Terms of Service

Effective: May 10, 2026 (Open Beta launch) · Last updated: 2026-05-12

0. What this is

You are trusting us with your infrastructure, your data, and a portion of your operational sovereignty. These Terms of Service set the contract between Sovereign Hybrid Compute LLC ("SHC," "we," "our") and you. They are short, principled, and named. We do not hide what matters in fine print.

We don't police legal content. We don't sell, share, or analyze your data. We don't depend on hyperscalers, and if we are ever acquired by one, you have an immediate right to exit with all your data. We name what we will not do, and we put real remedies behind those commitments. The Acceptable Use Policy at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/acceptable-use is incorporated by reference and is part of this contract.

These Terms apply to your use of all SHC services: VPS hosting, colocation, Responsive Load Data Centers (RLDC), managed services, and any infrastructure provisioned through the SHC platform or API. By creating an account or using our services, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

1. Definitions

• "Customer," "you," "your": the entity or individual that has accepted these Terms.
• "SHC," "we," "our": Sovereign Hybrid Compute LLC, a Wyoming limited liability company.
• "Services": the infrastructure and operational capabilities described in §2.
• "Customer Data": all data, content, software, and configurations you store, transmit, or run on SHC infrastructure.
• "AUP": the Acceptable Use Policy at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/acceptable-use, as updated from time to time and incorporated into these Terms.
• "Privacy Policy," "DPA," "SLA," "Network Policy": as published at the trust-center URLs and incorporated into these Terms.
• "Open Beta": the period beginning May 10, 2026 and ending on the General Availability ("GA") transition date posted at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/sla.
• "Trust-Center Documents": the AUP, Privacy Policy, DPA, SLA, Network Policy, Data Residency, Security Overview, and Transparency Report, collectively.

2. The Services

SHC operates four service classes, each with distinct operating posture:

2.1 Virtual Private Servers (VPS). Compute, storage, and networking provisioned on SHC-owned hypervisors at SHC-owned edge data centers. SHC controls the hardware, hypervisor, and physical security. You control everything from the operating system upward.

2.2 Colocation. You bring hardware to one of our edge data centers; we provide power, network, security, and remote-hands support. You retain full ownership of your hardware.

2.3 Responsive Load Data Center (RLDC). Modular compute infrastructure sited behind-the-meter at energy-source operator sites (active-mine coalmine methane, stranded gas, solar arrays). Distinct service class with custom availability and load-flexibility terms set per engagement.

2.4 Managed Services / Builder Program. Engagements where SHC operates infrastructure on your behalf under a shared-responsibility model. Specific terms are set per-engagement under a Master Services Agreement; this section governs the baseline.

Service-specific provisioning timelines, hardware ownership, and SLA attribution are set out in the SLA at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/sla.

3. Acceptance and Click-Through

Account creation constitutes acceptance of these Terms. SHC logs the timestamp, IP address, and version of the Terms accepted. Material changes (defined in §22.3) require re-acknowledgment via email plus an active signup-flow re-prompt; you may decline and terminate without penalty per §16.

Under an executed MSA: a Master Services Agreement ("MSA") supersedes these click-through Terms to the extent of any conflict. Absent an executed MSA, these Terms govern.

4. Account Responsibilities

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities that occur under your account. You must notify SHC at security@sovereignhybridcompute.net immediately on suspicion of unauthorized use.

SHC will not access your account without your authorization, except as required to respond to security incidents affecting other customers (with notice to you when legally permitted) or as required by valid legal process.

5. Acceptable Use Policy (Incorporated by Reference)

Your use of the Services is governed by the AUP at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/acceptable-use, which is incorporated by reference into these Terms and is binding on you as if set out in full. Violations of the AUP are violations of these Terms.

The AUP also constitutes SHC's published commitments on what we do not police: legal content, political speech, unpopular opinions, or controversial ideas. Beyond what is required by law and our AUP, we do not censor or moderate customer content.

6. What SHC Will Not Do — Binding Commitments

SHC operates with a set of named commitments. These are contractual; we name them so you can hold us to them:

6.1 No data access. SHC does not access, inspect, or analyze data stored on your VPS, colocation servers, or managed-services workloads — except as required to respond to AUP violations or as required by valid legal process. Customer data is encrypted at rest using LUKS/dm-crypt and in transit using TLS 1.3.

6.2 No traffic logging. SHC does not log customer traffic content, DNS queries from customer systems, or destination IPs from customer-initiated connections. We retain only aggregate bandwidth metrics, BGP route announcements, DDoS mitigation event logs, and administrative access logs as detailed in the Network Policy.

6.3 No third-party data sharing. SHC does not sell, trade, or share customer data with third parties. We do not use third-party analytics, tracking scripts, or advertising on our website. Payment runs through BTCPay Server that SHC self-hosts on its own infrastructure — there is no third-party payment processor in the path, because Bitcoin is the only money SHC accepts. See the DPA.

6.4 No undisclosed sub-processors. SHC does not use sub-processors for the storage or processing of data on customer infrastructure. If we ever need to add one, we provide 60 days' advance notice and you have the right to terminate per §16.3.

6.5 No voluntary government data sharing. SHC does not voluntarily provide customer data to any government. We require valid legal process before disclosing information. We will challenge overbroad or unconstitutional requests and notify affected customers when legally permitted.

6.6 Warrant canary. SHC maintains a warrant canary at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/transparency. If we receive a gag order that prevents disclosure of a classified request, the canary's absence beyond 90 days is the signal.

6.7 No hyperscaler dependency. SHC does not run on AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Oracle Cloud, or any equivalent hyperscale public-cloud provider. All infrastructure is owned and operated by SHC.

6.8 No data residency outside the United States. Customer data is stored exclusively in SHC-owned US-based edge data centers. We do not replicate data to foreign jurisdictions, foreign-CDN caches, or any third-party cloud provider.

These are not marketing claims. They are contractual commitments. §15 (Limitation of Liability) provides remedies if SHC violates them.

7. Transparency Commitments

7.1 Quarterly transparency reports. Published within 90 days of quarter-end at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/transparency. Material changes to transparency cadence trigger §22.3 material-change notice.

7.2 Warrant canary. Updated quarterly at minimum. Absence beyond 90 days is the canary's "trigger" condition.

7.3 Aggregate takedown statistics. Published in the quarterly transparency report.

7.4 Material change to commitments. Any change to the §6 commitments or this §7 requires 60 days' advance notice and triggers your right to terminate per §16.3.

8. Payment Terms

8.1 Bitcoin and Lightning Network — the only accepted payment method. Bitcoin on-chain (2-confirmation requirement) and Lightning Network (1-confirmation) are the only payment methods SHC accepts. SHC does not accept credit or debit cards, wire transfers, ACH, or any other fiat rail. No personal information is required beyond a payment address. Bitcoin and Lightning bypass third-party payment processors entirely; payment data does not leave SHC infrastructure, and SHC never learns a bank or cardholder name because no such rail exists in the payment path.

8.2 Refunds and reversibility. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible by protocol. SHC honors refund requests within 30 days of payment by issuing equivalent Bitcoin to the customer's specified address; SHC does not chargeback Bitcoin payments. There is no card rail and therefore no chargeback mechanism in either direction.

8.3 Billing cycle. Services are billed in advance on a monthly or annual basis. Late payments may result in service suspension after a 7-day grace period. SLA credits (where applicable per §9) are issued in the customer's payment-method-of-record where reasonably possible.

9. Service Level Agreement

9.1 Open Beta period. During Open Beta (May 10, 2026 to the GA transition date posted at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/sla), SHC operates on a best-effort basis with a target of 99.9% monthly uptime. SHC may issue goodwill credits at our discretion for Open Beta service disruptions; SLA credits are not contractually owed during Open Beta.

9.2 General Availability and after. Beginning at the GA transition date, SHC's SLA at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/sla applies, including the 99.9% monthly uptime commitment and credit schedule.

9.3 SLA credits as exclusive remedy (post-GA). Subject to §15, SLA credits are your exclusive remedy for ordinary service disruptions. This does not limit remedies for breach-of-trust claims under §15.

10. Data Ownership and Sovereignty

10.1 Ownership. You retain full and exclusive ownership of all Customer Data. SHC has no rights, license, or interest in your data beyond what is necessary to operate the Services.

10.2 Sovereignty. Customer Data is stored exclusively on SHC-owned hardware in SHC-owned US-based edge data centers. SHC does not replicate Customer Data to foreign jurisdictions, foreign-CDN caches, or any third-party cloud provider (per §6.7 and §6.8).

10.3 Encryption. Customer Data is encrypted at rest (LUKS/dm-crypt) and in transit (TLS 1.3). SHC does not hold or escrow customer encryption keys.

10.4 Data retrieval. Upon termination of services, you have 30 days to retrieve Customer Data. After 30 days, SHC permanently and irrecoverably deletes Customer Data, including backups, except where retention is required by law.

10.5 Termination-with-data-retrieval right. §16 termination rights include full Customer Data retrieval at no cost, regardless of which party initiated termination.

11. Privacy and Data Processing

The Privacy Policy at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/privacy-policy and the Data Processing Agreement at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/data-processing are incorporated into these Terms by reference. SHC acts as a Data Processor for customer-related personal data per the DPA; the customer is the Data Controller.

12. Confidentiality

Each party will protect the other's confidential information using at least the same degree of care it uses for its own confidential information of similar nature, but no less than reasonable care. This obligation survives termination of these Terms for three (3) years.

Confidential information does not include information that (a) is publicly available through no fault of the receiving party, (b) is independently developed without reference to the disclosing party's confidential information, (c) is rightfully received from a third party without confidentiality obligations, or (d) is required to be disclosed by law (with prior notice to the disclosing party where legally permitted).

13. Intellectual Property

13.1 SHC IP. SHC retains all rights, title, and interest in the Services, infrastructure, software, and documentation. No license is granted except the limited right to use the Services per these Terms.

13.2 Customer IP. You retain all rights, title, and interest in Customer Data and any customer-developed software, configurations, or content.

13.3 Mutual indemnification. Each party indemnifies the other against third-party claims that its respective IP infringes third-party rights, with notice and control-of-defense provisions standard to commercial agreements. The indemnifying party has sole control of the defense and settlement, subject to the indemnified party's reasonable consultation right.

14. Warranties and Disclaimers

14.1 SHC warranties. SHC warrants that the Services will be operated in compliance with §6 commitments, §7 transparency commitments, and these Terms.

14.2 Customer warranties. You warrant that (a) you have authority to enter these Terms, (b) your use of the Services complies with the AUP and applicable law, (c) Customer Data does not infringe third-party rights, and (d) Customer Data does not include any information described as "prohibited" in the AUP.

14.3 Disclaimer of implied warranties. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED, THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS." SHC DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

15. Limitation of Liability

SHC's liability is structured in three tiers, recognizing that ordinary service disruptions and breaches of named commitments are different kinds of harm.

15.1 Ordinary breach (Tier 1) — 12-month cap. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN §15.2 AND §15.3, SHC'S TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIMS ARISING FROM THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICES SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNTS PAID BY YOU TO SHC IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

15.2 Named principles violations (Tier 2) — 36-month cap. SHC's liability for breach of any of the following commitments shall not exceed the amounts paid by you to SHC in the THIRTY-SIX (36) MONTHS preceding the claim:

• The "no data access" commitment in §6.1
• The "no traffic logging" commitment in §6.2
• The "no third-party data sharing" commitment in §6.3
• The "no undisclosed sub-processors" commitment in §6.4
• The "no voluntary government data sharing" commitment in §6.5
• The "no hyperscaler dependency" commitment in §6.7
• The "no foreign data residency" commitment in §6.8
• Removal of the warrant canary (§6.6) without 90 days' notice and demonstrable cause

15.3 Severe breaches (Tier 3) — uncapped. SHC's liability is UNCAPPED for the following breaches, which we acknowledge are corporate-suicide-level if violated:

• Failure to handle child sexual abuse material (CSAM) per AUP §5 (mandatory NCMEC reporting violations)
• Concealment of a sub-processor relationship that results in customer data exposure to that sub-processor
• Failure to maintain the warrant canary (§6.6) while subject to a gag order ("gag-order-without-canary-trigger") — i.e., active concealment of a classified request

15.4 Indirect damages excluded. EXCEPT FOR BREACHES UNDER §15.3, NEITHER PARTY SHALL BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES.

15.5 Customer's mitigation duty. Customer's recovery under any tier is reduced by amounts that could reasonably have been mitigated through standard backup, redundancy, and security practices.

16. Termination

16.1 Termination by either party — 30-day notice. Either party may terminate these Terms with 30 days' written notice.

16.2 SHC immediate termination. SHC may terminate immediately for material AUP violations, illegal activity, non-payment after the 7-day grace period, or as required by law. Notice will be given before action except where immediate action is required to protect SHC infrastructure, comply with law, or respond to illegal content per the AUP.

16.3 Customer immediate termination — principles violation. You may terminate these Terms immediately, with full Customer Data retrieval at no cost, if SHC violates any of:

• The §6 binding commitments (no-access, no-traffic-logging, no-third-party-sharing, no-undisclosed-sub-processors, no-voluntary-government-sharing, no-hyperscaler-dependency, no-foreign-data-residency)
• The §7 transparency commitments (warrant canary removed without §22.3 notice; quarterly transparency reports cease for two consecutive cycles without notice)
• Adds a sub-processor without 60 days' notice
• Weakens encryption-at-rest or in-transit standards without 60 days' notice

16.4 Customer immediate termination — change of control. Per §19.3.

16.5 Effects of termination. §10 (data retention and deletion), §12 (confidentiality), §13 (IP and indemnification), §15 (limitation of liability), §20 (dispute resolution), and §22 (general provisions) survive termination. Outstanding payment obligations also survive.

17. Force Majeure

Neither party is liable for failure to perform due to acts beyond reasonable control, including natural disasters, utility outages, regulatory action that doesn't compromise §6 commitments, or critical hardware-supply disruptions.

SHC's compliance with overbroad legal process is not force majeure. If compliance with such process would violate the §6 commitments, SHC will challenge the process or seek narrowing before complying. Force majeure must be notified within 30 days of the event; both parties may terminate without penalty if force majeure persists more than 60 days.

18. Notices

SHC notice to Customer: email to the Customer's email of record, plus prominent posting on the Customer's account dashboard. For material changes (§22.3), email plus an active signup-flow re-prompt.

Customer notice to SHC: email to the relevant SHC address (legal@, abuse@, security@, support@, privacy@, or compliance@sovereignhybridcompute.net) plus written copy to SHC's registered business address (see §23).

19. Assignment and Change of Control

19.1 Customer. You may not assign these Terms without SHC's written consent.

19.2 SHC assignment. SHC may assign these Terms to a successor entity in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of business, subject to §19.3.

19.3 Customer termination right on adverse change of control. You may terminate these Terms immediately, with full Customer Data retrieval at no cost, on 90 days' notice from SHC of any change-of-control event involving any of:

• Acquisition by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Oracle Cloud, or any equivalent hyperscale public-cloud provider. The list of "equivalent hyperscale public-cloud providers" is maintained by SHC and amendable with 60 days' notice; the current list is published at sovereignhybridcompute.net/trust/transparency.
• Acquisition by an entity in which more than 25% of voting equity is held by a non-US entity at controlling level.
• Removal or material weakening of any of the §6 commitments or §7 transparency commitments by the successor entity within 12 months of the change-of-control event.

SHC will provide 90 days' advance notice of any change-of-control event triggering this right. The termination right under this section is in addition to any other termination rights under §16.

20. Dispute Resolution

20.1 Hybrid arbitration with customer opt-out. Disputes arising from these Terms are subject to binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") under its Commercial Arbitration Rules, seated in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with a single arbitrator, conducted in English and confidentially, EXCEPT as provided in §20.2 and §20.4.

20.2 Customer opt-out. Within 30 days of account creation, you may opt out of arbitration by emailing legal@sovereignhybridcompute.net with the subject line "Arbitration Opt-Out" and your account email of record. If you opt out, disputes go to Wyoming state or federal court in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The opt-out applies for the life of your account.

20.3 Class-action waiver. Disputes are resolved on an individual basis only. No class arbitration, class action, mass action, or consolidation of claims is permitted, regardless of forum.

20.4 Injunctive relief carve-out. Either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in Wyoming state or federal court at any time, without prior arbitration, including for IP infringement, AUP violations causing imminent harm, breach of confidentiality, or breach of the §6 commitments.

20.5 Governing law. Wyoming state law governs these Terms, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.

20.6 Venue. Cheyenne, Laramie County, Wyoming.

21. Resellers and Downstream Customers

If you resell SHC infrastructure or operate services with your own customers, the AUP §8 reseller-responsibility provisions apply. You are responsible for downstream customer compliance with these Terms and the AUP.

22. General Provisions

22.1 Entire agreement. These Terms, the AUP, the Privacy Policy, the DPA, the SLA, the Data Residency policy, the Security Overview, and the Network Policy together constitute the entire agreement between SHC and Customer with respect to the Services. In case of conflict, an executed MSA prevails over these Terms; these Terms prevail over the other Trust-Center Documents only on contract terms (each governs its respective subject matter).

22.2 Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remainder of these Terms remains in effect, and the unenforceable provision is replaced by an enforceable provision that comes closest to expressing the original intent.

22.3 Modification — material vs. non-material changes. SHC may modify these Terms with 30 days' notice for non-material changes and 60 days' notice plus active acknowledgment for material changes.

Material changes include any of the following, and trigger the §16.3 customer immediate-termination right if not accepted:

• Any reduction in §6 binding commitments
• Any reduction in §7 transparency commitments
• Any expansion of SHC liability limitations beyond §15
• Any change to dispute-resolution forum, opt-out procedure, or class-action provisions in §20
• Any change to the change-of-control triggers in §19.3

Non-material changes include corrections, clarifications, and updates to the Trust-Center Documents that do not materially affect customer rights.

22.4 No waiver. Failure or delay in enforcing any provision is not a waiver of that provision.

22.5 Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.

22.6 Independent contractors. The parties are independent contractors; nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, or employment relationship.

23. Contact

Sovereign Hybrid Compute LLC
1603 Capitol Ave, Ste 415 #169104
Cheyenne, WY 82001
sovereignhybridcompute.net