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Institution Types and Members

Learn about institution types, member roles, and requirements

Institution Types

Institution Type

Institution type (institution_type) is the primary legal structure of the institution, which can be one of the following:

Institution TypeDescription
CORPORATIONA legal entity that is separate and distinct from its owners
LLCLimited Liability Company, a business structure that combines elements of partnerships and corporations
TRUSTA legal entity created to hold and manage assets for beneficiaries
PARTNERSHIPA business relationship between two or more individuals who share management and profits

Institution Subtypes

Institution subtype (institution_sub_type) is the primary area of business activity of the institution, work with your Paxos Partner to understand the mapping from your institution subtypes to ours.

Paxos prohibits certain types of business activity ("Prohibited Businesses") in accordance with its Compliance policies. The following non-exhaustive list is representative of the type of activity that Paxos prohibits on its platform. By creating a Paxos Identity, Paxos customers agree not to use Paxos services in connection with any of the following Prohibited Businesses.

  • ADULT_ENTERTAINMENT
  • DRUGS
  • RANSOMWARE
  • SHELL_BANK
  • WEAPONS

Creating Financially Regulated Institutions

Please refer to the following table for creating institutions which are financially regulated.

Regulation StatusDescription
US_REGULATEDInstitution financially regulated in the US
INTL_REGULATEDInstitution financially regulated by an international entity
NON_REGULATEDNon-financially regulated institution

Note that each category of regulation_status then has additional validations tied to trading_type and other required fields.

Regulation StatusTrading TypeFields RequiredNotes
US_REGULATEDPRIVATEregulator_name, regulator_jurisdiction, regulator_register_numberNot publicly traded
US_REGULATEDPUBLIClisted_exchange, ticker_symbol, regulator_name, regulator_jurisdiction, regulator_register_numberPublicly traded
US_REGULATEDPUBLICLY_TRADED_SUBSIDIARYlisted_exchange, ticker_symbol, regulator_name, regulator_jurisdiction, regulator_register_number, parent_institution_nameSubsidiary of a publicly traded company
INTL_REGULATEDPRIVATEregulator_name, regulator_jurisdiction, regulator_register_numberNot publicly traded
INTL_REGULATEDPUBLIClisted_exchange, ticker_symbol, regulator_name, regulator_jurisdiction, regulator_register_numberPublicly traded
INTL_REGULATEDPUBLICLY_TRADED_SUBSIDIARYlisted_exchange, ticker_symbol, regulator_name, regulator_jurisdiction, regulator_register_number, parent_institution_nameSubsidiary of a publicly traded company
NON_REGULATEDPRIVATENoneNot publicly traded
NON_REGULATEDPUBLIClisted_exchange, ticker_symbolPublicly traded

Note: NON_REGULATED only supports PRIVATE and PUBLIC trading types. PUBLICLY_TRADED_SUBSIDIARY is not supported for NON_REGULATED institutions.

Institution Members

Member Roles

Institution members can have one or more roles that define their relationship with the institution. Each role has specific requirements and applicability depending on the institution type:

RoleDescription
BENEFICIAL_OWNERPerson who owns 25% or more of the institution.
ACCOUNT_OPENERPerson who opened the account on behalf of the institution.
AUTHORIZED_USERPerson authorized to transact on behalf of the institution.
MANAGEMENT_CONTROL_PERSONPerson with significant management control over the institution (e.g., CEO, CFO, COO).
TRUSTEEPerson who manages assets in a trust for beneficiaries and is legally responsible for the trust.
GRANTORPerson who creates a trust by donating assets.
BENEFICIARYPerson who receives benefits from a trust.

Role Compatibility by Institution Type

The following grid shows which roles are applicable for each institution type:

RoleTrustCorporationLLCPartnership
BENEFICIAL_OWNER
AUTHORIZED_USER--
MANAGEMENT_CONTROL_PERSON--
TRUSTEE------
GRANTOR------
BENEFICIARY------
  • Trusts: A trust institution must have members that collectively have the roles of BENEFICIARY, TRUSTEE, and GRANTOR. A member cannot have both BENEFICIAL_OWNER and BENEFICIARY roles.
  • Corporations, LLCs, Partnerships: These institutions typically require at least one BENEFICIAL_OWNER and one MANAGEMENT_CONTROL_PERSON.
  • For all institution types, members must be Identity objects already created in the system.