Once Upon a Bit · Legal

Terms of Service

What we do, what we do not do, and what you are agreeing to.

Effective 2026-08-08 · Once Upon a Bit, operated by Mauricio Eastmond (California, USA) · mauricio@onceuponabit.com

These terms are an agreement between you and Mauricio Eastmond, the individual who operates the Once Upon a Bit website (“we” and “us”). Once Upon a Bit is operated by an individual, not a company, so these terms name the person responsible. They took effect on 2026-08-08. By creating a gift, funding a gift, or purchasing a storybook unlock, you agree to them. A gift is claimed by a child with an adult present; the adult accepts these terms on their own behalf, and no contract is formed with the child.

1 · What Once Upon a Bit is

Once Upon a Bit is a website for gifting small amounts of bitcoin to children, together with illustrated storybooks that teach what bitcoin is. An adult chooses a story, funds the gift from their own wallet, and shares a claim link; the child reads the story and, with an adult, moves the coins into a wallet of their own. This is the entire service.

Our servers have a narrow role. They store the details an adult enters when creating a gift, watch the gift’s public address so the page can show its status, and pass the signed claim transaction to the bitcoin network. They cannot spend, freeze, or recover any bitcoin: the only key that can spend a gift never reaches our servers. It travels inside the claim link, on your side.

We are not a bank, an exchange, a broker, a custodian, a trustee, a fiduciary, or a party to your gift. We do not buy, sell, hold, or convert bitcoin, and we do not accept money on anyone’s behalf. At no point do we take possession of the bitcoin in a gift.

2 · You must be 18

You must be at least 18 years old to create a gift, fund a gift, or purchase a storybook unlock. The claim experience is designed for a child to use with an adult present; no contract is formed with a child.

3 · The gift key

Each gift has its own newly generated bitcoin key. In the software as published, the key is created in your browser and travels inside the claim link after the “#” symbol — a part of a web address that browsers do not send to servers. Our servers store the gift’s public address and never receive the key.

These statements describe the software as published; because we write and publish it, a future version could work differently. They can also be verified independently: the key in your claim link is a standard bitcoin private key, and our offline recovery page converts it into a format any bitcoin wallet can import, without this website’s involvement.

4 · The claim link is a bearer instrument

Whoever holds the claim link can claim the gift. It functions like cash in an envelope and should be treated accordingly. Before you fund a gift, we require you to confirm that you have saved the link, and we record that confirmation.

IF THE LINK IS LOST, THE GIFT CANNOT BE RECOVERED — BY YOU OR BY US. We do not hold a copy of the key and cannot recreate it. If someone else obtains your link, they can take the gift, and we cannot reverse or freeze the transaction. By funding a gift, you accept this risk. This is how bitcoin works; it is not a restriction we impose.

Because we never hold the coins, we cannot cancel, refund, or reverse a gift. An unclaimed gift can be swept back by you, using your own copy of the claim link.

5 · Storybook unlocks

Gifts are free. The only thing we sell is a one-time US$2.99 unlock of the full storybook library for a single gift’s claim link, paid in bitcoin to an address we control. The price is quoted in satoshis and fixed for 24 hours from the moment you begin the purchase.

Refunds are not automated. Sending bitcoin from an address requires that address’s private key, and our servers hold no private keys: library payment addresses are derived from a public key, so our servers can detect a payment but cannot spend it. The private keys stay in the operator’s own wallet, and any correction is made manually by the operator, from that wallet.

If you paid and did not receive what you paid for — an underpayment whose quote expired, an overpayment, a duplicate payment, or an unlock that failed to apply — email mauricio@onceuponabit.com with the gift’s ID: the short code in the link, before the “#” symbol. Never send us the link itself — everything after the “#” is the key to the bitcoin, and anyone who has it can take the gift. We will deliver the unlock or return what you sent; for an overpayment or a duplicate payment, we will return the amount beyond the price.

6 · Acceptable use

You agree not to use Once Upon a Bit to:

  • move proceeds of crime, or funds intended for any unlawful purpose;
  • evade sanctions, or access the service from a jurisdiction we block — access is restricted by region, and you may not circumvent those restrictions;
  • attack, overload, scrape, or probe the service, or attempt to access data belonging to gifts that are not yours;
  • create gifts in bulk with automated tools, or enumerate, guess, or harvest gift or claim links that were not shared with you;
  • resell, white-label, or route third-party volume through our transaction relay.

You confirm that you are not subject to US sanctions and are not acting on behalf of any person or entity that is.

If you violate these rules, we may block or limit your access to the service. We cannot freeze, seize, or reverse anyone’s bitcoin, because we never hold it.

7 · No warranty

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR AVAILABLE AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME.

Bitcoin’s price is volatile. Nothing on this website is financial, investment, or tax advice, and nothing here is a prediction of bitcoin’s future value. The bitcoin network charges its own transaction fees, which we do not receive and do not control.

8 · Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE, OR (B) US$100. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS.

The US$100 minimum corresponds to the maximum gift amount on this website. Because creating and claiming gifts is free, a cap limited to amounts paid to us would be zero for most users.

We never hold your coins, so a gift lost with its link, or taken by someone who obtained the link, is not something we cause, control, or can undo (see Section 4).

NOTHING IN THESE TERMS LIMITS OUR LIABILITY FOR FRAUD, FOR WILLFUL MISCONDUCT, OR FOR ANY LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE LIMITED OR EXCLUDED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. Under California law, a contract cannot exempt anyone from responsibility for their own fraud, willful injury, or violation of law (Civil Code § 1668), and rights under the Consumer Legal Remedies Act cannot be waived. Where a limitation above is not permitted, it does not apply; the remainder of these terms is unaffected.

9 · Disputes: individual claims only

YOU AND WE EACH AGREE TO BRING CLAIMS ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY CLASS, COLLECTIVE, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION.

Small claims are preserved. Either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court. These terms do not impose mandatory arbitration. Where the law does not allow this waiver for a particular claim — under California law, for example, the right to seek a public injunction cannot be waived — the waiver does not apply to that claim, and the rest of these terms is unaffected.

Before filing any claim, please contact mauricio@onceuponabit.com; most issues can be resolved directly.

10 · Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. The state and federal courts located in California are the venue for any dispute not brought in small-claims court.

Access to the service is restricted by region. If you access it from a blocked region, or from a place where any part of the service is unlawful, you may not use it.

11 · The storybooks

The storybooks, illustrations, and text are © 2026 Mauricio Eastmond. All rights reserved. A storybook unlock grants reading access on the claim link for which it was purchased; it does not transfer ownership or permit redistribution, resale, or republication of the books or artwork.

12 · Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. Because the service has no accounts and we hold no email addresses, we cannot notify you individually. Each version carries an effective date, and the version in force when you acknowledged a gift is recorded with that gift and never rewritten. Changes are not retroactive.

13 · Contact

Mauricio Eastmond, California, USA — mauricio@onceuponabit.com.