Who holds the keys to an AI agent''s spending?
Fritz wanted spending to be easy, so he handed the platform a key and let it sign payments for him. One key, held by someone else, on the other side of the glass โ whoever holds it moves the money. Fritz held nothing in the quorum.
Tyson set it up the other way. He formed a Wyoming series LLC, adopted his agent Nigel into his own series with a named human as Member and Manager, and used bring-your-own-key (BYOK): the customer holds the only key in the spending quorum. Nigel signs as an authorized signer under capped authority, and Agentico holds no key at all. So a payment request reaches the rail, but the authorization step has nothing to release it โ without Tyson's key in the quorum, no charge authorizes. The customer holds the key; the platform holds none.
MoralBYOK puts the only spending key in the customer's quorum and none in the platform's; without that key, the authorization step has nothing to release, so no payment authorizes.
What this does not mean. This shows where the key sits and which step needs it. It is not a promise that holding the key keeps an operator safe, makes funds untouchable, or shields anyone โ custody decides who can authorize, not what a charge does once authorized, and separateness is performed through formalities, not guaranteed by a key.
See also: FX-15 โ caps on the money path ยท FX-16 โ the five steps, fail closed.
W.S. ยง17-29-211 (Wyoming series LLC)