01
Gate
Subscriptions, entitlements, metered usage. The paywall is a rule, not a setting that drifts.
Auditable payment & paywall infrastructure
Money handled with the discretion it deserves.
Sterling gates access, settles on Stripe, Plaid or ACH, and collects what is owed. It cannot overcharge, hide a fee, or chase a disputed debt.
Discretion, by construction.
Why it matters
Payment systems ask you to trust them.
This one lets you verify.
Most ledgers are written by whoever holds the money. Sterling writes an independent, tamper-evident record of every charge, fee and settlement. What happened becomes a matter of record, not trust.
How the record is kept →How it works
Gate. Settle. Prove.
Three jobs, each governed by construction. The system cannot take an action it is not permitted to take.
02
Settle
Stripe, Plaid or ACH behind one governed door. A fee that was never disclosed cannot be applied.
03
Prove
Every gate, charge and settlement is on a tamper-evident record. Nothing is reversed without a trace anyone can check.
VThe agent on the account
Meet Vig
Tough. Fair. Governed.
Vig works the account so a person does not have to — and works it inside rules it cannot step outside of.
Vig presents what is owed, takes payment, and follows up. Firm, never predatory.
It cannot chase a disputed debt, apply an undisclosed fee, or charge past the amount agreed. Those are not policies it remembers. They are constraints it cannot break, and every action is on the record.
Where it is used
One money layer, several jobs.
Subscription paywalls
Gate access and bill recurring plans with entitlements the system enforces directly.
Accounts receivable
Invoice, settle, and reconcile with an independent record of every movement.
Collections
Recover what is owed — firm, disclosed, and provably within the rules.
Agentic commerce
Let agents transact on bounded authority, so autonomy never means unaccountable spend.
Assurance
Accountable by construction.
Sterling's record runs on ArkHive, a production hash-chain of over 2.29 million verified blocks. Accountability is how the system is built, not a report written afterwards.
On certifications we speak plainly: until one is earned through audit, we do not claim it. Here is where each stands today.
Tamper-evident audit recordLive
SOC 2 Type IIIn progress
PCI DSS scopeIn progress
FDCPA-compliant by designBy design
GDPR-aligned data handlingAligned
SOC 2 and PCI DSS are audited certifications we are actively pursuing, not credentials we hold. FDCPA is a law Sterling is built to comply with — there is no such thing as an "FDCPA certificate."
The next move