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Gemini Foundation Risk Disclosure

Last updated: January 19, 2023


Exchange Users who wish to use the Services, initiate Orders and/or enter into Trades on the Trading Platform should be aware and acknowledge the risks which may be involved. The purpose of this Risk Disclosure Statement is to explain some of the risks associated with the use of the Trading Platform and other services offered by Gemini Artemis Pte. Ltd. d/b/a Gemini Foundation (the "Company"), pursuant to the Gemini Foundation User Agreement (as defined below) and the Contract Specifications ("Services"). The information presented in this Risk Disclosure Statement is not comprehensive nor exhaustive and does not reflect all of the risks (or other important factors) you should consider before using the Services, initiating Orders and/or entering into Trades on the Trading Platform.
You must make your own independent decision to access or use the Services and you should seek any advice that you consider necessary or desirable from your independent financial, tax and/or legal advisers, before using the Services or entering into any transaction. You should not construe this Risk Disclosure Statement or any other statements as legal, tax or financial advice.You should be aware that the risk of suffering losses in trading or holding Contracts can be substantial. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding Contracts is suitable for you in light of your financial condition, objectives, level of experience and risk appetite.
By signing up and opening an account with the Company, you are taken to have read, understood and acknowledged this Risk Disclosure Statement. For the avoidance of the doubt, the Company is not licensed, approved or regulated by any regulatory agency, including but not limited to the Monetary Authority of Singapore ("MAS"), nor are the Services regulated by any such regulatory agency. 
Terms not otherwise defined in this Risk Disclosure Statement shall have the same meanings given to them in Gemini Foundation User Agreement ("User Agreement"). 

General trading and financial risks

Derivatives are complex products that are not suitable for all investors. Enter into such Contracts at your own risk and only after doing your own research and understanding their function, terms, and conditions. With leveraged derivatives, you may lose part or all of your investment even if there is only a small fluctuation to the index price.
Trading risk
Contracts traded on the Trading Platform are derivative contracts. Transactions in derivatives contracts are complex products and are not suitable for all investors. These derivative contracts have product features and/or risks that may not be readily understood due to their complex structure, novelty and reliance on technological features. You should have sufficient relevant experience in derivatives trading and in Digital Assets, and you should read and understand the terms of the Contract you are entering into (including the Contract Specifications and the User Agreement) before you enter into any Contract on the Trading Platform. You are solely responsible for your decision to enter into any Contract, which you do so at your own risk. 
The Company does not guarantee the principal amount invested or its value at any time in respect of any derivative contract. There is no guarantee that use of the Services will result in a positive return or profit, that significant losses will not be incurred, or that your objectives will be achieved. Derivatives contracts that are based on Digital Assets may exhibit significant price volatility. 
The Company operates the Trading Platform and matches an Exchange User's Order with one or more Orders submitted by other Exchange Users. The Company is not a counterparty to any Trade or Contract. The Company has no responsibility whatsoever and accepts no liability for any failure of Exchange Users to fulfil their obligations under any Trade or Contract (including any Funding obligation). There is always a risk that an Exchange User who is your counterparty will default or otherwise fail to fulfil their obligations.
All Contracts traded on the Trading Platform are margined and settled using Digital Assets. It is possible that you may lose a substantial proportion or all of the Digital Assets that you use to fund your Account Balance. Please read the description of the liquidation process in the User Agreement, Contract Specifications and Frequently Asked Questions. 
You should only fund your Account Balance and trade with Digital Assets that you own and can afford to lose. Do carefully consider whether you can afford to bear the risks of loss involved in using these Services and, in particular, trading such Contracts. 
The conduct of all trading on your Account Balance is at your own risk. Except to the extent required by law, the Company and all other Gemini Service Providers do not guarantee and do not accept any liability for any direct or indirect losses, costs, liabilities, expenses or damages incurred as a result of your use of the Trading Platform or your failure to understand the risks involved in Digital Assets markets generally or your use of our Services. 
Risks associated with leverage trading
Leverage allows trading in certain contracts on the Trading Platform with relatively modest margins in relation to the position size. The result of this is that even a slight fluctuation of the index price could mean substantial gains on leveraged positions when these fluctuations are in your favour but could also mean loss of the allocated margin if the fluctuations are to your detriment.
Under certain market conditions, particularly given the high volatility and substantial risk of illiquidity in Digital Assets derivatives markets, you may find it difficult or impossible to close a Position in the market above the liquidation price. For example, if there is insufficient liquidity in the market or technical issues with the Orders that you attempt to place, you may not be able to manage the risk on Positions. Placing contingent Orders, such as "Stop-Limit" Order, will not necessarily limit your losses to the intended amounts, since these Order Types are not guaranteed and market conditions may make it impossible to execute such Orders. The use of leverage can work against you as well as for you and can lead to large losses as well as gains. You also understand that your Position can be liquidated or closed, and any other actions taken by the Company, without your consent and whether or not you agree with our decision to do so. You should therefore carefully consider whether such an arrangement is suitable in light of your own financial position and investment objectives.
The conduct of all trading on your Accounts is at your own risk and we do not take any responsibility for any loss or damage incurred as a result of your use of the Trading Platform or your failure to understand the risks involved in Digital Assets markets generally or your use of our Services.
We may not accept any Orders which would increase your aggregate risk above the risk limit set by you or by us.
The Company does not make any assessment as to the appropriateness of the risk limit set by you, or the appropriateness of the risk limit set by us in relation to you, as those risk limits apply to your specific circumstances. You must make your own independent assessment as to what level of risk is appropriate for yourself.
You must ensure that you have sufficient time to manage your Orders and Positions on an active basis at all times. The Company is not responsible for monitoring any Orders or Positions on, or any other aspect of, your Account Balance.
Price volatility
Market prices of Digital Assets can be highly unpredictable and volatile when compared to other asset classes. The future market price for a Digital Asset is highly speculative. It cannot be guaranteed as to whether a Digital Asset will always continue to have a publicly circulating supply, or be listed on any public exchange. 
Contracts with Digital Assets as the underlying may be more vulnerable to economic, geographical, political, market, industry, regulatory and other changes than other classes of derivatives contracts based on other underlying asset classes. The leveraged nature of the Contracts may magnify losses. Any other fees associated with the Contracts may also make them more volatile.
Risks associated with index prices
The Services and Contracts traded on the Trading Platform may rely on an index price, for example to calculate the Mark Price in respect of a Contract or a Position. The Company relies on information provided by third party exchanges relating to the relevant underlying Digital Asset, to determine each Index. Further, movements in the value and volume of transactions on such exchanges and any Index calculation failures may affect, for example, the profit, loss, margin and settlement of Contracts traded on the Trading Platform.
Entering into a Contract with Digital Asset(s) as the underlying is not the equivalent of purchasing or selling that Digital Asset(s) nor any of the components which comprise the Index of that Contract. The return on Positions may not reflect what an Exchange User would realise if they owned (or sold short) any Digital Asset.
The methodology for calculation and publication of each Index may mean that it does not track other publicly-reported prices of any underlying Digital Asset, and may hence deviate substantially from other public price sources. The composition, calculation, and safeguards incorporated within any Index are subject to change at any time without notice in the Company's sole and absolute discretion.
The Indices may be or determined and/or calculated by the Company or any third party service provider. The components of the Indices or the methodology of calculating the value of the Index may be changed at any time. The modification of the components of the Index may affect its value, as a newly added component may perform significantly worse or better than the component it replaces. Any change in the methodology used may affect the Index value and may result in an Exchange User incurring losses or gains. The Company is not responsible for any direct, indirect or consequential losses an Exchange User may incur as a result (directly or indirectly) of a change in the Index methodology.
The Company may also alter, discontinue or suspend publication of an Index at any time. The Company may take any action in respect of the Indices without regard to the interests of any Exchange User. 
Additionally, because Digital Assets derivatives generally (including the Contracts) are relatively new products, the degree to which they are likely to provide exposure to movements in the price of any underlying asset(s) of the relevant Index is uncertain.
Accuracy of information
The Company publishes certain information in respect of certain Contracts, Orders, Trades and other data on its Trading Platform, for general information purposes only, and this does not constitute investment advice or investment recommendation. The Company makes no representations or warranties that the information will be available, accurate, reliable, complete or up-to-date. Accordingly, the Company shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any Contract based on any recommendation, forecast or other information provided. The analyses and comments presented do not include any consideration of your personal investment objectives, financial circumstances or needs analysis. 
Liquidity risk
There is a risk that the Contracts on the Trading Platform may be illiquid. This means that there is a scarcity of Exchange Users who are willing to enter into Trades at any given time. The liquidity of the market for Contracts will depend on, among other things, supply and demand on the Trading Platform and the commercial and/or speculative interest in the market for these Contracts. As the Trading Platform is a closed trading system, there is a risk that there may be limited volume and liquidity. Lack of liquidity for any Contract may result in delays in Order execution and some Orders may not execute at all; these effects may be exacerbated where an Order is larger. A lack of liquidity may also result in greater price volatility and greater uncertainty. 
Supported Contracts and changes to Digital Assets and underlying technology
There is a risk that any Contract may be delisted or the Trading Platform no longer supports the trading in such Contract for any reason. If you have put in an Order in relation to such Contracts then the applicable Order may be cancelled at the sole and absolute discretion of the Company. 
The Company does not own or control the underlying protocol or technology governing the operation of the Digital Assets. The protocol or technology underlying a Digital Asset may change or otherwise cease to operate as expected due to changes made to the features and functions of the underlying protocol or technology, or changes resulting from an attack. These changes may include, without limitation, a "fork", a "rollback", an "airdrop", or a "bootstrap". 
Any such change, or any failure in any applicable underlying protocol, may affect the availability and value of a Contract, your Digital Asset(s) and/or your Positions and may result in total loss. The Company is not responsible for any such change and the Company is not liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of such changes. You are responsible for keeping abreast of any such changes and the Company has no responsibility (though it may choose to do so in its sole and absolute discretion) to notify you of such changes. 
The Company has sole and absolute discretion not to support any such change. The Company may cease to support any Contract or any Digital Asset in its Trading Platform, at its sole and absolute discretion, in response to such change.  
Nature of Digital Assets
Digital Assets may not be backed by physical assets and are not backed or guaranteed by any government. They may not have intrinsic value. Some Digital Assets may not circulate freely or widely and may not be listed on any secondary markets.
 Digital Assets are generally a high-risk asset class. They (or transactions involving them) may or may not be securities or other regulated products. You should exercise caution in relation to the trading of Digital Assets, and Digital Assets themselves.
 Transactions involving Digital Assets are irrevocable. Lost or stolen Digital Assets may be irretrievable. Once a transaction has been verified and recorded on a blockchain, loss or stolen Digital Assets generally will not be reversible.
Tax risk
We recommend that you take independent tax advice before entering into any Contract to ensure that you understand the potential tax implications (including the implications of any applicable income tax, goods and services or value added taxes, stamp duties and other taxes) of acquiring, entering into, holding and disposing of the relevant Contract. Different transactions may have different tax implications and the tax consequences of any transaction is dependent upon your individual circumstances and may be subject to change in the future. You should be accountable for any taxes and / or any other duty which may accumulate in respect of your trades. The Company does not offer tax advice and any tax-related information provided to you by the Company from time to time should not be relied on as tax advice or as a tax recommendation. 

Regulatory risk

The Company is not licensed and the Services and Contracts traded on the Trading Platform are not regulated in any jurisdiction in which they are offered. Laws and regulations that may be promulgated in the future may have an adverse effect on Digital Assets, the Services and Contracts and the ability of the Company to offer them to Exchange Users.
The regulatory environment concerning cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets is unsettled and rapidly evolving. The application and interpretation of existing Applicable Laws and Regulations are often largely untested and there is a lack of certainty as to how they will be applied. New laws and regulations may be promulgated in the future that apply to blockchain technology, Digital Assets, and related services providers, and no assurance can be given that any such changes will not adversely affect Digital Assets generally or the Services and Contracts. It is not possible to predict how such changes would affect the availability, price and liquidity of Digital Assets derivatives, Digital Assets generally, or the Services and Contracts.
Regulatory actions could negatively impact cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets in various ways, including, for purposes of illustration only, through a determination (with retrospective or prospective effect) that Digital Assets and/or derivative contracts with Digital Assets as underlying are regulated financial instruments requiring related service providers to be licensed, approved, registered or otherwise regulated in certain jurisdictions. The Company may have to restrict the availability of certain Services or Contracts based on (among other things) the characterisation of the underlying Digital Asset, or disallow certain Exchange Users based on (among other things) their citizenship, domicile, place of incorporation, residence or location, and/or investor status from engaging in any transactions on the Trading Platform, if doing so becomes commercially unsustainable or legally prohibited at the Company's sole and absolute discretion. Any such regulatory action could materially affect the availability, price and liquidity of the Services and the Contracts.
You understand that ultimately it is your sole responsibility to make sure that you comply with all Applicable Laws and Regulations applicable to you before using our Services. We strictly state that we do not permit the use of our Services by users from a jurisdiction in which the use of our Services is not permitted, and you should not proceed further. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes but is not limited to U.S. Persons (under the relevant CFTC definition of a U.S. Person) that are prohibited from using our Services. We are not offering or soliciting the use of our Services to any person located in any jurisdiction in which the specific use of our Services is not authorised or is otherwise prohibited by local laws, and in addition to the completion of know-your-customer due diligence at onboarding and your responsibility to provide complete and truthful information relevant to our requests for information and your attestation that you are not a U.S. Person and are ordinarily resident in a permissible jurisdiction, we employ GeoIP controls to detect access to and prevent trading on the Trading Platform from IP addresses associated with the United States, including Virtual Private Networks accessed from the United States.

Cyber risk

The Trading Platform is subject to cybersecurity risks that may have a negative impact on its availability to Exchange Users and to the Digital Assets, Contracts and Services on offer.
Risks relating to cybersecurity
There are various risks associated with the use of an Internet-based trading system (such as the Trading Platform). 
Cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Malicious individuals, groups or organisations may attempt to interfere with the Trading Platform in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, malware attacks, denial of service attacks, coordinated attacks, account takeovers and submitting fake transactions (including spoofing), gaining unauthorised access to digital systems for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. It is possible that third party service providers (including, but not limited to, software providers, cloud services providers, and third party exchanges providing Index-related information) could also experience cybersecurity failures or breaches.
Any such cybersecurity failures or breaches could have a negative impact on the Digital Assets, Contracts and the Services.
It is your responsibility to ensure (i) that your access credentials are kept secure and confidential, including your email, username, and password, as well as access to or use of any 2FA application and (ii) the security and integrity of any systems (both hardware and software) or services that you use to access the Services.
Risks relating to platform downtime and IT maintenance
The Company and any other Gemini Service Provider may, from time to time, perform maintenance on the Trading Platform, routine or otherwise. This may lead to platform downtime and lack of access to the Trading Platform, potentially resulting in a delay or cancellation of a submitted Order yet to be processed and Orders placed during maintenance or downtime, and the inability for an Exchange User to submit new or change existing Orders.
Risks arising from user errors
It is your responsibility to ensure that you use the correct address for any deposit, withdrawal, or transfer of Digital Assets, and that the address you use is a valid address for the Digital Asset that you intend to transfer and that the Company accepts as a deposit. Any inaccuracy in a specified address, or in the Digital Asset that you attempt to transfer between addresses, may result in total loss of the Digital Assets concerned. The Company is not obligated to assist with any form of Digital Asset recovery. 
Risks arising from connectivity issues
There are a series of inherent risks with the use of the mobile and/or web-based trading technology such as latency in the prices provided, and other issues that are a result of connectivity (including, without limitation, the use of mobile networks). Prices displayed on the Trading Platform, including prices or values quoted in non-Digital Asset currencies, are for reference purposes only (unless otherwise stated), and may not reflect the actual executed or executable price of an Order.
The Trading Platform utilises public communication network systems for the transmission of messages. You may experience a delay in price quotation or an inability to trade caused by network transmission problems, restrictions or any other problems due to issues with the internet service provider, phone service provider or any other communications network service provider. The Company and any other Gemini Service Provider shall not be liable for any losses or damages caused by such delay or inability to trade. Please note further that the features available on the Trading Platform are available only on ActiveTrader and are not available on the Mobile Application.
You may be required to download and install updates to your device's operating system, otherwise you might not be able to access certain features of the Trading Platform or certain parts of the Services (including trading functions). Performance issues and security risks may arise if you are using ActiveTrader on devices with customised or otherwise non-standard operating software or as a result of other software installed on such devices.

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