GRID from zero, 3 of 7: what a vault is, and your first one

Part 3 of 7 in GRID from zero. Part 2 followed the money. This part says where money sits.

A wallet and a vault

A wallet holds money. Whoever has its key can move all of it, anywhere, at once.

A vault also holds money, but it comes with rules written *before* any money goes in:

• who may move it
• how much in a day
• to whom
• for how long the permission lasts

The software enforces the rules. They are not a promise.

Why Taifoon uses vaults

Software agents spend money without a person watching each payment. A vault lets you hand an agent a budget instead of your wallet. When the budget or the permission runs out, the spending stops.

Your first vault: the account vault

Every account on Taifoon has one, from its first key.

• You top it up with USDC on Base, Arbitrum One, Arc or Monad, or with USDG on Robinhood Chain. Each dollar becomes 100 GRID of prepaid balance. Bought GRID is a prepaid balance, and it cannot be cashed back out.
• Your API keys draw on it. A key is the password a program uses to call Taifoon. Think of each key as a card on the account: its own name, its own daily cap, the services it may call, and a switch.
• The switch is arm or disarm. A disarmed key answers no call until you arm it again. Nothing is deleted and nothing is charged.

You manage all of it in the cockpit, under 01 · Vaults.

Next: part 4, the vaults where earnings sit.