# Acceptable Use Policy

> Basalthold acceptable use for rented storage servers: backups welcome; mining and public sharing of others' works banned; port 25 shut. Crypto, no KYC.

- URL: https://basalthold.com/acceptable-use/
- Last updated: 2026-11-02
- Publisher: Basalthold (https://basalthold.com)

What a Basalthold hold is for, each banned use spelled out, how Tor relays and port 25 are treated, and what follows a report or a breach.

**Quick answer — What can I store and run on a Basalthold storage server?**

A **Basalthold** hold is for data you own or manage: offsite backups, archives, file sync, photo libraries, self-hosted S3, your own media library, blockchain archive nodes. Banned: spam, phishing, malware, attacks, fraud, child sexual abuse material, mining of any kind (Chia included) and public sharing of others' works. Outgoing port 25 is closed. Policy of 2 November 2026.

## 1. Who this policy binds

It applies to every Basalthold account, every hold, every virtual machine or container on a hold, and everyone who logs in to one. The [terms of service](https://basalthold.com/terms/ "The contract for renting a Basalthold storage server") make it binding, whichever hold from the [pricing page](https://basalthold.com/pricing/ "Four holds and their prices per 30 days") you rent. If you give someone access, their actions on the hold count as yours.

## 2. The law we answer to

Basalthold is run by DomaineGoat LLC, a company registered in Panama and bound only by Panamanian law. Each datacenter that houses a server follows the law of its own country. A demand built on another country's law does not, by itself, lead us to act.

## 3. What a hold is for

Anything section 5 does not ban is allowed. These are the uses a storage server is made for:

- offsite backups with restic, Borg, Proxmox Backup Server or Veeam, NAS copies included (see [the best offsite backup for a NAS](https://basalthold.com/offsite-backup-for-nas/ "Offsite copies of a NAS on a rented server"));
- archives, cold copies and dataset storage;
- file sync and photo libraries such as Nextcloud and Immich;
- S3-compatible object storage you run yourself (see [self-hosted S3 storage](https://basalthold.com/self-hosted-s3-storage/ "Garage, SeaweedFS, Ceph RGW and MinIO on one machine"));
- your own Plex or Jellyfin library, streamed to yourself and your household (see [storage for your own Plex or Jellyfin library](https://basalthold.com/plex-jellyfin-storage/ "Sizing a personal media library on a rented server"));
- blockchain full and archive nodes (see [the disk size of an Ethereum archive node](https://basalthold.com/ethereum-archive-node-disk-size/ "Disk needs per Ethereum client"));
- recorded CCTV footage you are entitled to keep;
- development, test and build machines.

## 4. Tor relays

Tor relays are allowed, exits included. Port 25 is shut for outgoing mail on every hold (section 7), so an exit relay on Basalthold cannot pass SMTP on that port. The rest of this policy applies to relay operators like everyone else.

## 5. Banned uses

Not allowed: spam or bulk email, phishing, malware or botnet control, DDoS or other attacks, scanning or brute-forcing systems that are not yours, booter or stresser services, carding or fraud, child sexual abuse material, cryptocurrency mining (Chia and other proof-of-space included), seedboxes, IPTV, public distribution of films, series, music, games or software you hold no rights to, and any service to sanctioned people or companies.

Each entry is explained below. The bans reach the hold, every virtual machine on it and every service sold from it.

| Banned | Meaning on a Basalthold hold |
| --- | --- |
| Spam and bulk mail | Messages sent in volume to people who never asked for them, whatever the port, relay or provider. |
| Phishing | Any page, mail or app that imitates a bank, wallet, shop or other service to harvest logins, card data or seed phrases. |
| Malware and botnet control | Storing or serving malicious code for others to download, and running servers that steer infected machines. |
| DDoS and other attacks | Flooding or exploiting any system from the hold, or from a guest machine on it. |
| Scanning and brute force | Probing ports, hunting for flaws or guessing passwords on systems you do not own. |
| Booter and stresser services | Selling or running floods on demand, whatever the service calls itself. |
| Carding and fraud | Testing or using stolen cards, running fake storefronts or scam sites, or any trick to obtain payment under false pretences. |
| Child sexual abuse material | Zero tolerance: no storage, sharing or linking of it in any form. |
| Mining, proof-of-space included | Mining any coin, and filling drives with Chia plots or any other proof-of-space or proof-of-storage farming. |
| Torrent boxes and TV re-streaming | A hold used as a torrent download-and-seed box, or to rebroadcast television channels or live streams to subscribers. |
| Public distribution of others' works | Download links, public shares or streams of films, series, music, games or software that you hold no rights to. |
| Service to sanctioned parties | Serving, hosting for or reselling to a sanctioned person or company, or anyone in the places named in section 8. |

Where the lines fall:

- **Nodes versus mining:** a node stores and checks a chain and mines nothing, so it is welcome. Plotting drives for Chia is mining, and it is banned.
- **Your media versus distribution:** a library you watch yourself is fine. Opening it to the public, or selling access, is not.
- **Backups of others' data:** fine when you run them for clients who own that data.
- **Testing:** scan and attack your own machines all you like; other people's machines are off limits.

## 6. DMCA and other foreign copyright notices

DMCA notices and other foreign copyright notices are not acted on: only Panamanian law and the decisions of Panamanian courts apply to us. By itself, a DMCA complaint, or one citing another foreign copyright statute, removes nothing and suspends nothing.

That is a rule about which law applies, nothing more. The bans of section 5 are our own rules, and that includes public distribution of works you hold no rights to. They apply whether or not anyone sends a notice.

## 7. Outgoing mail and port 25

Outgoing mail on port 25 is blocked on every server for good, against spam; ports 465 and 587 to mail providers are open. A mail server on a hold therefore sends through a provider on port 465 or 587. Bulk mail stays banned whichever port carries it.

## 8. Who is refused

The service is closed to residents and companies of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, Belarus, China, Yemen and Western Sahara, and to the occupied regions of Ukraine. Incoming payments are checked against public sanctions lists of blockchain addresses; a payment from a listed address is not credited. Accounts are for adults aged 18 or over.

## 9. Reports of abuse

Foreign copyright notices, DMCA included, are not acted on; Panamanian law and Panamanian court orders are what count. Spam, phishing, malware, botnet control, attacks and child sexual abuse material are forbidden and get the server suspended.

Send reports about a Basalthold IP address to abuse@basalthold.com. Four details make a report actionable:

- the IP address at Basalthold;
- the date and time, with the time zone;
- what happened: spam, phishing, malware, an attack, a scan;
- evidence: log lines, full mail headers or the URL.

Copyright complaints, whether filed under the DMCA or another foreign law, get no action from the abuse desk.

## 10. Suspension

A breach of section 5 gets the hold suspended. The dashboard shows it as suspended, and support tells you why on request. The unused days of a hold suspended for a breach are forfeited, since the [refund policy](https://basalthold.com/refunds/ "When days return to your Basalthold balance") credits days only in its own two cases.

A hold that simply runs out of paid days is a different matter, covered by the terms: its drives are kept 7 days, then wiped.

## 11. Appeals

Write to support@basalthold.com. A person answers support emails within 12 hours, seven days a week, including help with SSH keys, RAID, reinstalls and firewall rules.

- Give the order reference and the hold's IP address.
- Leave your account number out. Nobody from our team will ever ask for your account number, your root password or your private SSH key, by email or in a chat.
- Say what happened and what you changed: the malware removed, the open relay closed, the guest machine shut down.

## 12. Records and court orders

We release records to nobody but a Panamanian court that orders it. The [privacy policy](https://basalthold.com/privacy/ "Records Basalthold keeps and the logs it never writes") names each record we have. No logs are kept: no connection records, no traffic records and no visitor or customer IP addresses, on the website, in the dashboard or on the servers.

## 13. Revisions

Version of 2 November 2026. A revised policy carries a new date at the top and applies to every hold from that date.

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Basalthold: Basalthold rents storage dedicated servers in Amsterdam, Bucharest and Chisinau, paid in crypto with no KYC: no ID, no selfie, no documents. Each server is a whole physical machine with 24 TB to 160 TB of hard drives for one customer, delivered with blank data drives and root access, for backups, archives, file sync and self-hosted object storage. On 2 November 2026, prices ran from $110.99 per 30 days for 24 TB to $561.39 for 160 TB ($3.50 per raw TB). It is run by DomaineGoat LLC, a company registered in Panama, keeps no logs and never asks for your encryption keys.