Privacy Policy

1. General Overview and Scope of This Policy

This privacy policy applies to all users, visitors, registered account holders, and any other individuals who access, browse, or interact with the VelunaLinks platform, including but not limited to the main website, all profile pages hosted on the platform, the administrative dashboard, all application programming interfaces (APIs), all subdomains, and any associated services, tools, features, or functionalities provided by VelunaLinks. By accessing or using any part of the platform, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to the terms outlined in this privacy policy in their entirety. If you do not agree with any provision of this policy, you should discontinue use of the platform immediately. This policy is subject to periodic updates, and continued use of the platform after any such updates constitutes acceptance of the revised terms. VelunaLinks reserves the right to modify, amend, supplement, or replace any section of this policy at any time without prior notice, although reasonable efforts will be made to communicate significant changes to active users through appropriate channels. This policy shall be interpreted in conjunction with the VelunaLinks Terms of Service and any other policies, guidelines, or agreements published by VelunaLinks from time to time. In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between this policy and any other VelunaLinks policy, this privacy policy shall take precedence with respect to matters concerning the collection, use, storage, and disclosure of personal information.

2. Definitions and Interpretation

For the purposes of this privacy policy, the following definitions shall apply unless the context requires otherwise. "Platform" refers to the VelunaLinks website, all associated services, tools, features, application programming interfaces, subdomains, and any other digital properties owned or operated by VelunaLinks. "User" or "you" refers to any individual who accesses, browses, registers on, or interacts with the platform in any capacity, whether as a registered account holder, a visitor viewing profile pages, or any other form of interaction. "Personal information" refers to any information that can be used, either alone or in combination with other information, to identify, contact, or locate a specific individual, including but not limited to names, email addresses, usernames, and any other identifying data. "Non-personal information" refers to data that cannot, by itself or in combination with other data reasonably available to VelunaLinks, be used to identify a specific individual, including but not limited to aggregated usage statistics, anonymized analytics data, and general demographic information. "Service providers" refers to third-party companies or individuals engaged by VelunaLinks to facilitate the operation of the platform, perform platform-related services, or assist in analyzing how the platform is used. "Cookies" refers to small data files stored on your device by your web browser when you visit the platform, which may include session identifiers, preferences, and other functional data necessary for the proper operation of the platform.

3. Information We Collect

When you create an account on VelunaLinks, we collect certain information necessary to provide you with access to the platform and its features. This includes, but is not limited to, the username you select during registration, the email address you provide for account recovery and communication purposes, and an encrypted version of your password which is processed using industry standard one-way hashing algorithms such that the original plaintext password is never stored, retained, logged, or accessible to any person, system, or process within our infrastructure at any time. We may also collect profile content that you voluntarily submit, including but not limited to display names, biographical text, profile images, banner images, social media links, and any other content you choose to publish on your profile page. Additionally, we collect non-personally identifiable usage data through standard analytics tools for the sole purpose of understanding how the platform is used, identifying areas for improvement, measuring the effectiveness of features, and ensuring the overall stability and performance of the service. We use cookies and similar browser-based storage mechanisms strictly for functional purposes such as maintaining your authenticated session state, remembering your preferences, and ensuring the proper operation of interactive features. We do not use advertising cookies, cross-site tracking cookies, or any form of behavioral profiling cookies. We do not collect biometric data, health information, financial account numbers, social security numbers, government identification numbers, or any other category of sensitive personal information beyond what is explicitly described in this policy. For users who choose to make payments through the platform, we collect only the cryptocurrency wallet addresses necessary to process and verify transactions. We do not collect, store, request, or have access to any private keys, seed phrases, recovery phrases, or any other credentials that would grant access to your cryptocurrency holdings. Information collected through contact forms, support requests, or feedback submissions is limited to the content you voluntarily provide in such communications and is used solely for the purpose of responding to your inquiry and improving the platform based on user feedback.

4. Identity Verification, Verified Badges, and Creator Legitimacy

VelunaLinks offers an optional identity verification process that allows creators to obtain a verified badge displayed on their profile. This verified badge serves as a trusted visual indicator to all visitors, users, and members of the public that the profile owner has undergone a thorough, one-time identity confirmation process and has been conclusively determined to be a legitimate, real, and authentic individual operating the account. The presence of a verified badge on any VelunaLinks profile provides a meaningful and reliable assurance that the creator behind the profile has taken the additional voluntary step of proving their real-world identity, thereby distinguishing themselves from unverified accounts and demonstrating a commitment to transparency, authenticity, and accountability to their audience. Visitors and users of the platform may rely on the verified badge as a credible signal that the profile owner is who they claim to be, that the profile is operated by a genuine person rather than an automated system or impersonator, and that the creator has voluntarily submitted to a verification process that confirms their legitimacy. The verified badge is awarded only after a careful and deliberate review process in which the applicant's identity is confirmed through the examination of a valid, government-issued identification document.

It is critically important to understand and acknowledge the following regarding the handling of identification documents submitted during the verification process: VelunaLinks does not store, retain, archive, copy, duplicate, photograph, screenshot, scan, digitize, cache, index, catalog, or in any other manner whatsoever preserve the identification document or any information contained therein beyond the immediate and instantaneous moment of verification. The document is viewed exclusively and solely for the singular purpose of confirming that the applicant is a real, living person whose identity corresponds to the account for which verification is being requested. This review is conducted in real time and no recording, transcription, or extraction of any data from the document takes place at any point during or after the process. Once the identity confirmation is completed, which typically occurs within minutes of submission, the identification document and all associated data, including but not limited to any images, photographs, scans, copies, excerpts, metadata, file references, temporary cache entries, thumbnail previews, and any other form of representation of the document or its contents, are immediately, completely, permanently, and irreversibly deleted and destroyed from all systems, servers, workstations, temporary storage locations, volatile memory, non-volatile storage, backup systems, disaster recovery systems, logging systems, monitoring systems, and any and all other locations, whether physical or digital, where the document or any portion thereof may have existed, however briefly, during the verification process. No copies of any kind are made at any stage. No document numbers, identification numbers, dates of birth, addresses, photographs, or any other personally identifiable information from the document is extracted, recorded, transcribed, noted, stored, transmitted, or retained in any database, spreadsheet, file system, document management system, log file, audit trail, backup archive, or any other form of persistent, semi-persistent, or temporary storage whatsoever.

The verified badge, once granted following successful completion of the verification process, serves as a permanent record only of the fact that a verification was successfully completed at a specific point in time. The badge itself contains no personal information and cannot be reverse-engineered to obtain any details about the verification process or the documents that were reviewed. VelunaLinks maintains no database, registry, or record linking verified badges to specific identification documents, document numbers, or any other personal data derived from the verification process. The sole information retained is a boolean indicator that the account in question has been verified, and the date on which verification was completed. Creators who have earned a verified badge have demonstrated through this rigorous process that they are genuine, legitimate individuals who stand behind their profile and content with their real identity, which provides visitors with a meaningful level of trust and assurance that is not available on platforms that do not offer identity verification. VelunaLinks reserves the right to revoke a verified badge at any time and for any reason, including but not limited to violation of the Terms of Service, misrepresentation, abuse of the platform, conduct that undermines the trust and integrity of the verification system, or any other conduct deemed inappropriate or harmful at the sole discretion of the VelunaLinks team. Revocation of a verified badge does not entitle the user to any refund, compensation, or explanation beyond what VelunaLinks deems appropriate to provide in its sole discretion.

5. How We Use Collected Information

The information we collect is used exclusively for purposes directly related to the operation, maintenance, improvement, and security of the VelunaLinks platform. Specifically, account information is used to authenticate your identity when you log in, to provide you with access to your dashboard and profile management tools, to communicate with you regarding important service-related matters such as security alerts or significant changes to the platform, and to respond to support inquiries or feedback you may submit. Usage analytics data is used in aggregate, non-identifiable form to understand traffic patterns, identify popular features, detect potential performance issues, and guide decisions about future development priorities. Payment-related information is used solely to facilitate, process, verify, and record cryptocurrency transactions initiated by users through the platform. We do not use any collected information for targeted advertising, behavioral profiling, sale to third parties, or any other purpose not explicitly described in this policy. We do not rent, lease, license, or otherwise make available any user information to any external party for their own marketing, promotional, or commercial purposes under any circumstances. We do not create individual advertising profiles based on user behavior, browsing patterns, or any other data collected through the platform. We do not participate in data broker networks, data exchange programs, or any other arrangement that would result in user information being made available to entities outside of VelunaLinks and its essential service providers.

6. Information Sharing and Third-Party Disclosure

VelunaLinks does not sell, trade, barter, exchange, or otherwise transfer your personal information to any third party for any reason whatsoever, with the sole exception of the limited circumstances described in this section. We may share certain information with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating the platform, such as hosting infrastructure providers, content delivery networks, and analytics services. These service providers are selected based on their commitment to data protection and privacy, are contractually obligated to use the information solely for the purpose of providing their respective services to VelunaLinks, and are prohibited from using, disclosing, or retaining the information for any other purpose. We conduct regular reviews of our service provider relationships to ensure continued compliance with our privacy standards and expectations. We may also disclose information if we are required to do so by applicable law, regulation, legal process, governmental request, or court order, or if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of VelunaLinks, its users, or the public. In such cases, we will make reasonable efforts to limit the scope of disclosure to the minimum information necessary to satisfy the applicable requirement. Profile content that you choose to make publicly visible on your VelunaLinks page, including but not limited to your display name, biographical text, images, links, and any other content you publish, is inherently accessible to anyone who visits your profile page, and the publication of such content is at your sole discretion and responsibility. VelunaLinks is not responsible for how third parties may use or interact with content you have chosen to make publicly available.

7. Cookies, Local Storage, and Similar Technologies

VelunaLinks uses cookies and similar client-side storage technologies for strictly functional and operational purposes. These technologies are employed to maintain your authenticated session after login so that you do not need to re-enter your credentials on each page visit, to remember certain user preferences and settings that enhance your experience on the platform, to support the proper functioning of interactive features such as the chat system and profile customization tools, and to enable basic analytics functionality that helps us understand how the platform is used in aggregate. We do not use any third-party advertising cookies, remarketing cookies, tracking pixels for advertising purposes, cross-domain tracking mechanisms, browser fingerprinting techniques, or any similar technology designed to monitor, profile, or track your browsing activity across different websites, platforms, or services. The analytics tools we employ use privacy-respecting configurations that do not create individual user profiles, do not track users across different websites, and do not collect or process any information that could be used to identify specific individuals. You may configure your browser to refuse all cookies or to alert you when a cookie is being set, however please be aware that disabling cookies may prevent certain features of the platform from functioning correctly, may result in degraded performance or user experience, or may require you to authenticate more frequently.

8. Data Security Measures

VelunaLinks implements a comprehensive, multi-layered set of security measures designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of user information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. All passwords are processed using strong, industry-standard one-way cryptographic hashing algorithms with appropriate salting before storage, ensuring that plaintext passwords are never stored in any system, database, log file, backup, cache, temporary file, or any other form of storage at any time. All communications between your browser and the VelunaLinks platform are encrypted using current transport layer security (TLS) protocols to prevent interception, modification, man-in-the-middle attacks, or unauthorized access to data in transit. Access to administrative systems, databases, and server infrastructure is restricted to authorized personnel only and is protected by multiple layers of authentication, access controls, and monitoring. We regularly review, test, and update our security practices, configurations, and infrastructure to address emerging threats, newly discovered vulnerabilities, and evolving best practices in information security. However, no method of transmission over the internet and no method of electronic storage is completely secure, and while we strive to use commercially acceptable and industry-leading means to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security against all possible threats. Cryptocurrency private keys, seed phrases, wallet recovery credentials, and any other cryptographic secrets that would grant access to user funds are never collected, requested, transmitted to, processed by, or stored by VelunaLinks under any circumstances.

9. Data Retention and Deletion

VelunaLinks retains your account information for as long as your account remains active and in good standing on the platform. If you choose to delete your account, we will initiate the deletion of your personal information from our active systems within a reasonable timeframe, typically within thirty (30) calendar days of receiving and processing your deletion request. Certain information may be retained for a limited additional period as necessary to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, prevent fraud or abuse, or for other legitimate operational purposes as permitted by applicable law. Anonymized or aggregated data that cannot be used to identify any individual may be retained indefinitely for statistical, analytical, and platform improvement purposes. If you wish to request the deletion of your account and associated data, you may do so by contacting us at the email address provided in the contact section of this policy. Please note that deletion of your account is permanent and irreversible, and all data associated with your account will be permanently removed and cannot be recovered once the deletion process is complete.

10. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your jurisdiction and applicable laws, you may have certain rights with respect to your personal information, including but not limited to the right to access the personal information we hold about you, the right to request correction of any inaccurate or incomplete information, the right to request deletion of your personal information subject to certain exceptions, the right to object to or restrict certain types of processing, and the right to data portability where applicable. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information provided in the contact section below. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights.

11. Children and Minors

VelunaLinks is not intended for use by individuals under the age of eighteen (18) years. We do not knowingly collect, solicit, or maintain personal information from anyone under the age of eighteen. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a minor under the age of eighteen, we will take prompt steps to delete such information from our systems. If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided personal information to VelunaLinks, please contact us immediately so that we can take appropriate action.

12. International Users

VelunaLinks is operated from servers that may be located in various jurisdictions. If you are accessing the platform from a location outside the jurisdiction in which our servers are located, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in a jurisdiction whose data protection laws may differ from those of your country of residence. By using the platform, you consent to the transfer of your information to such jurisdictions as described in this policy.

13. Automated Decision-Making

VelunaLinks does not engage in automated decision-making processes that produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you based solely on automated processing of your personal information. Any automated systems employed by the platform, such as spam detection filters or content moderation tools, are designed to assist in maintaining the quality and security of the platform and are subject to human review and oversight.

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

VelunaLinks reserves the right to update, modify, revise, or replace this privacy policy at any time. When we make changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. For significant changes that materially affect how we collect, use, or share your information, we will make reasonable efforts to notify active users through appropriate channels. Your continued use of the platform following the posting of any changes constitutes your acceptance of those changes.

15. Third-Party Links and Services

VelunaLinks profiles may contain links to third-party websites, platforms, or services that are not owned, operated, or affiliated with VelunaLinks in any way. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or security of any third-party website or service. The inclusion of any link on a VelunaLinks profile does not constitute endorsement, approval, or any form of association with the linked website. We strongly encourage you to review the privacy policy of any third-party website before providing personal information to them.

16. Do Not Track Signals

Some web browsers offer a "Do Not Track" (DNT) preference setting. Because there is currently no universally accepted standard for how online services should respond to DNT signals, and because VelunaLinks does not engage in cross-site tracking of individual users, we do not currently alter our data collection practices in response to DNT signals.

17. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, VelunaLinks shall not be liable for any unauthorized access to, use of, or disclosure of your personal information resulting from circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to hacking, cyberattacks, unauthorized access by third parties, force majeure events, failures of third-party service providers, or any other event that could not have been reasonably foreseen or prevented despite the implementation of commercially reasonable security measures. Users acknowledge that no system connected to the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

18. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

This privacy policy and any disputes arising out of or related to it shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the applicable laws of the jurisdiction in which VelunaLinks is established, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any legal proceedings related to this privacy policy shall be brought exclusively in the courts of competent jurisdiction in the applicable jurisdiction.

19. Severability

If any provision of this privacy policy is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not affect any other provision of this policy, and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect. The invalid provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable while preserving the original intent to the greatest extent possible.

20. Contact Information

For any questions, concerns, or inquiries related to this privacy policy, your personal information, or VelunaLinks' data practices, please contact us by email at contact@velunalinks.com. We will endeavor to respond to all legitimate inquiries within fourteen (14) business days of receipt. For urgent matters related to account security, please indicate the urgency in your subject line so that we may prioritize your request accordingly.