Terms of Service

01About these terms

These terms govern your use of this website and the services provided by [ legal entity name ], operating as NorthLedger (“NorthLedger”, “we”, “us”). By submitting an assessment request or engaging us, you agree to them.

Paid work is additionally governed by a written engagement letter for that matter. Where the engagement letter and these terms conflict, the engagement letter governs.

02What we are, and what we are not

NorthLedger is a private digital asset investigation practice. We analyse public blockchain records, prepare structured case files, and coordinate next steps.

We are not:

• a law firm, and we do not provide legal advice or legal representation;
• a licensed private investigator, and we do not provide private-investigation services that are regulated under provincial law;
• a financial adviser, investment dealer, or securities adviser, and nothing we provide is investment advice;
• a money services business, custodian, or trustee, and we do not hold, transmit, or exchange digital assets;
• a law enforcement agency, and we have no power to seize, freeze, or compel the return of anything.

Where your matter requires work that falls into a regulated category, that work is performed by an appropriately licensed partner under a separate engagement, as set out in section 9.

03The free assessment

The free assessment is a practical triage of the information you give us. Its purpose is to help you decide whether paid work is worth considering. It typically covers whether the transaction can be located on-chain, the first destination and any obvious service exposure, and a view on urgency, evidence quality and the likely recovery pathway.

The free assessment is expressly not a forensic report, an evidence bundle, a legal opinion, an expert opinion, or a valuation. It carries no fee and creates no ongoing obligation on either side.

A recommendation that your case is not worth paying to investigate is a legitimate and common outcome. We will give you that answer plainly where the evidence supports it.

We aim to respond to assessment requests within [ response time ], but we do not guarantee a response time and we may decline to assess a request at our discretion.

04No guarantee of recovery

We do not guarantee that any funds will be recovered, traced, frozen, or returned, in whole or in part. Any statement we make about likelihood is an opinion based on the evidence available at the time, not a promise of a result.

Outcomes depend on factors outside our control, including where the funds went, who controls the destination, whether an exchange or other service cooperates, how much time has passed, the chain and protocols involved, and whether a court or regulator will act.

Some cases cannot be resolved by anyone. Certain chains, mixing services, and privacy protocols defeat analysis. Where that is the position, we will report it as a finding rather than continue to bill for work that cannot produce a result.

05Paid services and quotes

No case proceeds to paid work without a qualification step. Before you are charged anything you will receive a written scope describing what we will do, what you will receive, and the fee.

Indicative pricing published on this site is a guide only. The final fee depends on complexity, evidence quality, urgency, the networks involved, and partner requirements, and is confirmed in the engagement letter.

Where the scope of a matter changes materially, we will stop and agree a revised scope and fee with you before continuing.

06Payment

• Fees are quoted and payable in Canadian dollars unless the engagement letter says otherwise.
• We do not require payment in cryptocurrency. Fees are payable through ordinary traceable channels. A demand for up-front payment in cryptocurrency is a common pattern in recovery fraud; if you receive one purporting to come from us, it is not from us.
• Payment terms, deposits, and any refund position are set out in the engagement letter. [ define deposit and refund terms ]
• Fees are for the work performed, not for a particular outcome. Fees are not contingent on recovery unless the engagement letter expressly says so. [ confirm whether any contingency model is permitted and intended ]

07Your responsibilities

You agree that:

1. the information you give us is accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge, and you will correct it promptly if it changes;
2. you are the person entitled to instruct us in relation to the assets or accounts concerned, or you are authorised to act for that person;
3. you will not ask us to do anything unlawful, including accessing systems or accounts you do not control;
4. you understand that acting on our findings, including reporting to police or contacting an exchange, remains your decision.

Our analysis is only as good as the information it is based on. Materially inaccurate or withheld information can invalidate a finding, and we are not responsible for conclusions that fail for that reason.

08What you must never send us

Do not send us your seed phrase or recovery phrase, any private key or keystore file, any password, or any two-factor authentication code or backup code. We will never ask for them and we do not need them.

Our intake form screens for content that looks like a recovery phrase or private key and will refuse to submit while it is present. If you send such material by any other channel, we will not use it, we will tell you, we will delete it as soon as we reasonably can, and we will advise you to move your funds to a newly generated wallet. We are not liable for loss arising from your disclosure of this material to us or to anyone else.

09Work performed by licensed partners

Where a matter requires legal advice, regulated private-investigation work, or an enforcement step, we will identify an appropriately licensed Canadian partner and, with your agreement, introduce you.

• That partner is engaged by you directly, under their own terms, and charges their own fees.
• We coordinate and provide documentation. We do not supervise their professional judgment and we are not responsible for their advice, their conduct, or the outcome of their work.
• We will disclose any referral fee or commercial arrangement with a partner before you engage them. [ state the actual referral fee position ]

10No custody of digital assets

We do not take custody, possession, or control of your digital assets at any stage. We will not ask you to transfer assets to us, and we will not accept them if offered.

Where assets are recovered, they are returned to an account or wallet you control, or handled through a licensed partner or the relevant service under arrangements disclosed to you in advance.

11Reports and intellectual property

On payment in full, you receive a licence to use the report and evidence bundle we produce for your own matter, including providing it to your counsel, an exchange, a regulator, or law enforcement.

We retain ownership of our methods, templates, and underlying know-how. You may not resell, publish, or distribute our report for any purpose beyond your own matter without our written consent.

Our reports are prepared on the information available at the time. They are not represented as expert evidence prepared to any particular court standard unless the engagement letter says so expressly.

12Confidentiality

We treat your case details as confidential. We do not publish them, and we do not use your matter as a case study, testimonial, or marketing example, whether identified or anonymised, without your separate written permission.

We may disclose information where you instruct us to, where it is necessary to progress your matter with a partner or service you have agreed to, or where we are compelled by law. How we handle personal information is set out in our Privacy Policy.

13Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:

1. we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, opportunity, or the value of digital assets;
2. we are not liable for the acts or omissions of third parties, including exchanges, licensed partners, law enforcement, or the person who took your assets;
3. our total aggregate liability arising out of a matter is limited to the fees you paid us for that matter;
4. nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, or personal injury caused by negligence.

14Indemnity

You agree to indemnify us against claims, losses, and reasonable costs arising from information you gave us that was materially false or misleading, from your use of our report outside the permitted purpose, or from your instruction to us to take a step that was unlawful.

This indemnity does not apply to the extent the claim arises from our own negligence or breach of these terms.

15Refusal and termination

We may decline an assessment or end an engagement, on notice, where we reasonably believe that continuing would be unlawful, would place us in a conflict, or would require us to perform regulated work we are not licensed to perform. We may also decline where we cannot verify your entitlement to instruct us, or where the information provided is materially inconsistent.

You may end an engagement at any time. You remain responsible for fees for work properly performed up to that point, and we will hand over the work product produced to that date.

16Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of [ province ] and the federal laws of Canada that apply there. The courts of [ province ] have jurisdiction, subject to any statutory right you have to bring a claim elsewhere.

If a dispute arises, tell us first and we will try to resolve it directly. [ decide whether to include a mediation step ]

17Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The version in force when you engage us governs that engagement. Changes do not apply retroactively to work already scoped and agreed.

18Contact

Legal entity

[ legal entity name and business number ]

Email

[ contact@ address ]

Postal address

[ registered business address ]