Prohibited Businesses & Jurisdictions

You must not use Breinrock’s services for the following activities.

Illegal products and services

• Illegal drugs, substances designed to mimic illegal drugs, and equipment designed for making or using drugs
• Fake references or ID-providing services
• Telecommunications manipulation equipment including jamming devices
• Any business or organization that:
  • Engages in, encourages, promotes, or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property
  • Engages in, encourages, promotes, or celebrates unlawful violence toward any group based on race, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other immutable characteristic
• Any other products or services that are in violation of law in the jurisdictions where your business is located or targeted to

Products and services that infringe intellectual property rights

• Sales or distribution of music, movies, software, or any other licensed materials without appropriate authorization
• Counterfeit goods; illegally imported or exported products
• Unauthorized sale of brand name or designer products or services
• Any other products or services that directly infringe or facilitate infringement upon the trademark, patent, copyright, trade secrets, proprietary or privacy rights of any third party

Products and services that are unfair, predatory, or deceptive

• Pyramid schemes
• ‘Get rich quick’ schemes including:
  • Investment opportunities or other services that promise high rewards to mislead consumers
  • Schemes that claim to offer high rewards for very little effort or upfront work
  • Sites that promise fast and easy money
  • Businesses that make outrageous claims, use deceptive testimonials, use high-pressure upselling, and/or use fake testimonials
• No value-added services including sale or resale of a service without added benefit to the buyer and resale of government offerings without authorization or added value
• Sales of online traffic or engagement
• Negative response marketing and telemarketing
• Predatory mortgage consulting, lending, credit repair, and counseling services
• Predatory investment opportunities with no or low money down
• Remote technical support; mugshot publication or pay-to-remove sites; essay mills; chain letters; door-to-door sales
• Any other businesses that Breinrock considers unfair, deceptive, or predatory towards consumers

Adult content and services

• Pornography and other mature audience content (including literature, imagery, and other media) depicting nudity or explicit sexual acts
• Adult services including prostitution, escorts, pay-per-view, sexual massages, and adult live chat features
• Adult video stores
• Gentleman’s clubs, topless bars, and strip clubs
• Online dating services

Certain legal services

• Law firms collecting funds for purposes other than legal service fee payment
• Bankruptcy attorneys
• Bail bonds

Firearms, explosives, precious and dangerous materials

• Guns, gunpowders, ammunitions, weapons, fireworks, and other explosives
• Peptides, research chemicals, and other toxic, flammable, and radioactive materials
• Precious metals

Gambling and cash-intensive businesses

• Games of chance including gambling, internet gambling, sweepstakes, and contests, fantasy sports leagues with a monetary or material prize
• Sports forecasting or odds making with a monetary or material prize
• Lotteries
• Bidding fee auctions
• Other cash-intensive businesses

Marijuana

• Cannabis products
• Cannabis dispensaries and related businesses

The types of businesses listed are representative but not exhaustive.

Restricted Jurisdictions

There are a few jurisdictions that we cannot provide services to. This means that:

• We cannot onboard entities located in these jurisdictions
• We cannot onboard entities that have UBOs located in these jurisdictions
• We cannot send or receive funds from these jurisdictions

The following list is updated regularly based on changing regulatory and partner requirements:

• Abkhazia
• Afghanistan
• Albania
• Angola
• Belarus
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Burma (Myanmar)
• Burundi
• Central African Republic
• Cuba
• Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Ethiopia
• Eritrea
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Haiti
• Iran
• Iraq
• Ivory Coast (Cote D’Ivoire)
• Kosovo
• Lebanon
• Liberia
• Libya
• Macedonia
• Mali
• Myanmar (Burma)
• Nagorno-Karabakh
• Nicaragua
• Northern Cyprus
• Pakistan
• Russia
• Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
• Somalia
• Somaliland
• South Ossetia
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Syria
• Serbia
• Sierra Leone
• Ukraine (Occupied territories)
• Venezuela
• Yemen
• Zimbabwe