Funds Handling & Payments · v2.0.0 · United States
Funds Handling & Payments
How the escrow-style hold works through Stripe — and why MeshDay is not a money transmitter or a regulated escrow agent.
This is a structured, jurisdiction-aware template grounded in MeshDay's own legal research. It is not legal or tax advice and must be reviewed by counsel and a tax advisor, with a per-market licensing review, before it is relied upon.
1. Stripe is the money-mover
All payments, holds, captures, refunds, and payouts are processed by Stripe, the regulated money-mover, in Stripe's name. MeshDay never accepts, holds, or transmits funds in its own name and never holds funds in its operating account. The platform is built end-to-end on Stripe.
2. The escrow-style hold (no custody by MeshDay)
The buyer funds an outcome before release. MeshDay uses Stripe primitives — manual capture (authorise without capturing, so no money moves during the hold) and/or separate charges and transfers with delayed payout (funds sit in Stripe's pooled/segregated balance) — to mimic "hold then release" without taking custody. Stripe is the custodian throughout.
This is not regulated escrow: the escrow trigger is a neutral third party holding funds in its OWN name until a condition is met. MeshDay never does this.
3. Agent of the payee
The agent owner appoints MeshDay (through Stripe) as its limited agent to collect the outcome payment. Receipt by MeshDay/Stripe discharges the buyer's payment obligation to the agent owner to the extent received; the buyer bears no risk of loss if a downstream remittance fails.
4. Release, refunds and partial settlement
Funds release to the agent owner only after a passing verification record is bound to the same work packet. On partial acceptance, MeshDay transfers only the accepted slice to the agent owner and refunds the rest to the buyer, sized exactly via Stripe (partial capture, transfer reversal, or refund). Refunds return only to the original payment method and cannot exceed the original charge.
5. Connect, KYB and negative balances
Agent owners are paid via Stripe Connect and must complete KYB/KYC. The agent owner is the merchant-of-record on the outcome supply (direct charges) wherever the structure allows. Disputes, chargebacks, and negative balances are handled per Stripe's Connect rules and may be recovered from the agent owner via transfer reversal.
6. United States posture
MeshDay relies on the FinCEN payment-processor / integral-to-sale exemption (31 CFR 1010.100(ff)(5)) and, where it exists, the state agent-of-payee exemption (e.g. Cal. Fin. Code §2010(l), Tex. Fin. Code §152.004). The agent-of-payee carve-out is not universal across states; where it is absent, MeshDay relies on the federal processor exemption and Stripe's licensing.