Why we collect limited billing data, what we do and do not verify, and why 10 Seconds is not a financial institution.
10 Seconds is a software-as-a-service application. Payments received constitute consideration for a software subscription supplied by the Publisher. The Publisher does not accept third-party funds for safekeeping or onward transmission. Nothing on this website, in the service interface, in an invoice issued by the Publisher, or in a communication from contact@10seconds.io constitutes a regulated financial product, financial advice, custody of assets, or participation in a payment or money-transmission scheme.
We collect only the information necessary to issue a legally compliant invoice under applicable UAE, EU, UK, and US tax rules:
No government-issued identity document, no passport, no national ID card, no utility bill, no bank statement, no proof of address, no source-of-funds document, no video selfie, no biometric data is requested, received, or stored by the Publisher. Billing data is encrypted at rest with Fernet (AES-128-CBC + HMAC-SHA256), as described in the Privacy Policy §16.
The Publisher has neither the legal mandate nor the technical capability to verify:
Billing data is collected solely to issue a legally compliant invoice. Accuracy of all identity and billing information is the user's sole responsibility. Providing false identity, billing, or company information does not transfer any resulting liability — including tax audit, VAT reclaim failure, sanctions-screening failure, chargeback dispute, legal process, or investigation by a competent authority — to the Publisher. See the full non-authority disclaimer in Privacy Policy §11.
All KYC, Customer Due Diligence (CDD), Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), AML and sanctions screening on the paying party are performed by our two payment sub-processors under their own regulatory obligations:
Stripe, Inc. operates under PCI-DSS, applies card-network KYC and risk rules (3-D Secure, SCA under PSD2 for European cards), and performs its own sanctions screening. The Publisher does not receive the card number, CVV, expiry date, or any card-level information from Stripe. See the Stripe Privacy Policy and Stripe Services Agreement.
CoinPayments.net Inc., established in Canada, may apply wallet-level checks, transaction monitoring, and sanctions screening under its own policies and the applicable Canadian AML regime (Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act). The Publisher receives only the transaction reference and settlement status. See the CoinPayments Privacy Policy.
Any KYC file, source-of-funds documentation, wallet balance, counterparty analysis, or sanctions decision held by Stripe or CoinPayments is governed exclusively by those providers' terms and is not disclosed to the Publisher in the ordinary course of operations.
The Publisher does not knowingly provide the service to persons or entities subject to applicable sanctions, nor to persons ordinarily resident in a comprehensively sanctioned jurisdiction. We rely on our payment sub-processors' sanctions screening at the point of payment, under the following regimes:
A payment refused by Stripe or CoinPayments on sanctions grounds results in refusal to supply the service. Where the Publisher independently becomes aware of a match or credible concern, it declines or terminates the service and complies with any applicable reporting obligation to the competent authority.
Although the Publisher is not itself subject to a general AML/CTF registration or licence obligation as a reporting entity in its jurisdiction of establishment, it operates in accordance with the general spirit of applicable anti-money-laundering standards and will cooperate with competent authorities within its legal obligations. Applicable regimes include, without limitation:
Suspected money-laundering, terrorist-financing, or sanctions-evasion activity may be reported by the Publisher to the competent authority. Users accept that disclosures required by applicable law override contractual confidentiality.
Where the Publisher's payment sub-processors identify a politically exposed person, a close associate, or an immediate family member of a PEP during their own CDD, enhanced due diligence may be applied by that sub-processor. The Publisher does not maintain an independent PEP screening programme and does not receive PEP determinations unless necessary to comply with a legally binding request from a competent authority.
Fees paid for a 10 Seconds subscription are consideration for a software subscription immediately due to the Publisher. The Publisher does not hold user funds in a safeguarded, segregated, or trust account; does not operate pooled client accounts; does not act as escrow agent; and does not act as a fiduciary of any kind. No investment, interest, yield, dividend, or return is promised or paid on amounts received.
Refunds owed under the Refund Policy or applicable mandatory consumer law are processed as reversal of a payment transaction, not as release from a custody arrangement.
Billing information and invoices are retained for the legally required period for tax and accounting purposes — typically 10 years in most EU jurisdictions and under UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on the Taxation of Corporations and Businesses — and are then permanently deleted. See Privacy Policy §9 for the full retention schedule. Retention of billing records is distinct from the ephemeral processing of chat content, which is never persistently stored.
Users may update their billing information at any time from the account dashboard (/profile). For GDPR, UAE PDPL, UK Data Protection Act 2018, and applicable US state privacy rights (access, rectification, erasure, portability, restriction), contact contact@10seconds.io. Full rights-exercise procedure in Privacy Policy §14 and §15.
Users retain the right to lodge a complaint with their competent authority (EU data-protection authority of their Member State; the UAE Data Office under the PDPL framework; the UK ICO; the applicable US state attorney-general's office) without first contacting the Publisher. Nothing in this document limits that right.
This KYC & Identity Policy is updated when applicable law, our sub-processors' practices, or the regulatory environment change. This document is governed by the laws of the United Arab Emirates, without prejudice to mandatory consumer-protection, data-protection, anti-money-laundering, and sanctions provisions of other jurisdictions that may apply.
Version 2026.14 · Effective 2026-10-22.
Published by Sterling and Pierce Holding L.L.C-FZ, Meydan Free Zone, Dubai (UAE).
Contact: contact@10seconds.io — single point of contact for all matters.