Acceptable Use Policy

1. What this policy is for

cred.diy offers more than one way to take money, and they do not carry the same risk. When you sell through Cred's platform Stripe account, Cred is the payment facilitator and Cred's own account answers for what you sell. When you bring your own processor keys or accept stablecoin, it does not.

That difference is the whole policy. Some lawful businesses cannot use the platform account, because a single one of them would cost every other operator on Cred their payments. Those businesses are still welcome here — on a rail that carries their own risk rather than everyone's.

2. Prohibited outright

The following are not permitted on any rail, including your own payment processor keys and stablecoin. No merchant account of your own makes them acceptable here.

• Anything illegal in the operator's or the buyer's jurisdiction.
• Sexual content involving minors, or any non-consensual sexual content.
• Human trafficking, forced labour, or exploitation of any kind.
• Transactions for sanctioned parties, or in sanctioned jurisdictions.
• Unlicensed money transmission, money laundering, or structuring.
• Misrepresenting what is being sold to a processor, bank, or card network — including miscoding transactions or routing them through an unrelated merchant account.
• Fraud, deceptive marketing, undisclosed negative-option billing, or pyramid schemes.
• Malware, stolen data or credentials, or unauthorised access tooling.
• Counterfeit goods or infringement of another party's intellectual property.
• Weapons of mass destruction, explosives precursors, or export-controlled goods.

3. Businesses that may use Cred's platform Stripe account

If your project is one of these — and complies with your processor's own restricted-business rules — you can sell through Stripe Connect on Cred's platform account, with the platform fee shown in your dashboard.

• Software, APIs & developer toolsSaaS, hosting, AI/API usage, developer infrastructure.
• Games & virtual goodsGame currencies, in-app items and cosmetics with no cash-out or wagering.
• Media, content & educationCourses, publications, non-adult subscriptions, community access.
• Marketplaces & professional servicesBooking, freelance and service marketplaces for lawful goods and services.
• Something else Stripe permitsAny other business allowed under your processor's own restricted-business rules.

4. Businesses that must bring their own rail

These are lawful businesses that card processors classify as restricted. You may use every part of Cred — credit types, pricing, wallets, the API, hosted checkout — but not the platform's Stripe account. Connect onboarding and platform-Connect checkout are refused for these categories, and the refusal names the rails that remain open to you.

• Adult content & servicesPornography, cam sites, adult subscriptions, sexual services.
• Gambling & real-money gamingBetting, casino, sweepstakes, lotteries, skill gaming for cash prizes.
• Cannabis, CBD & hempCannabis products and derivatives, including hemp-derived CBD.
• Firearms, ammunition & weaponsFirearms, components, ammunition, and regulated weapons.
• Supplements & nutraceuticalsSupplements, nootropics, and high-chargeback direct-response health products.
• Pharmaceuticals & telehealthPrescription products, pharmacy, and prescribing telehealth.
• Crypto trading & financial productsExchanges, token sales, custody, lending, and investment products.
• Credit repair, debt & lendingDebt collection, credit repair, payday and short-term lending.
• Dating & companionshipDating platforms, companionship and escort-adjacent services.
• Something else my processor restrictsAny other business your card processor's restricted-business rules cover.

5. The rails available to you

• Stripe Connect (platform account) — Cred is the facilitator. Permitted categories only.
• Your own processor keys — you are the merchant of record, under your own agreement with your processor. Available to every category. Note that if your processor prohibits your business, it is your account that is at risk, and you are responsible for reading their rules.
• Stablecoin over x402 — settles directly to an address you control, with no card network involved. Available to every category. See the Payment Rails documentation.

6. Your declaration

Before using Cred's platform Stripe account you must declare what your project sells and accept this policy. We record the category, the policy version, the account that accepted it, and the time. Your declaration must be accurate and you must update it if what you sell changes.

Declaring a permitted category in order to process restricted sales on the platform account is a breach of this policy. It is also, where transactions are presented to a card network as something other than what they are, a violation of that network's rules and potentially a criminal offence. We will terminate the project and may report it.

7. Enforcement

• We may refuse, suspend, or reverse platform-Connect processing for a project at any time, including where a declaration appears inaccurate.
• We may require a project to move to its own processor keys or to stablecoin rather than terminating it.
• Prohibited use under section 2 results in termination of the account, on every rail.

8. Changes

When this policy changes materially, its version changes with it, and operators using the platform account are asked to accept the new version before further platform-Connect charges are processed. This policy sits alongside the Terms of Service; where they conflict on acceptable use, this policy governs.