BTC Inc. Privacy Policy

Collection of Information

The information we collect about you depends on how you interact with us. In this section, we describe the categories of information we collect and the sources of this information.

Information You Provide to Us

We collect information you provide directly to us. For example, we collect information directly from you when you create an account or profile, register for one of our conferences, events, or experiences, make a purchase, subscribe to our magazine, participate in any of the interactive features of our Services, sign up for marketing communications from us, request customer support, or otherwise communicate with us. The types of information that we collect directly from you include your name, email address, photo, postal address, phone number and any other information you choose to provide. If you make a purchase from us, we work with third-party payment processors to process your payment information.

Information We Collect Automatically

We automatically collect information about your interactions with us or our Services, including:

• Transactional Information: When you make a purchase, we collect information about the transaction, such as product details, purchase price, and the date and location of the transaction.
• Device, Usage, and Activity Information: We collect information about how you access our Services, including data about the device and network you use, such as your hardware model, operating system version, mobile network, IP address, browser type, unique device identifiers, and app version. We also collect information about the route by which you access our Services, access dates and times, and your activity on our Services, such as pages and content viewed, links and buttons clicked, mouse movements, search queries, keystrokes, items placed in your cart, features used within the BTC+ app, device settings and permissions, crash reports, and other diagnostic information.
• Audio and Video Recordings and Chat Content: We capture photographs and video recordings at our conferences and events for security purposes and to create promotional and editorial content. If you contact customer service through our chat feature or by phone, we may monitor and retain those conversations, including for training purposes.
• User Communications: We collect information about you when you communicate with others through our Services, including through group chats, direct messages, and when you submit questions for event hosts.
• Information Collected by Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies: We use tracking technologies, such as cookies, pixels, SDKs, and session replay to collect information about your interactions with the Services and our marketing communications. These technologies help us improve our Services and marketing communications, personalize your experience, and analyze your interactions with us, including to see which areas and features of our Services are popular and count visits. They also allow us to recognize and alert you if you leave items in your shopping cart. For more information about the cookies and similar tracking technologies we use, and the choices available to you, see the Targeted Advertising and Analytics and the Your Choices sections below.

Information We Collect from Other Sources

We obtain information from other sources. For example, we may receive information from our ticketing partners if you purchase tickets to one of our conferences through them. This information includes your ticket type, registration details, and ticket ID.

Additionally, if you create or log in to your account through a third-party platform (such as Nostr, X, or Google), we will have access to certain information from that platform, such as your name, profile picture, username, and any other information the third-party platform discloses about you, in accordance with the authorization procedures determined by such platform.

Information We Derive

We may derive information or draw inferences about you based on the information we collect. For example, we may make inferences about your approximate location based on your IP address or infer that you are looking to purchase certain products based on your browsing behavior and past purchases.

Use of Information

We use the information we collect to operate, provide, and improve our Services, to deliver news and editorial content, and to plan and host our conferences, events, and live-stream media content. We also use the information we collect to:

• Process and fulfill your orders;
• Develop new products and services and train algorithms and models that power AI-assisted features within our Services;
• Personalize and improve your experience with us;
• Send you technical notices, security alerts, support messages, and other transactional or relationship messages;
• Respond to your comments, questions, and requests and provide customer support;
• Send you marketing communications (see the Your Choices section below for information about how to opt out of these communications at any time);
• Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities in connection with our products and services;
• Facilitate networking and connections between users;
• Send you notifications about schedule changes, announcements, social activity, and sponsor messages;
• Create promotional and editorial content from event photographs and recordings;
• Target advertisements to you on third-party platforms and websites (for more information and to opt out, see the Targeted Advertising and Analytics section below);
• Target advertisements we display to you when you use our Services, including based on information provided by our advertising partners (for more information and to opt out, see the Targeted Advertising and Analytics section below);
• Detect, investigate, respond to, prosecute, and help protect against security incidents and other malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, and help protect the rights and property of BTC Inc. and others;
• Comply with our legal and financial obligations;
• Create de-identified and aggregate data that cannot reasonably be linked to you; and
• Carry out any other purpose described to you at the time the information was collected.

Targeted Advertising and Analytics

We engage others to provide analytics services, serve advertisements, and perform related services across the web and in mobile applications. To do this, BTC Inc. and these partners may use cookies, pixels, SDKs, and similar technologies to collect information about your use of our Services and other websites and mobile apps, including your device identifiers, IP address, web browser and mobile network information, pages viewed, time spent on pages or in mobile apps, links clicked, order information, items added to cart, and conversion information. This information is used to deliver advertising targeted to you on other companies’ websites and mobile apps, understand the effectiveness of this advertising, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, and better understand your activity. We may also engage vendors that use cookies and similar tracking technologies to match your anonymous browsing activity with information you have previously provided to us, such as when you created an account or made a purchase. This process, sometimes referred to as “reidentification,” allows us and our vendors to recognize you across sessions and devices, even when you are not logged in, so that we can deliver more relevant advertising and marketing tailored to your interests and preferences. You can opt out of ad targeting through cookies and similar technologies on our website by following the prompts behind the Your Privacy Choices link in the site footer. Your opt-out choice will be linked to your browser only; therefore, you will need to renew your opt-out choice if you visit our website from a new device or browser, or if you clear your browser’s cookies.

In addition to ad targeting activities that rely on cookies and similar technologies, we work with advertising partners to translate other identifiers, such as your email address or phone number, into a unique identifier (called a hashed value) that such partners can then use to show ads that promote BTC Inc. and are more relevant to you across the web and in mobile apps. You may opt out of these disclosures by emailing us at privacy@btcmedia.org.

The activities described in this section may constitute “targeted advertising,” “sharing,” or “selling” under certain privacy laws. See the Additional Information for Specific Jurisdictions section below for details.

You can also learn more about interest-based ads, or opt out of having your web browsing information used for behavioral advertising purposes by companies that participate in the Digital Advertising Alliance, by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices or www.youronlinechoices.eu (if you reside in Europe). Your device may also include a feature that allows you to opt out of having certain information collected through mobile apps used for behavioral advertising purposes.

Disclosure of Information

We disclose information about you as described in the Targeted Advertising and Analytics section above and in the following scenarios:

• Vendors and Service Providers. We make personal information available to our vendors, service providers, contractors and consultants who perform services on our behalf, such as companies that assist us with web hosting, payment processing, ticketing, fraud prevention, customer service, analytics, marketing, and advertising.
• Other Users. If you create a BTC+ profile, certain information you choose to include, such as your name, profile photo, title, company, biography, and interests will be visible to other users. If you use the interactive features of our Services, such as the Q&A feature, certain information about you will also be disclosed to other users of our Services and attendees of our conferences.
• Law Enforcement Authorities and Individuals Involved in Legal Proceedings. We disclose personal information in response to a request for information if we believe that disclosure is in accordance with, or required by, any applicable law, regulation, or legal process, including lawful requests by public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.
• To Protect the Rights of BTC Inc. and Others. We may disclose personal information if we believe that your actions are inconsistent with our user agreements or policies, if we believe that you have violated the law, or if we believe it is necessary to protect the rights, property, and safety of BTC Inc., our users, the public, or others.
• Professional Advisors. We disclose personal information to our legal, financial, insurance, and other professional advisors where necessary to obtain advice, comply with our legal and financial obligations, and otherwise protect and manage our business interests.
• Corporate Transactions. We disclose personal information in connection with, or during negotiations of, certain corporate transactions, including a merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company.
• Corporate Affiliates. Personal information is disclosed between and among BTC Inc. and our current and future parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, and other companies under common control and ownership.
• With Your Consent or at Your Direction. We make personal information available to third parties when we have your consent or you intentionally direct us to do so.

We also disclose aggregated or de-identified information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you. We maintain and use this information only in a de-identified fashion and will not attempt to re-identify such information, except as permitted by law.

Data Retention

We store personal information associated with your account for as long as necessary to maintain your account and provide our Services. We store other personal information for as long as necessary to carry out the purposes for which we originally collected it and for other business purposes explained in this Privacy Policy.

Account Information

You may access, correct, and delete certain account information through the settings available for the applicable Service. If these controls are not available, you may contact us at contact@btcmedia.org. We may retain certain information as required or permitted by law.

Camera and Photo Access

When you use our mobile application, we may request access to your device’s camera so that you can scan QR codes and upload photos. You can enable or disable this access at any time by changing the permission settings on your mobile device.

Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies

BTC Inc. uses cookies and similar tracking technologies, as described above. You can usually adjust your browser settings to remove or reject browser cookies. Please note that removing or rejecting cookies could affect some of the functionality of our Services, such as remembering your preferred language.

Communications Preferences

You may opt out of receiving promotional emails from BTC Inc. by following the instructions in those communications. If you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional emails, such as those about your account, event registration details, or orders.

Mobile Push Notifications

With your permission, we may send push notifications to your mobile device. You can deactivate these messages at any time by changing the notification settings on your mobile device or by managing your communication preferences in the settings available for the applicable Service.

Children’s Privacy

Our Services are intended for a general adult audience and are not directed to children under the age of 18 (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction). Registration for conferences requires an identity-bound ticket credential and is not intended for children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 18 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at privacy@btcmedia.org.

Individuals Residing in Certain U.S. States

Some U.S. states have enacted privacy laws that grant their residents certain rights and require specific disclosures (“State Privacy Laws”). If you reside in California, Louisiana, Nebraska, or Texas, this section applies to you. This section also serves as our California notice at collection.

Additional Disclosures

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and disclose information about you, as well as our targeted advertising and analytics practices. As required by certain State Privacy Laws, we use the tables below to explain this same information.

Category of Personal Information

• Identifiers (such as your name, email, username, postal address, telephone number, IP address, cookie/device identifiers, account identifiers, and ticket ID).
• Characteristics of protected classifications under California or U.S. federal law (such as your age and gender)
• Customer records and purchase information (such as billing and shipping information, payment method, and limited payment-related information received from payment processors).
• Commercial information (such as records of products, tickets, or subscriptions purchased, order and subscription information, and event-registration details).
• Internet and electronic network activity (such as information about your activity on our websites and mobile applications, browsing activity, diagnostic information, and device settings and permissions).
• Approximate geolocation data (such as your city of residence, other location information provided in your profile, and approximate location inferred from your IP address).
• Audio, photo, electronic, or visual information (such as your profile photo, photographs and video recordings from conferences and other events, scan-to-connect activity, in-app direct and group messages, other user-generated content, and customer-support calls or chats).
• Professional or employment-related information (such as your title, company, and other professional information included in your profile).
• Inferences (such as inferred information regarding your location, interests, or purchasing tendencies, or the products, content, events, experiences, or connections that may interest you).
• Sensitive personal information (such as account log-in information and the contents of communications transmitted through the Services when BTC Inc. is not the intended recipient).

Use of Personal Information

• Provide, maintain, and develop our products and Services
• Process and fulfill your orders
• Train algorithms and models that power AI-assisted features within our Services
• Personalize and improve your experience while using our products and Services, including determining tier-based access to specific BTC+ features where applicable
• Send you technical notices, security alerts, support messages and other transactional or relationship messages
• Conduct marketing, first-party analytics, and targeted advertising on third-party platforms and websites
• Target advertisements to you within our Services
• Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities in connection with our products and Services
• Facilitate your networking, connections, and engagement with us and other BTC+ users
• Send you notifications about schedule changes, conference announcements, social activity, and sponsor messages
• Plan and host our events, conferences, and live-stream media content.
• Create promotional and editorial content from event photographs and recordings
• Provide customer service
• Detect, investigate, prosecute, and help protect against security incidents and other malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, and protect the rights and property of BTC Inc. and others
• Comply with our legal and financial obligations
• Create, use, and retain de-identified and aggregated information that cannot reasonably be linked to you
• Carry out any other purpose described to you at the time the information was collected

Categories of Recipients

• Vendors, service providers, contractors and consultants who perform services on our behalf
• Payment processors
• Ticketing providers
• Advertising and marketing partners
• Security and fraud-prevention providers
• Web hosting providers, Internet service providers, operating systems, and platforms
• Other BTC+ users and conference or event attendees, depending on the Services you use, the information you choose to provide, and your account settings
• Professional advisors
• Corporate affiliates
• Corporate transaction participants
• Law-enforcement authorities, regulators, and parties involved in legal proceedings when required by law
• Other recipients with your consent or at your direction

We collect certain information that may be considered “sensitive” under State Privacy Laws, including account log-in information in combination with credentials that allow access to an account, and the contents of communications transmitted through the Services when BTC Inc. is not the intended recipient. We use and disclose sensitive personal information only as reasonably necessary to provide the Services, for other purposes permitted by applicable law, or with your consent. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for the purpose of inferring characteristics about you.

As described in the Collection of Information section above, we collect personal information from various sources, including directly from you, automatically when you access or use our Services, and from third-party sources.

We retain personal information as described in the Data Retention section above.

Sales, Sharing, and Targeted Advertising Activities

We disclose certain categories of personal information to show you targeted ads on third-party properties, expand the reach and effectiveness of our own marketing campaigns, and allow certain third parties to use this information for their own marketing purposes. These disclosures may be considered “sales,” “sharing,” or use of personal information for “targeted advertising” under State Privacy Laws, and the table below covers the categories of personal information we disclose for these purposes and the categories of third parties that receive it.

We do not engage in sales, sharing, or targeted advertising using personal information about consumers we know to be under the age of 18.

Opt Out of Sales, Sharing, and Targeted Advertising

You may opt out of activities that we engage in that constitute “sales,” “sharing,” or “targeted advertising” under the State Privacy Laws by:

• Cookies and Similar Technologies: Following the prompts behind the Your Privacy Choices link in the footer of our websites. If we are unable to associate your request with your account or other identifiers, your opt-out choice may be linked to your browser or device; therefore, you may need to renew your opt-out choice if you visit our websites from a new device or browser, or if you clear your browser’s cookies; and
• Other Identifiers: Emailing us at privacy@btcmedia.org with a request to turn off “targeted advertising,” “sharing,” and “sales” based on your email address and other identifiers.

You can also opt out by visiting our websites with a legally recognized universal opt-out signal enabled, such as the Global Privacy Control. If you are not logged in to your account with us, our processing of the signal will be limited to cookie-based sales, sharing, and targeted advertising for the specific browser or device that you are using.

Access, Correction, and Deletion

You have the right to (1) request to know more about and access your personal information, including in a portable format, (2) request deletion of your personal information, and (3) request correction of inaccurate personal information.

To make any of these requests, please email us at privacy@btcmedia.org or call our toll-free number at 866-467-8688 Code #2503]. To authenticate your request, we will request certain information from you, such as your name, contact information, and information about your interactions with us.

Nondiscrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.

Appeals

If we deny your request, you may appeal our decision by contacting us at privacy@btcmedia.org. If you have concerns about the result of an appeal, you may contact the attorney general in the state where you reside.

Authorized Agents

If you are an authorized agent seeking to make a request to opt out of sales, sharing, or targeted advertising on behalf of a consumer, please email us at privacy@btcmedia.org.

If you reside in California, you may also designate an authorized agent to submit an access, deletion, or correction request on your behalf. We may ask authorized agents to submit proof of their authority to make a request, such as a valid power of attorney or proof that they have signed permission from the consumer who is the subject of the request. In some cases, we may contact the individual who is the subject of the request to verify such individual’s own identity or confirm the authorized agent has permission to submit the request. If you are an authorized agent seeking to make an access, correction, or deletion request on behalf of a California resident, please email us at privacy@btcmedia.org.

Shine the Light

A California law known as “Shine the Light” permits residents of California to request certain details about the disclosure of their information to third parties for direct marketing purposes. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please email us at privacy@btcmedia.org.

International Data Transfers

BTC Inc. is based in the United States, and we and our service providers process and store personal information on servers located in the United States and around the world. When personal information is processed and stored outside the jurisdiction where you reside, it may be subject to laws that have different standards of protection and may allow for foreign law enforcement and governmental access. Whenever we make restricted international transfers of personal information, we take steps to ensure that your personal information receives an adequate level of protection (by putting in place appropriate safeguards, such as contractual clauses) or ensure that we can rely on an appropriate derogation under data protection laws. Where required by law, we will provide more details about the safeguard(s) which we use to transfer your personal information to other jurisdictions.

Individuals in Europe

If you are located in Europe, this section applies to you.

Legal Basis for Processing

When we process your personal data as described in this Privacy Policy, we do so in reliance on the following lawful bases:

• To perform our responsibilities under our contract with you (e.g., processing payments for and providing the products and services you requested);
• When we have a legitimate interest in processing your personal information to operate our business or protect our interests (e.g., to provide, maintain, and improve our products and services, conduct data analytics, and communicate with you);
• To comply with our legal obligations (e.g., to maintain a record of your consents and track those who have opted out of marketing communications); or
• When we have your consent to do so (e.g., when you opt in to receive marketing communications from us). When consent is the legal basis for our processing of your personal information, you may withdraw such consent at any time.

Data Subject Requests

You have the right to (1) access your personal data, including in a portable format, (2) request erasure of your personal data, and (3) request correction of inaccurate personal data. In addition, you may have the right to object to certain processing or request we restrict certain processing. To exercise any of these rights, please email us at privacy@btcmedia.org.

If you have a concern about our processing of personal data, we encourage you to contact us in the first instance. However, if we are not able to resolve it, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Authority where you reside. Contact details for your Data Protection Authority can be found using the links below:

For individuals in the European Union: https://www.edpb.europa.eu/contact/contact-dpas_en

For individuals in the UK: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

For individuals in Switzerland: https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/en/contact-2

Individuals in Hong Kong

If you are located in Hong Kong, this section applies to you.

Data Subject Requests

You have the right to (1) access your personal data, and (2) request correction of inaccurate personal data. To exercise any of these rights, please email us at privacy@btcmedia.org..

We may need additional information from you in order to ascertain your identity as well as the nature of your request, so as to be able to deal with your request. We will respond to your request within the timeframe required by applicable law, and if for some reason we are unable to do so, we will notify you of the delay. We reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee for the processing of any data access request, subject to the applicable laws.

Withdrawal of Consent

You may withdraw your consent for the collection, use and/or disclosure of your personal data in our possession or under our control by emailing us at privacy@btcmedia.org. The withdrawal shall not affect the collection, use, disclosure, transfer or processing of your personal data for which you have already given consent, and your withdrawal may affect our ability to provide you with the products and/or Services. Do note that in relation to the processing activities that are essential to the performance of our contract with you, we may not be able to continue providing you with the relevant products and/or Services if you wish to exercise this right.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at privacy@btcmedia.org.