#Becoming an AP

Authorized Participants are the only entities that can mint new ARU or redeem ARU for USDC through the primary market. This is a deliberate design: APs take on KYC/AML obligations, sign an AP agreement, and become a trusted counterparty for the protocol.

#Who can be an AP

• Regulated market makers
• Institutional trading firms
• Custodians serving institutional clients
• Other RWA-native protocols needing gold exposure at NAV

Retail participants cannot become APs. Retail exposure to ARU happens through the secondary market (Uniswap, Curve, etc.) where ARU trades freely.

#Onboarding steps

#1. Initial contact + diligence

Reach out to the ARU team (contact methods published on the main website). Expect:

• Entity verification (corporate docs, ownership structure)
• Regulatory status review
• Sanctions screening
• Financial capacity review (typical AP holds ≥ $1M USDC + ARU for MM activity)

Diligence is mutual — you should also satisfy yourself that the protocol, reserves, and custodian arrangements meet your requirements.

#2. AP Agreement execution

Standard AP agreement covers:

• Obligations: Market-making activity expectations, reporting, disclosure of material changes
• Price bound protection: Your legal right to set priceBound on-chain and have it enforced; permissionless reclaim after 48h expiry
• Dispute resolution: Jurisdiction, mediation, arbitration clauses
• Termination: Conditions for AP status revocation and wind-down

Legal counsel recommended. Agreement is bilateral and standard across all APs.

#3. Wallet setup

You'll need an Ethereum-compatible wallet with:

• Custody separation. Recommend a dedicated Safe (Gnosis Safe) for AP operations, separate from treasury and operational wallets
• Hardware backing. Signers should use hardware wallets for meaningful position sizes
• Network support. ARU deploys on Arbitrum; wallet must support Arbitrum RPCs

A single AP can operate from a single address. Some APs prefer separate addresses for mint-side and redeem-side activity — both supported.

#4. On-chain registration

After the agreement is signed and wallet is confirmed:

1. ARU Manager Admin multisig calls addAP(yourAddress) on the v2 Subscription Manager.
2. Confirm via isAP(yourAddress) returns true.
3. Your address is now authorized to call requestSubscription and requestRedemption.

This is an on-chain event (APAdded). It is publicly observable but doesn't disclose your identity — only your address is public.

#5. Testnet dry run

Before first production use, we strongly recommend:

• Run a full mint and redeem cycle on the testnet deployment
• Verify your wallet tooling handles the two-step flow correctly
• Verify your internal accounting systems ingest the events correctly
• Verify your monitoring alerts fire on state transitions

Testnet addresses and setup steps are provided after signing the AP agreement.

#Ongoing obligations

#Informational

• Notify the ARU team of any material changes to your entity (ownership, license status, jurisdiction)
• Provide requested reporting data on a quarterly basis

#Operational

• Keep USDC approval granted to the Subscription Manager contract (for subscriptions — approval comes from your wallet to the manager)
• If you grant ARU approval to the manager for redemption, keep that current
• Respond to compliance requests within agreed SLAs

#Security

• Your AP address is the only authorization required for requestSubscription and requestRedemption. Treat the key with corresponding care.
• If the key is compromised, notify the ARU team immediately. removeAP(yourAddress) will deactivate it. Any pending requests remain cancellable by you until then, or reclaimable by anyone after 48h expiry.

#What you get

• Ability to mint ARU at NAV by depositing USDC
• Ability to redeem ARU at NAV for USDC
• Proportional yield (if applicable, per the published reserve management policy)
• Regular reporting on reserves, NAV methodology, and protocol operations

#What you do not get

• No governance rights over the protocol (ARU holders don't vote)
• No preferential pricing — all APs get the same NAV-adjacent settlement
• No privileged mint/redeem speed — same SLA for everyone

#What happens next

Once you're onboarded, head to Subscribing to walk through the mint flow or Redeeming for the burn flow. Safeguards covers the protections in detail.