# The regulated perimeter

URL: /systems/trust-and-governance/perimeter · Id: `page:systems/trust-and-governance/perimeter`

> What the platform builds at once, what goes Live only after a Credential or licensed upstream, and the money activities the platform never performs.

The regulated perimeter is the line between what [StartupBuilder](/code/builders/startup) builds and what only a licensed party may do. Money moves only through Stripe connected accounts, and the platform never performs a regulated financial activity itself.

## What the platform never does
The platform performs none of these activities, for any [Startup](/business/nouns/startup).

| Activity | What it means | What a Startup does instead |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Money transmission | Holding or moving money for others | Money moves through Stripe connected accounts, from the [Customer](/business/nouns/customer) to the seller's bank |
| Stored value | Balances spendable across sellers | Prepaid credit spent only on the Startup's own [Offers](/business/nouns/offer) is deferred revenue |
| Lending | Advancing money to be repaid | It connects a licensed lender as its upstream |
| Insurance pools | Pooling premiums to pay claims | A licensed carrier or agency binds every policy |
| Securities vehicles | Selling investment interests | A registered intermediary runs the offering |
| Escheat | Holding unclaimed property for its owners | Each [Company](/business/nouns/company) reports its own under [Unclaimed property](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/unclaimed) |

[The money path](/systems/finance/funds-flow) traces every dollar from checkout to payout.

## Admission
Admission reads what a Startup sells and what its Offers move, and gives one of three answers.

| Answer | When | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Admitted | No regulated activity | A data API selling commercial building permit records |
| Admitted, Live gated | An Offer needs a [Credential](/business/nouns/credential) or a licensed upstream | A marketplace of licensed tax preparers, where each preparer's Credential is checked before their first [Order](/business/nouns/order) |
| Refused | A regulated activity with no licensed upstream | A pay-advance app that lends against wages from its own balance |

A gated Startup builds and tests in full. It goes [Live](/business/lifecycle/states/live) once the Credential or the upstream [Agreement](/business/nouns/agreement) is on record, and [Licensing](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/licensing) keeps it current.

A refused Startup gets the [refused](/code/api/errors/refused) error with the activity named. The same Startup with a licensed upstream connected passes.

## The line holds after launch
Admission runs again on every [Change](/business/nouns/change) that adds an Offer, a market or a way of moving money. A Startup cannot drift across the line one feature at a time.

A Live Startup found across the line is suspended. A [brake](/agents/autonomy-levels/brakes) stops new Orders and money movement. Existing Customers keep access to their data and receive refunds on the terms they accepted.

The owner of record appeals through a [Task](/business/nouns/task). A person at the platform decides, and the [Decision](/business/nouns/decision) records the reason.

## Next
- [Acceptable use](/systems/trust-and-governance/acceptable-use): what no Startup builds, regulated or not.
- [Legal floor](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor): the obligations that wake inside the line.
- [Getting paid](/systems/finance/getting-paid): payouts on a connected account.