About Us

Price Change Risk

The price of virtual currencies fluctuates constantly. Your virtual currency trade or balance could surge or drop suddenly. Please note that unexpected or specific events, including but not limited to changes in the balance of supply and demand; fluctuating prices of commodities, fiat currency, or other markets; natural disasters; wars; changes to laws, regulations, statutes, and governments; and changes to virtual currencies may cause drastic price fluctuations that can cause orders to fail to be fulfilled or transact as intended. The value of virtual currencies fluctuates constantly, and your balance could surge or drop suddenly. There is also a possibility that the price of virtual currencies could drop to zero.

Business Hours Risk

The price of virtual currencies could fluctuate, sometimes heavily, after bitFlyer market hours (including during maintenance). bitFlyer does not take any responsibility for not being able to buy and sell virtual currency outside of bitFlyer’s market hours.

Liquidity Risk

There is a possibility that trades cannot be settled, may be difficult to settle, or can be traded only at significantly adverse prices depending on the market situation and/or market volume. Order delays on either the buy or sell side may result in lengthy order processing or failure to complete an order.

Virtual Currency Network Risks

1. Virtual currencies are not the same as fiat currencies. They are composed of electronic data transactions that occur over the Internet. The value of virtual currencies is not guaranteed by an established party. Moreover, they are not necessarily backed by actual assets.
2. Virtual currency transactions (transaction confirmation on blockchains) will be held for a certain period of time until an adequate amount of trade confirmations have been received. While blockchain confirmation is not required for transferring virtual currencies within bitFlyer accounts, transfers of virtual currency between bitFlyer and external services require the aforementioned confirmation. Therefore, changes to the balance of your bitFlyer account when conducting a transaction between bitFlyer and a third-party service will not be reflected to your bitFlyer account balance until an adequate amount of confirmations have been received on the appropriate virtual currency network and confirmed by bitFlyer. The Company may conduct checks per laws etc., of any transfers of virtual currency (including external transfers from bitFlyer and transfers between bitFlyer accounts). In these cases, the virtual currency transfer will remain on hold until the confirmation is complete and may be canceled at our discretion. Note that the transfer of virtual currency from a customer’s bitFlyer account to an external service may take time, may not complete, or may be canceled on the blockchain. Also note that virtual currencies are electronically recorded and may be lost during transfer across the network.
3. Note that in the event of a blockchain split such as a hard or soft fork etc., prices may drastically drop or transactions may be made invalid after the fact. Before or after a chain split, the Company may set out a period of time during which transactions including, but not limited to, payments, deposits, and withdrawals of virtual currencies cannot be performed. In cases that include, but are not limited to, where the Company deems that the split will not be permanent or other situations arise, the Company may stop supporting the relevant virtual currency, in whole or in part. The Company reserves the right to, in the event of a chain split or other change to virtual currency specifications, an airdrop, etc., decide whether to support a given currency and the nature of the support therein. The Company waives all liability for damages sustained by customers or third parties due to non-support by the Company or discrepancies in and/or changes to the nature of the support provided therein.
4. The malicious implementation of 51% or more of the total computing power on the blockchain network of a virtual currency may result in risks such as: (1) the approval of fraudulent transactions; (2) the denial of legitimate transactions; (3) gaining a monopoly in mining.
5. There is a risk of trades becoming invalidated after the fact in the event that the systems needed to establish and confirm a trade are not in place.

Risk of Losing the Private Key or Password of External Wallet Services

In the case you use an external wallet, you may not be able to access your virtual currency assets if you lose your private key or password. bitFlyer does not take any responsibility in this case.

System Risks

1. Virtual currency trades performed by customers make use of an electronic trading system. There may be cases where a transaction does not complete as intended or completes in an unintended manner due to factors such as customer error when entering data and/or other causes. Note that transactions may not complete as intended based on the type of order or market conditions. The Company waives all liability for damages sustained by a customer or a third party through the results of a trade.
2. As a result of causes that include, but are not limited to, damage to the telecommunications networks, systems, and equipment used by the Company and customers, damage to a connection, natural disasters such as earthquakes, lightning, and fires, and cyber attacks, etc., the electronic trading system may be rendered unusable temporarily, and transmission of customer orders may be delayed or fail to process, resulting in invalidation or completion in an unintended manner. Note that in the event of electronic trading system failure, all or part of the Service, including the execution of trades by the Company, may be suspended or restricted. In cases that include, but are not limited to, sudden market fluctuations, price data may experience lag causing the prevailing market price to differ from the price displayed on the electronic trading system. The Company waives all liability for damages sustained by a customer or a third party through the results of the above.
3. Login or other information (including, but is not limited to, e-mail addresses, login IDs, API keys, passwords, API secrets, private keys, and authentication codes, and the same when referred to by other names) used to electronically authenticate on the electronic trading system that it is stolen, intercepted, or otherwise leaked, may result in damages or losses to customers in the event that it is used maliciously by a third party. The Company waives all liability for damages sustained by customers due to cases that include, but are not limited to, improper management of user IDs and passwords, misuse, leak, and use or theft by third parties.
4. There is a risk that your transactions may be affected due to system failures resulting from events such as changes in the external environment.
   
   A system failure is considered to have occurred when our company determines that a clear failure* has occurred in our system, and the customer is either unable to place orders on the internet** or is delayed in doing so, or otherwise not able.
   • * Excludes failures on the part of the network lines or problems such as those with a customer's computer.
   • ** Our company’s website, smartphone site, or application
   
   With regards to opportunity loss (e.g. a customer's order could not be received and the customer lost the opportunity to place the order, resulting in the loss of profits which could have been obtained) due to things such as emergency maintenance or system failure of our company's system, we shall not take corrective actions on such errors because we are not able to determine the details of the original order which was attempted to be placed.
5. There may be a possibility that our system calculates an abnormal virtual currency buy or sell price. Please note that we reserve the right to render the listed price invalid and cancel transactions which have been completed in the event that the Company can reasonably determine that the listed price is, due to system abnormality or other causes, significantly different from the prevailing market price, incorrect, abnormal, or based on unfair valuations. The Company waives all liability for compensation for damages sustained directly or indirectly from the above. Please also note that we cannot accept any settlements out of court or the likes.

Risks Associated with Changes in Fees and/or Costs

The Company may in the future alter rules associated with trading, including but not limited to fees and costs, per changes to the economy, society, laws, statutes and regulations, service changes, and other circumstances. The Company waives all liability for compensation for damages or losses sustained from the above, whether directly or indirectly.

Bankruptcy Risk

There is a risk that we cannot continue our business due to events such as changes in the external environment. In the case that we cannot continue our business, all processes including the treatment of customers' assets shall be done according to insolvency law, corporation law, corporate rehabilitation law, civil rehabilitation law and other related laws.

Risk of Changes in Law and Tax Regulation

Regarding tax treatment on Japanese domestic virtual currency transactions, please consult with your local tax office or a qualified tax adviser for further information. Japanese tax authorities have issued the following guidance, which is subject to change at any time. Note that possession or trade of virtual currencies may, due to future changes to laws, statutes, tax law, or government policy, be restricted or be less advantageous than at present. bitFlyer does not take responsibility for the tax liability, tax returns, or damage to customers or third parties in any case.

• Capital gains resulting from trading activity in virtual currency (including exchanges between virtual currencies and the use of virtual currencies) are subject to income tax.
• 2017 tax reforms exempting virtual currency trading from consumption tax became effective on July 1, 2017.

Other Risks

Trading may be restricted due to natural disasters, changes to governments, strikes, sudden changes to the virtual currency markets, closing of virtual currency markets, or force majeure. This process carries the risk of customers being subject to unexpected damage or losses.