how we operate
The arithmetic, the custody, and where we stand.
Spending power is a number derived from prices. This page says how it is derived, what a tap does to it, what happens when it falls, and who holds what.
How the number is made, and how it is spent.
- Spending power
- Every locked asset is valued and takes a haircut, so it counts for a share of its value rather than all of it. The shares added together are your spending power. A haircut is not a fee; it is the cushion that lets a price fall without your spending immediately exceeding what your collateral supports.The shares, rendered from the engine
- The required level
- Your locked collateral has to stay above a required level relative to what you have drawn. A charge that would take it below that level is declined, on a coffee and on a flight alike.
- A tap
- The charge is checked against spending power and the guardrail. If it passes, the amount is drawn against your collateral: your drawn balance rises by that amount and you repay it over time. Nothing is sold to fund it.
- When value falls
- As your collateral falls toward the required level the account is in Watch: nothing is declined, the cushion is thin. At the required level new charges are declined and nothing is sold. If the account stays there and is not cured, collateral is sold at market prices to cover what has been drawn, which may realise a gain or a loss. Repaying part of the balance or locking more of what you hold restores headroom at any step.
custody and signing
Who holds the assets, and who holds the keys.
Stated the way the security page states it, because the answer does not change with the page.
- Your assets
- An asset you send us becomes ours to hold, together with other members' assets. It is not held in an account in your own name and it is not segregated. What you hold is a claim on those assets, and our records are what size it.
- Your keys
- You hold a balance with us, not a key. Gether holds the keys that can move the assets, so you are exposed to us as a counterparty: if we fail, are hacked, or make an operational mistake, you can lose assets our records say are yours, and no insurance and no government scheme makes that loss good.
- Proving a wallet is yours
- To bind a wallet you sign a challenge, and the backend recovers the signer and checks it matches the claimed address. The browser is never trusted to assert ownership.
- Our own signing
- The key that signs Gether's on-chain transactions is held in AWS Key Management Service, so signing happens inside that service and our servers never hold the key.
where we stand
A waitlist phase. Not a bank.
Spending against a portfolio carries real risk. Tokenized equities and digital assets are volatile, and the spending power your positions support falls with them. Drawn balances accrue a carrying cost and have to be repaid. A charge is declined when your collateral falls below the required level. A position that stays below it can be sold to settle what you owe, which may realise a gain or a loss and may have tax consequences. Gether is in a waitlist phase, Gether is not a bank, and the legal documents linked below are drafts pending counsel review.
Read it before you need it.
The account agreement carries the terms behind everything on this page, and it is linked from every footer on this site.