Effective October 10, 2026 · Applies to the Bitcoin Alpha app (iPhone, Android and app.bitcoinalpha.org) and bitcoinalpha.org
Bitcoin Alpha is a private gathering, and the app is built the same way: we collect as little as we can, show it only to the people you choose, and delete it soon after the event.
- No ads, no ad trackers, no analytics companies, no data brokers. We never sell or rent your information.
- You are invisible to other attendees until you choose to appear in the crew list.
- Location is limited to which event room you are in, only inside the venue, and you can switch it off.
- Most of what the app stores is deleted within 30 days after the event.
Who we are
Bitcoin Alpha is run by Big Bitcoin Book LLC, California, USA ("we", "us"). Questions or requests: [email protected].
What we collect
| What | Why | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| Ticket email and name, and your order number, from your ticket purchase | To let ticket holders sign in, and to print your badge | Us. Your name shows to others only if you make your profile visible |
| Profile details you choose to add: display name, X handle, Nostr key, company, a short bio, a photo (uploaded by you, or your public X profile picture if you add your handle), topics, Club Orange handle | So other attendees can find and recognise you | Signed-in attendees, only if your profile is visible. Hidden by default |
| A contact email, if you add one, and whether to share it | So people you meet can reach you after the event | Only attendees, and only if you switch sharing on. Off by default |
| Sessions you mark "interested" | Reminders, and so session leads know which rooms will be full (we show counts, not names) | You. Others see totals only |
| Messages you send to other attendees, and people you block | To deliver your messages | You and the person you message. Messages are stored on our servers and are not end-to-end encrypted, so we can access them if required by law or to deal with abuse. We do not read them otherwise |
| Private notes about people you met | Your own memory aid | Only you |
| Which event room you are in (iPhone and Android apps, during the event) | "Who's here now" and room headcounts | Signed-in attendees, only if your profile is visible and room presence is on. You can turn it off any time |
| Push notification token, if you allow notifications | To send session reminders and messages to your phone | Us, and Apple or Google to deliver the notification |
| Basic usage: the type of device you signed in on (for example "Android app"), and how many times a day you opened the app | To know the app works on every device and how much it is used | Us |
| Security records: a one-way hash of your IP address after a failed sign-in, and emails entered at sign-in that don't match a ticket | To stop people guessing sign-in codes and to help attendees who use a different email | Us |
We do not collect your contacts, photos library, precise GPS position, advertising ID, payment card details, or your bitcoin addresses or balances.
About location and Bluetooth
At the venue, small Bluetooth beacons mark each room. The app listens for them to work out which room you are in, then sends only the room name (for example "03 Mission Lab") and the time. Android and iOS call this a "location" permission because Bluetooth beacons can reveal where you are, so the app asks for it, but it never reads or sends your GPS coordinates, and it only reports areas inside the event. Say no to the permission, or turn off room presence in your profile, and the app works normally without it.
What we don't do
- No advertising, and no advertising or analytics SDKs in the app.
- No selling, renting or "sharing" of personal information as those words are used in California law.
- No tracking cookies. The app uses one cookie, to keep you signed in. The website uses none of its own.
- No automated decisions or profiling about you.
Services that handle data for us
We use a small number of providers who process data only to run the service, under their own security and privacy terms:
- Cloudflare: hosts the app, website and database.
- Twilio SendGrid: sends sign-in links and event emails.
- Apple (APNs) and Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging): deliver push notifications if you allow them.
- Shopify: sells tickets. Your purchase is covered by Shopify's privacy policy; we receive your name, email and order number.
- Google Fonts: serves the app's typeface, which means Google receives your IP address when the font loads.
How long we keep it
- Room presence history, messages, private notes, push tokens and usage counts: deleted within 30 days after the event ends (by November 16, 2026).
- Your profile and sign-in record: kept so you can sign in at a future Bitcoin Alpha, until you ask us to delete them. If you don't sign in for 12 months, we delete them.
- Your ticket record: kept by Shopify and in our accounts as long as tax and accounting law requires.
Your choices and rights
- Stay invisible: you choose whether your profile appears to other attendees.
- Edit your name, profile and sharing settings any time in the app, under Me.
- Turn off room presence, notifications, and contact sharing at any time.
- Get a copy, correct it, or delete everything: email [email protected] from your ticket email and we'll do it within 30 days, usually much sooner. Deleting your account removes your profile, messages, notes, picks and presence data from the app.
Wherever you live, including California and the EU/UK, you have these rights and we will not treat you differently for using them.
Security
Everything is sent over HTTPS. Sign-in uses one-time email links and codes, not passwords, and we store only hashes of sign-in tokens. Access to the database is limited to the organizers who run the event. No system is perfectly secure; if something goes wrong that affects your information, we will tell you promptly.
Age
Bitcoin Alpha is for adults. The app is not intended for anyone under 18, and we don't knowingly collect information from children.
Changes
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we will update the date above and tell attendees in the app or by email before the change takes effect.