> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.parlayx.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Custody and Key Management

> You hold the keys. What ParlayX can and cannot do with your capital.

The single most common question from funds evaluating ParlayX is what we can do with their money. The answer is nothing.

**ParlayX cannot withdraw your funds, transfer them, close your positions, or trade on your behalf.** No product decision anywhere else in this documentation overrides that.

## Three kinds of keys

They are frequently conflated, so it is worth separating them.

### Actor API keys

The credential an actor uses to sign requests to ParlayX. Keys are generated in your environment. ParlayX stores the public key only and never sees the private half.

Every request is signed and verified against the stored public key before the request body is read. A key that has been revoked, or whose actor has been revoked, or whose grant to the pod has been withdrawn, is rejected at the front door.

### Pod wallets

Each pod holds its own wallet, used for on-chain venue execution. The wallet is created with the pod and stays with it — it cannot be moved to another pod, and no pod can spend another pod's balance.

### Venue account credentials

For account-based venues such as Kalshi, you connect the venue account your entity already holds. The credential is stored encrypted, with the signing key held in a hardware security module from which it cannot be extracted. It is never exposed, to us or to anyone else.

**These credentials are trading-only.** Cash at Kalshi stays at Kalshi, in your account, under your name. ParlayX places and cancels orders. It does not have, and does not ask for, the ability to move money out.

## What this means in practice

|                                                    |                            |
| -------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- |
| Can ParlayX withdraw your funds?                   | No                         |
| Can ParlayX close your positions?                  | No                         |
| Can ParlayX trade without an actor instructing it? | No                         |
| Does ParlayX hold your venue account cash?         | No — it stays at the venue |
| Can you leave and keep everything?                 | Yes — see below            |

## Leaving

If you stop using ParlayX, for any reason including non-payment, your capital and positions are yours and remain reachable. Service ends; access to your own assets does not. You keep the ability to retrieve your keys and move your funds out on your own timetable.

We do not close positions on the way out, and we do not hold anything hostage. See [Offboarding and revocation](/off-boarding-and-revocation).

## Design invariants

These hold everywhere in the system:

* We never touch funds or positions. There is no auto-close, in any circumstance.
* Identity comes from the verified key, never from the request body.
* Private keys never leave the hardware module that holds them.
* Signatures are verified before the request body is read.
* Every revocation check fails closed. When in doubt, the request is rejected.