Terms of service

These terms govern the use of sperfy.com and the advisory services of M A Naeli Abdelkarim, who works under the name Sperfy. Reading the site means accepting sections 1 to 3 and 9 to 14. An engagement adds the rest, alongside the signed scope document for that piece of work.

1. Who these terms bind

"I", "me" and "Sperfy" mean M A Naeli Abdelkarim, a person registered in Romania as a PFA (persoană fizică autorizată) at Registrul Comerțului under F40/1187/2019, fiscal code 41276358, at 84 Strada Ropotului, Andronache, Bucharest 022521. "You" means the visitor reading this site or the company that engages me.

Where a signed scope document and these terms disagree, the scope document wins for that engagement.

2. Using this website

The site is offered as it stands, for information about the work. Everything on it is general explanation, written for a broad audience, and it is not advice about your particular situation. Acting on a public web page instead of asking a question is a bad idea, and I would rather take the call.

Please do not attempt to interfere with the site, extract data from it in bulk, or use it in a way that breaks Romanian or EU law. Links to other websites are given because they were useful when the page was written, and I do not control what happens on them afterwards.

3. What Sperfy provides

Sperfy is a one person consulting practice. The work consists of technical and operational guidance about blockchain and distributed ledger systems: architecture review, node and validator operations, documentation, training and written recommendations. Fees are charged for advisory time and nothing else.

The following describes the boundaries of that service, and they apply to every engagement.

• Clients keep possession and control of their own systems, keys, accounts and digital assets at all times. Sperfy never takes possession of client funds, client keys or client assets, and never operates a client system on the client's behalf.
• Sperfy is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, and is not an accountancy or tax practice. Where a question belongs to a lawyer or an accountant, I say so and work alongside the professional you appoint.
• Sperfy is not authorised or supervised as a financial services provider, a payment institution or a crypto-asset service provider in Romania or elsewhere, and provides none of those services.
• Recommendations are professional opinions formed from the facts you give me and the state of the technology at the time. Outcomes depend on decisions your organisation makes and on networks nobody controls, so no result is promised or assured.
• No price forecasts, performance figures or comparisons of financial outcomes are published here, and nothing on this site should be read as any of those.

4. Who we accept as clients

I work with companies, partnerships and organised project teams. Contracts are signed between your organisation and my registered practice, and invoiced accordingly. I do not take engagements from private individuals acting in a personal capacity, and enquiries of that kind are declined at the first call.

5. How an engagement is agreed

Nothing is billable until a scope document is signed by both sides. That document names the work, the people involved, the number of days, the price and the delivery dates. Anything outside it is a change, agreed in writing, priced before it starts.

The 30 minute introductory call carries no fee and creates no obligation for either side.

6. Fees, VAT and payment

Advisory work is charged by the day at the rate stated in the scope document, plus Romanian VAT where it applies. Travel and accommodation outside Bucharest are billed at cost and agreed in advance. Invoices are payable within 14 days by bank transfer to the account named on the invoice.

Late payment carries statutory interest under Romanian law. I will always ask before escalating anything.

7. What we need from you

My advice is only as good as the picture I am given. You agree to provide accurate information, to make the right people available for the sessions in the scope, and to hold the necessary rights to any system or material you ask me to look at. If something material changes during the engagement, tell me, because it usually changes the recommendation.

8. Confidentiality

Everything I learn about your organisation stays with me and with anyone you have named in writing. I am happy to sign your non-disclosure agreement, or to use mine. Confidentiality survives the end of the engagement without a time limit, apart from information that becomes public through no act of mine.

No client is named publicly without written permission. Comments published on this site appear with the author's agreement and without their employer's name unless they asked for it.

9. Ownership of materials

Reports, diagrams and runbooks written for you become yours once the invoice for that work is settled, with a licence to use them internally as you see fit. Methods, checklists and templates brought into the engagement stay mine, and you get a perpetual licence to use them inside your organisation.

The content, layout and brand names on this website belong to M A Naeli Abdelkarim. Quoting a paragraph with a link back is welcome. Republishing whole pages is not.

10. Client recognition

Repeat clients are offered a place at the quarterly technical roundtable, first choice of workshop dates and a direct line to me rather than a form. This is recognition and access, nothing more.

These benefits carry no cash value. They cannot be purchased, transferred, exchanged for money or anything else, and they are not redeemable in any form. The arrangement may be changed or withdrawn at any time, and doing so gives rise to no claim.

11. Liability

I accept liability for damage caused by my own fault in performing an engagement, limited to the fees paid for that engagement in the twelve months before the event that caused it. I am not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of business, or loss arising from decisions your organisation took after receiving my advice.

Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that Romanian law does not allow to be limited.

I am not responsible for the behaviour of public networks, third party software or service providers I do not control, including protocol changes, network congestion or defects in software published by others.

12. Ending an engagement

Either side may end an engagement with 14 days written notice. You pay for the days worked up to that point and for commitments that cannot reasonably be cancelled, such as booked travel. Either side may end it immediately for a material breach that is not fixed within 30 days of written notice.

13. Governing law

Romanian law governs these terms and every engagement under them. Disputes go to the competent courts of Bucharest. If you are a consumer resident elsewhere in the European Union, mandatory rules in your own country still apply to you.

14. Changes and contact

These terms are updated occasionally. The version number and revision date at the top of this page change with them, and the version in force when your scope document was signed is the one that governs that engagement.

Questions about these terms go to legal@sperfy.com or M A Naeli Abdelkarim, 84 Strada Ropotului, Andronache, Bucharest 022521, Romania.