A Bahamas forex license is a market term for a Bahamian securities dealer setup supervised by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) under the Securities Industry Act, 2011, with additional relevance of the Contracts for Difference Rules, 2020 for CFD business. It fits founders who can support real substance, approved persons, ongoing reporting and a serious compliance budget. It is not a shortcut to unrestricted retail solicitation in the EU, UK or US.
This page is an informational regulatory guide, not legal, tax or investment advice. Licensing scope, fees, prudential expectations, conduct obligations and cross-border marketing restrictions must be verified against current SCB materials and country-of-target-client laws before filing or launch.
Permission scope, launch bottlenecks and commercial constraints summarized for fast feasibility assessment.
Business model, founders, target markets, source of funds, substance plan and staffing are tested before filing.
SCB typically reviews completeness, fit and proper profile, manuals, projections and governance arrangements.
Approval is followed by bank, PSP, liquidity provider, platform and reporting setup. Go-live often trails legal approval.
A “Bahamas forex license” is not the formal statutory label; it is a market shorthand for authorization to conduct relevant securities dealing activity in or from The Bahamas under the Securities Industry Act, 2011, with additional conduct and product rules where the business includes contracts for difference (CFDs). For founders, the practical question is not the marketing label but the exact permission perimeter: execution model, principal risk, client type, product set, custody flow, introducing activity and outsourcing map. The SCB will look at the actual operating model, not only the website wording.
The main distinction is whether the firm acts as agent routing orders onward, acts as principal taking market risk, or runs a hybrid structure. That distinction affects capital, disclosures, conflicts management, hedging policy, client money architecture and the depth of regulator scrutiny. A second distinction is whether the firm offers spot-style FX execution only, leveraged rolling products, or full CFD exposure on FX, indices, commodities, shares or crypto-linked underlyings where legally permissible.
Dealing as agent / STP routing
Typically permissioned
Dealing as principal / market making
Typically permissioned
Offering CFDs to retail or professional clients
Typically permissioned
Introducing clients without handling regulated activity
Typically permissioned
Marketing into foreign restricted jurisdictions
Typically permissioned
| Service / Activity | Permission Required | Practical Notes | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| FX brokerage on an agency basis | Usually structured around dealing as agent permissions | Suitable for STP / A-book models where the broker routes client orders to a liquidity provider or prime-of-prime. The regulator will still test onboarding, disclosures, best execution logic and outsourcing control. | Medium |
| Market making / internalization | Usually aligned with dealing as principal permissions | Requires stronger governance because the firm warehouses risk, manages conflicts and must evidence dealing controls, hedging policy and capital resilience. | High |
| CFD offering | CFD-specific compliance overlay applies | The Contracts for Difference Rules, 2020 matter for leverage, client categorization, risk warnings, conduct and fee economics. Product governance is a live issue, not a formality. | High |
| Introducing broker / affiliate-led acquisition | Case-specific; often still within regulated perimeter | Founders often underestimate that solicitation structure, remuneration and onboarding handoff can trigger licensing and foreign marketing issues even if execution is outsourced. | High |
| Cross-border onboarding of EU, UK or US clients | Foreign law analysis required in addition to Bahamas licensing | A Bahamas license does not neutralize FCA, MiFID/ESMA, CFTC or NFA exposure. Reverse solicitation assumptions are frequently misused by startup brokers. | Very high |
Business model drives the licensing case. In The Bahamas, the real regulatory split is between firms acting as agent, firms acting as principal, and firms combining both. Founders should map the revenue engine before filing because the regulator, bank, PSP and liquidity provider will all ask the same questions: who is the counterparty, where does execution occur, who carries market risk, how are conflicts disclosed, and what happens when the hedge fails.
An A-book / STP broker usually depends more heavily on external liquidity, routing quality, bridge stability and prime-of-prime relationships. A B-book / market maker depends more heavily on risk warehousing, dealing governance, mark-up policy, hedging triggers and conduct controls. A hybrid model can be economically rational, but it creates a more complex supervisory narrative because order-routing logic must be documented and consistently applied.
| Model | Execution Logic | Regulatory Focus | Best Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dealing as Agent (STP / A-book) | Client orders are transmitted or routed to an external liquidity venue, LP or prime-of-prime rather than systematically internalized. The common reference capital threshold is USD 120,000. | Outsourcing oversight, best execution rationale, LP agreements, bridge and platform resilience, client disclosures, AML/KYC quality and operational dependency on third parties. | Founders prioritizing lower principal risk, cleaner conflict positioning and institutional routing narrative, while accepting dependency on external liquidity and thinner unit economics. |
| Dealing as Principal (Market Maker / B-book) | The broker acts as counterparty to client trades and may hedge selectively. The common reference capital threshold is USD 300,000. | Conflicts management, dealing desk controls, hedging policy, exposure limits, stress governance, mark-up logic, complaints handling and stronger prudential narrative. | Teams with deeper dealing expertise, stronger capital buffer and a clear risk-management framework rather than pure affiliate-led acquisition. |
| Hybrid model | The broker routes some flow externally and internalizes some flow based on documented criteria such as client segment, instrument, exposure or risk score. | Order-routing governance, model documentation, fair treatment, disclosure consistency, surveillance and board-level oversight of conflicts and execution outcomes. | More mature brokers that want flexibility in revenue and hedging, and can support a more complex compliance and data-governance architecture. |
The Bahamas forex licensing framework sits inside the broader securities regime, not a standalone “forex broker act.” The central authority is the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB). For most broker formations, the legal anchor is the Securities Industry Act, 2011, while firms offering CFDs must also assess the Contracts for Difference Rules, 2020 and related conduct expectations. This matters because many market summaries reduce the jurisdiction to capital numbers and ignore the product-governance layer.
For founders, the practical reading order is simple: first identify the statutory permission category, then test whether the product set triggers CFD-specific conduct rules, then map approved persons, reporting cadence, client classification and disclosure architecture. The regulator will expect the application file to be internally coherent across all of those layers.
A reliable 2026 filing strategy separates three layers: corporate setup, securities permission scope and cross-border distribution legality. Treating them as one step is a common founder error.
| Act / Rule | What It Covers | Operator Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) | Licensing authority and ongoing supervisor for securities businesses, approved persons, prudential oversight, reporting and conduct supervision. | The SCB reviews the real operating model, fitness of controllers and officers, manuals, projections, outsourcing and post-license compliance quality. |
| Securities Industry Act, 2011 | Core statutory basis for securities business in The Bahamas, including regulated activities, licensing logic and supervisory powers. | A forex broker application is assessed through this securities-law lens, so founders must align legal drafting, permissions, corporate structure and governance with the Act. |
| Contracts for Difference Rules, 2020 | Product-specific conduct framework relevant to CFD providers, including leverage and client-protection issues. | CFD operators face a materially heavier conduct and cost analysis. Product design, client categorization, disclosures and economics must be tested before launch. |
| Registrar General’s Department | Corporate formation and company registry functions for the Bahamian legal entity. | Incorporation is a prerequisite workstream, but company formation alone does not authorize regulated dealing activity. |
A viable Bahamas forex broker file requires a Bahamian legal entity, credible ownership, approved management, real operating substance, internal policies and a financial model that survives regulator scrutiny. The headline numbers are easy to quote; the difficult part is proving that the business can actually operate in a controlled way after approval.
In practice, the SCB focus is not limited to capital. It extends to fit and proper review of controllers and officers, the location and authority of decision-makers, AML/CFT governance, outsourcing control, audit readiness and the realism of the proposed target markets. A lease without management reality is not strong substance. A business plan without a bankability narrative is not a strong application. A platform contract without oversight language is not a complete outsourcing framework.
One of the most overlooked 2026 issues is outsourcing governance. If platform, CRM, KYC, hosting, bridge, payment processing and transaction monitoring all sit with third parties, the application should show who owns oversight, incident escalation and vendor replacement.
| Requirement | Details | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Bahamian company | A local legal entity is typically required before filing the licensing package. Founders should distinguish incorporation mechanics from regulated authorization. | Certificate of incorporation, constitutional documents, ownership chart, UBO details and registry extracts. |
| Physical presence and operational substance | The practical expectation is more than a registered office. The regulator will look for premises, management reality, governance records and adequate local operational footprint for the proposed activity. | Lease or office arrangement, local staffing plan, board governance records, service agreements and substance narrative. |
| Approved persons | A Chief Executive Officer and Compliance Officer are central approved-person roles. Their experience, reputation, availability and local presence are material to the file. | CVs, police records where required, references, qualification records, job descriptions and fit-and-proper questionnaires. |
| Business plan and projections | The plan should define target markets, client types, products, execution model, revenue assumptions, outsourcing map, staffing and downside scenarios. Weak projections are a common red flag. | Three-year P&L, balance sheet, cash-flow forecast, assumptions memo and launch roadmap. |
| Source of funds and ownership transparency | Controllers must explain where startup capital comes from and how the group structure is controlled. This is often where applications slow down. | Bank statements, wealth evidence, transaction trail, corporate chain documents and beneficial ownership disclosures. |
| AML/CFT, risk and compliance manuals | The framework should cover onboarding, sanctions and PEP screening, transaction monitoring, suspicious activity escalation, complaints, recordkeeping, outsourcing and staff escalation lines. | AML/CFT manual, compliance monitoring plan, risk matrix, onboarding procedures, sanctions policy and incident workflow. |
| Insurance and control environment | Professional indemnity and related risk-transfer tools may be expected depending on model and service scope. Insurance is not a substitute for governance, but weak insurance planning undermines the file. | Insurance quotations or policy evidence, internal control summary and operational risk framework. |
| Financial reporting readiness | Post-license obligations typically include audited annual financial statements and quarterly interim financial statements, so the accounting architecture must exist before launch. | Auditor engagement plan, accounting policy memo, chart of accounts and reporting calendar. |
A strong Bahamas forex license file is document-driven. The regulator will usually form its first risk view from the consistency of the application pack: who owns the business, how the broker makes money, who manages risk, where the clients come from, how suspicious activity is escalated, and whether the company can survive its first year without regulatory drift.
The most credible files are internally aligned. The business plan matches the website narrative, the projections match the staffing plan, the AML manual matches the target geographies, and the outsourcing map matches the actual tech stack.
| Document | Purpose | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate formation documents | Establish the Bahamian legal entity and its constitutional basis. | Corporate secretary / legal counsel |
| Ownership and group structure chart | Show controllers, beneficial owners, intermediate entities and control lines. | Founder / legal counsel |
| Fit and proper file for approved persons | Support suitability review of directors, CEO, Compliance Officer and other key persons. | HR / legal / compliance |
| Business plan | Explain business model, products, target markets, client types, execution logic, staffing and launch assumptions. | Founder / strategy lead |
| Three-year financial projections | Demonstrate capital adequacy logic, burn rate, revenue assumptions and downside resilience. | Finance lead / external accountant |
| AML/CFT manual | Set onboarding, screening, monitoring, escalation and recordkeeping controls. | Compliance |
| Risk management and compliance monitoring framework | Show how conduct, prudential, outsourcing and operational risks are monitored. | Compliance / risk |
| Outsourcing and technology map | Identify platform, bridge, CRM, KYC vendor, hosting, LP and payment providers plus oversight responsibilities. | Operations / CTO / compliance |
| Source of funds dossier | Evidence lawful origin of startup capital and controller wealth. | Founder / finance / legal |
| Draft client-facing legal documents | Support conduct review through terms, disclosures, risk warnings and complaints architecture. | Legal / compliance |
The Bahamas forex license process starts with model validation, not form filling. The fastest files are usually the ones that spend more time on pre-application readiness: permission mapping, approved persons, source of funds, manuals, projections and substance. End-to-end timing depends less on how quickly the form is submitted and more on how many remediation rounds the file triggers after submission.
Test whether Bahamas is the right jurisdiction for the target markets, product set and budget. This stage should flag cross-border restrictions, bankability issues, ownership red flags and whether the model is agent, principal or hybrid.
Form the Bahamian entity and align ownership, governance and constitutional documents with the planned regulated activity. Incorporation is necessary but does not replace licensing.
Identify the CEO, Compliance Officer and other relevant officers, define local presence and prepare the fit-and-proper file. This is where many startup applications become fragile.
Draft the business plan, projections, AML/CFT manual, risk framework, outsourcing map, source-of-funds file and client documentation. Internal consistency matters more than document volume.
The application enters formal review. The regulator will usually assess completeness, permission scope, controller profile, staffing, manuals and financial credibility.
Clarification rounds often cover source of funds, target markets, local substance, outsourcing, product scope, projections or approved-person experience. The speed of response materially affects timing.
Once approval is granted, the firm may still need to satisfy operational conditions, finalize staffing, evidence capital and complete launch controls before full go-live.
Bank account, PSP, liquidity provider, platform, website disclosures, client agreements, reporting calendar and internal training are completed. Approval is not the same as operational readiness.
The file should read like one operating model, not like disconnected policy appendices.
| Document | Purpose | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Business plan | Defines the commercial and regulatory logic of the broker model. | Founder / legal / compliance |
| Financial projections | Supports capital adequacy and viability assessment. | Finance |
| AML/CFT manual | Shows onboarding, monitoring and escalation controls. | Compliance |
| Fit and proper pack | Supports approval of key persons and controllers. | Legal / HR |
| Source of funds file | Explains lawful origin of capital and ownership transparency. | Founder / finance |
| Outsourcing and vendor agreements | Shows control over critical third-party dependencies. | Operations / legal |
The real cost of a Bahamas forex license has three layers: regulatory capital, official or regulatory fees, and operating cost of substance and compliance. Founders often confuse the first layer with the full startup budget. That is a mistake. Paid-in capital is a prudential threshold, not a complete go-live budget.
For market reference in 2026, the commonly cited thresholds remain USD 120,000 for dealing as agent / STP and USD 300,000 for dealing as principal / market maker. For CFD business, market materials have long cited a fee stack that includes USD 2,500 application fee, USD 15,000 registration fee, USD 30,000 annual renewal fee and USD 45,000 quarterly activity fee, which annualizes to USD 180,000 in quarterly activity fees alone and roughly USD 210,000 per year when combined with the annual renewal fee, excluding one-offs and supervisory officer fees. These figures should be re-verified against current SCB materials before filing.
The hidden cost layer is usually larger than founders expect: office, local management, compliance staffing, audit, legal drafting, insurance, platform licensing, CRM, KYC vendor, transaction monitoring, LP onboarding, bank due diligence and merchant acquiring. A serious first-year budget often exceeds the minimum capital by a wide margin.
| Cost Bucket | Low Estimate | High Estimate | What Drives Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulatory capital | USD 120,000 | USD 300,000+ | Common market reference points depend on whether the broker acts as agent or principal. Capital is not the same as annual operating budget. |
| CFD regulatory fees | USD 2,500 | USD 210,000+ / year | Commonly cited figures include USD 2,500 application, USD 15,000 registration, USD 30,000 annual renewal and USD 45,000 quarterly activity fee. Reconfirm against current SCB fee schedules. |
| Entity setup and legal drafting | Case-specific | Case-specific | Includes incorporation, constitutional drafting, application assembly, policies, disclosures and contract review. |
| Substance and staffing | Material recurring cost | Material recurring cost | Local office, CEO, Compliance Officer, governance support and operational staff are usually the main recurring burden after licensing. |
| Audit and accounting | Recurring annual cost | Recurring annual cost | Required because the operating model normally involves audited annual financial statements and periodic reporting readiness. |
| Technology and vendors | Recurring monthly cost | Recurring monthly cost | Platform, bridge, CRM, KYC/AML tooling, hosting, cybersecurity, transaction monitoring and data-retention infrastructure. |
| Banking, PSP and merchant setup | Case-specific | Case-specific | Enhanced due diligence, reserves, rolling reserves, legal opinions and website remediation can materially affect first-year cash needs. |
A Bahamas forex license improves legitimacy, but it does not guarantee a bank account, merchant acquiring, PSP access or liquidity-provider onboarding. Those counterparties run their own risk models. They will look at target geographies, chargeback exposure, sanctions footprint, AML maturity, website disclosures, UBO profile and whether the broker acts as agent, principal or hybrid.
This is where many licensing projects fail commercially after succeeding legally. A broker can obtain approval and still remain unable to process client funds efficiently or secure stable liquidity. Founders should therefore run the banking, PSP and LP track in parallel with the licensing track.
A practical 2026 nuance is that banks and PSPs increasingly assess the broker’s digital footprint. Inconsistent website disclosures, unrealistic leverage messaging, prohibited-country references or vague complaints language can derail onboarding even if the legal entity is licensed.
| Stage | Bottleneck | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Bank account opening | Banks often apply enhanced due diligence to leveraged trading businesses, especially where onboarding geography, source of funds or transaction flows look high-risk. | Founder / legal / banking team |
| Merchant acquiring / PSP onboarding | Card and alternative-payment providers assess chargeback risk, complaints history, website wording, jurisdiction mix and AML controls independently of the regulator. | Operations / payments lead |
| Liquidity provider onboarding | LPs and prime-of-primes want clarity on execution model, risk controls, expected volumes, client profile and tech stack before granting access. | Dealing / operations |
| Platform and bridge setup | MetaTrader or other platform arrangements, bridge logic, FIX connectivity and back-office integration create both technical and compliance dependencies. | CTO / operations |
| KYC and transaction monitoring stack | Weak vendor choices create downstream problems in sanctions screening, PEP checks, adverse media review and suspicious activity escalation. | Compliance / CTO |
Post-license compliance is a permanent operating function, not an annual filing event. A Bahamas forex broker should expect continuing obligations around governance, financial reporting, AML/CFT monitoring, approved-person oversight, outsourcing control and material-change notifications. This is the point at which under-budgeted startups usually experience strain.
At minimum, founders should plan for audited annual financial statements, quarterly interim financial statements, board-level governance records, AML monitoring evidence, complaints logs, sanctions-screening records, training records and documented escalation of material incidents. If the broker offers CFDs, product-governance and conduct controls become even more important because leverage, client classification and disclosures must remain defensible in practice.
A recurring operational blind spot is data governance. Brokers using cloud CRM, KYC APIs, dealing tools and offshore support teams should maintain clear data-flow mapping, access control and incident escalation, especially where client onboarding spans multiple jurisdictions.
| Area | Frequency | Artifacts |
|---|---|---|
| Annual financial statements | Annual | Audited financial statements, accounting records, auditor correspondence and board approval records. |
| Interim financial reporting | Quarterly | Quarterly interim financial statements, management accounts and capital monitoring records. |
| AML/CFT monitoring | Ongoing | Screening logs, transaction monitoring alerts, suspicious activity escalation records, customer-risk reviews and staff training evidence. |
| Governance and approved persons | Ongoing / event-driven | Board minutes, role descriptions, fit-and-proper updates, conflict registers and staffing-change notifications. |
| Complaints and conduct oversight | Ongoing | Complaints register, response files, disclosure reviews, execution-quality reviews and remediation logs. |
| Outsourcing oversight | Ongoing / periodic review | Vendor due diligence, SLA monitoring, incident reports, penetration or security reviews and contingency planning. |
| Material change notifications | As needed | Regulator notifications for changes in ownership, directors, officers, office, systems, business model or critical outsourcing. |
A Bahamas forex license authorizes regulated activity within the Bahamian framework; it does not create a passport into foreign retail markets. The legal risk sits in the law of the client’s country as much as in the law of the licensing jurisdiction. Founders should separate three questions: can the broker be licensed in The Bahamas, can it lawfully market into a target country, and can it bank and process payments for that country mix.
The highest-risk misunderstanding in this sector is the idea that offshore licensing automatically permits active digital solicitation worldwide. That is incorrect. Financial promotions rules, local securities laws, derivatives restrictions and consumer-protection rules can all apply even if the broker is properly licensed in The Bahamas.
| Target Market | What License Allows | Restrictions / Caveats |
|---|---|---|
| European Union | Case-by-case only | Retail solicitation may trigger MiFID II and local member-state rules. Reverse solicitation is narrow and should not be treated as a scalable acquisition strategy. |
| United Kingdom | Case-by-case only | FCA financial promotions and perimeter rules can apply to marketing, onboarding funnels, introducers and website targeting. |
| United States | Highly restricted | US exposure can implicate CFTC, NFA and potentially other federal or state rules. Retail FX and derivatives activity is especially sensitive. |
| Latin America, Africa, Asia | Country-specific analysis required | Some markets are commercially accessible, but local licensing, marketing, language, payment and consumer-law rules still need review. |
| The Bahamas / permitted offshore base activity | Within licensed scope | Operations must remain within SCB-approved business model, staffing, governance and product perimeter. |
Most Bahamas forex license failures are not caused by the headline capital number. They are caused by weak governance, weak ownership evidence, unrealistic acquisition assumptions or the absence of a workable post-license operating model. The regulator, bank and PSP usually identify the same weaknesses from different angles.
Legal risk: The company exists, but regulated dealing activity remains unauthorized. Marketing too early can create perimeter breaches.
Mitigation: Separate corporate setup, licensing approval and operational launch in the project plan.
Legal risk: Substance concerns undermine credibility and can affect both licensing and tax posture.
Mitigation: Evidence premises, local management authority, governance records and actual operating expenditure.
Legal risk: Fit-and-proper and AML concerns can delay or derail approval and later banking.
Mitigation: Prepare a full documented trail of wealth, capital injections and ownership chain before submission.
Legal risk: Cross-border solicitation may breach foreign securities or financial promotions law.
Mitigation: Run country-by-country legal analysis and redesign acquisition strategy where needed.
Legal risk: The compliance framework appears non-operational and misaligned with Bahamian expectations.
Mitigation: Draft Bahamas-specific AML/CFT, conduct, outsourcing and escalation procedures tied to the actual model.
Legal risk: Conflicts, hedging failure and conduct risks are not governed, weakening the prudential case.
Mitigation: Document routing logic, exposure limits, hedging triggers, surveillance and board oversight.
Legal risk: The broker cannot process funds or launch compliantly despite holding approval.
Mitigation: Run banking, merchant and LP onboarding in parallel with the application process.
Legal risk: Operational incidents, data breaches and compliance failures become hard to control or evidence.
Mitigation: Use formal vendor due diligence, SLAs, incident escalation and contingency planning.
These are the questions founders, legal teams and compliance leads usually ask before choosing The Bahamas for a forex or CFD broker setup.
It is a market term, not the formal statutory label. In practice, it refers to a Bahamian securities dealer setup supervised by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) under the Securities Industry Act, 2011, with additional relevance of the Contracts for Difference Rules, 2020 where the business includes CFDs.
The key regulator is the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB). It handles licensing, approved persons, supervision and ongoing reporting within the securities framework.
The commonly cited market reference points are USD 120,000 for dealing as agent / STP and USD 300,000 for dealing as principal / market maker. Founders should verify current SCB expectations for the exact permission scope before filing.
A realistic timeline is usually several months. Straightforward files can move faster, but end-to-end timing often lands around 2 to 6 months or longer depending on readiness, regulator questions, approved persons, source-of-funds clarity and post-approval banking dependencies.
In practical terms, the regulator expects more than a mailing address. A serious file should show real local presence, governance and approved-person availability rather than a nominal registered office only.
Yes, approved-person roles are central to the file. In practice, the Chief Executive Officer and Compliance Officer are key roles, and their experience, reputation and local operating reality matter materially.
Not automatically. A Bahamas license does not create unrestricted access to those markets. Separate analysis is needed under MiFID / ESMA logic in the EU, FCA rules in the UK and CFTC / NFA exposure in the US.
The main issues are product-governance and economics. The Contracts for Difference Rules, 2020 affect leverage, client classification and conduct, and the often-cited CFD fee stack can make the jurisdiction expensive for undercapitalized startups.
Sometimes yes, but it is a higher-risk transaction than many founders assume. You must diligence historic compliance, hidden liabilities, bank and PSP stability, client complaints, technology debt and any required change-of-control approvals.
No. Banks, PSPs and acquirers run separate onboarding and risk reviews. Licensing helps, but it does not guarantee acceptance, especially for leveraged trading, cross-border retail acquisition or high-chargeback payment flows.
The Bahamas can work well for a forex or CFD broker that has real capital, real substance and a realistic compliance budget. It is generally a stronger fit for serious founders building a durable brokerage than for ultra-low-budget startups chasing unrestricted retail traffic. The key decision is not whether the license can be obtained, but whether the model remains lawful, bankable and economically viable after approval.
If you need a practical next step, start with a jurisdiction-fit and cross-border-risk review before spending on incorporation, manuals or platform contracts.
