an attestation that the address is lawful or safe. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

You are solely responsible for: (a) the decision whether to file or not file a Suspicious Matter Report, Threshold Transaction Report, International Funds Transfer Instruction Report, or any other regulator-mandated report; (b) the decision whether to onboard, restrict, suspend, or terminate any customer relationship; (c) the validation of any Output against Your other internal and licensed external sources; and (d) the retention of all underlying records for the period required by section 107 of the AML/CTF Act (seven (7) years) and any applicable foreign equivalent.

06No warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service and all Output are provided "as is" and "as available", without representation, condition, or warranty of any kind, express or implied. The Operator expressly disclaims all warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness, timeliness, currency, reliability, security, uninterrupted availability, and non-infringement.

Upstream data sources may be unavailable, rate-limited, delayed, or incorrect at any time. The Operator does not guarantee any particular response time, query throughput, or coverage of any data source. The Operator may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time without notice.

07Absolute disclaimer of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Operator disclaims all liability of every kind whatsoever — including, without limitation, any loss, damage, claim, penalty, regulatory action, business interruption, or consequential or indirect loss — arising from or in connection with the Site, the Service, or any Output. You use the Service entirely at Your own risk.

08Indemnity

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Operator from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with: (a) Your use of the Service or any Output in a manner inconsistent with these Terms; (b) any breach by You of these Terms; or (c) any decision made or action taken by You in reliance on the Service or any Output.

09Intellectual property

All content, source code, design, branding, trademarks, datasets and curated address labels comprising the Site (other than third-party content clearly attributed as such) are the intellectual property of the Operator. You are granted a personal, non-exclusive, revocable, non-transferable licence to access and use the Site for Your own due-diligence research and internal compliance purposes. You may not redistribute the curated datasets, the AML/CTF Program template or the DCE registration checklist for commercial resale.

Public sanctions data (OFAC SDN, DFAT consolidated list, FATF grey / black list) remains the property of the issuing authority and is reproduced under fair-dealing principles for compliance reference. Trademarks of regulators, vendors and exchanges referenced on the Site remain the property of their respective owners and are used solely for identification purposes.

11When to stop using the Service

You should cease relying on the Service and seek qualified counsel if You are facing any of the following:

• An AUSTRAC investigation, notice, or enforceable undertaking;
• A frozen banking relationship, debanking notice, or counterparty compliance action;
• A request, notice or warrant from a regulator, law-enforcement agency or court;
• An imminent AFSL, DCE registration, VASP authorisation, or Digital Asset Platform application;
• A live or pending Suspicious Matter Report with material legal exposure;
• Any matter on which a finding of personal liability for a director, MLRO or designated officer is reasonably foreseeable.

12Severability & entire agreement

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect, and the invalid provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to render it valid and enforceable. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between You and the Operator with respect to use of the Site, and supersede any prior understanding or representation, whether oral or written.

13Contact

For paid advisory engagement (with a written scope of work), notice of a privacy concern, or any other formal communication: marshall.vip@gmail.com. The Privacy Policy is available at /privacy.html.