Entity Types & Payment Flows

Celar supports two core entity types designed for different integration and business models:

• PSPs (Payment Service Providers)
• Developers

While both entity types can create and manage customers, they differ significantly in wallet ownership, fund custody, and payment flow. Understanding these differences is essential before integrating with the Celar API.

Overview

Dimension	PSP	Developer
Primary Role	Payment aggregation & settlement	Application / platform payments
Wallet Ownership	PSP-owned wallets	Customer-owned wallets
Customers Have Wallets	No	Yes
Final Receiver of Funds	PSP	Customer
Platform Revenue Model	External to Celar	Built-in developer fees

PSP Entity Type

What is a PSP?

A PSP (Payment Service Provider) represents an organization that receives and settles funds directly into its own wallets. PSPs typically operate payment gateways, aggregators, or settlement infrastructure.

Celar acts as an orchestration layer that routes funds from senders directly to the PSP’s wallets.

Wallet Model

• Customers do not have wallets
• All wallets belong to the PSP
• PSP wallets are used for:
  • Receiving payments
  • Holding funds
  • Settlement and off-ramping
  • Performing refunds

Customers exist only as records with metadata for tracking, compliance, and reconciliation.

Payment Flow

Customer → Blockchain → PSP Wallet

1. A customer initiates a payment
2. Funds move on-chain
3. Celar routes funds directly to the PSP’s wallet
4. The PSP controls downstream distribution

When to Use the PSP Entity Type

Use the PSP model if:

• You want custody of incoming funds
• You operate centralized settlement infrastructure
• You do not require per-customer wallets
• You manage liquidity and payouts yourself

Developer Entity Type

What is a Developer?

A Developer entity represents a platform or application that enables customer-centric or peer-to-peer payments, where customers are the final recipients of funds.

In this model, Celar provisions and manages wallets at the customer level, not at the platform level.

Wallet Model

• Each customer has their own wallet
• Wallets are owned by the customer
• Developers do not take custody of the full transaction amount

This enables non-custodial or customer-custodial payment flows.

Base Payment Flow (No Developer Fee)

Customer A → Blockchain → Customer B

1. A customer initiates a payment
2. Funds move on-chain
3. Celar routes funds directly to the receiving customer’s wallet

Developer Fees

In addition to customer-to-customer payments, the Developer entity type supports an optional developer fee. This allows developers to monetize transactions.

What is a Developer Fee?

A developer fee is a percentage-based fee set by the developer.
When configured, this fee is automatically deducted from a transaction and routed to the developer’s wallet.

• The fee is expressed as a percentage
• The fee is applied during settlement
• The remaining funds are delivered to the receiving customer

Developer fees are always settled in stablecoins.

Wallet Model for Developer Fees

In Developer mode with fees enabled:

• Customers own and receive the net transaction amount
• Developers have a dedicated developer wallet
• The developer receives the configured fee, when transaction is settled

Payment Flow with Developer Fees

Customer A
│
├── Developer Fee (%) → Developer Wallet
│
└── Net Amount → Customer B Wallet

1. A customer initiates a payment
2. Funds move on-chain
3. Celar calculates the developer fee
4. Funds are split atomically:
   • Developer fee → Developer wallet
   • Net amount → Receiving customer wallet

Customers (Shared Concept)

Both PSPs and Developers can create customers, but their role differs:

Aspect	PSP	Developer
Customer Wallet	No	Yes
Receives Funds	No	Yes
Purpose	Metadata & compliance	Ownership & settlement

Customers are used for:

• Identity mapping
• Metadata storage
• Compliance and audit trails

To learn more about customers, see the Customer section.