For teams where one person prepares the payout and another checks it
Approve stablecoin payouts before anyone signs
In Payclose, the person who sends a USDC or USDT payout for approval can’t approve it, and the person who enters a new payout address can’t approve that either. The transaction is built only from a payout that has its approvals.
A payout approval is a passkey signature of the exact lines, so what your Safe or wallet signs is what was approved, and anyone can check it later.
Free during the beta. EVM networks, from a Safe or a regular wallet; TRON later.
Approvals happen in Payclose; money moves only when your own Safe or wallet signs. Payclose never holds funds or keys, and can’t approve for anyone: it keeps only the public part of each passkey.
What needs an approval
Two things, for different reasons: the payout, and any new address it pays.
| Step | A payout | A new payout address |
|---|---|---|
| Who approves | An owner or an approver | An owner or an approver |
| Who can’t | Whoever sent it for approval, and editors | Whoever proposed it, and editors |
| How | Approve with passkey: a signature of the payout’s hash, on the approver’s own device | Approve, on Recipients or the recipient’s page; no passkey |
| The rule | 1 or 2 approvals per payout, set by an owner | One approval; optionally, only after the recipient confirms the address with their own wallet |
| Then | It can be signed or paid, from the approved version only | A 24-hour pause before any payout can use it |
Four-eyes approval for stablecoin payouts
No payout goes out on one person’s say-so. In Payclose that comes from three roles and one rule.
- Owners run the organization (members, wallets, the approval rule, the Activity log), prepare payouts and approve them.
- Editors prepare the work: recipients, addresses, drafts, sending for approval, paying. They never approve.
- Approvers approve addresses and payouts, and change nothing else.
- The sender never counts. With 2 approvals required, two people other than the sender approve.
- Nor does the proposer of a new address.
- Except when you’re alone: the only member approves their own work. Invite a second owner or approver to make it four-eyes.
- The rule meets real people. If a payout needs 2 approvals and only 1 person could give one, Send for approval stays off and says why.
September payout, version 1
Rule: 2 approvals
- Maria S., editorSent it, can’t approve
- Anna K., ownerApproved 16:04
- David R., approverApproved 16:10
- Fingerprint4f0e9a27
Sample data. The payout page keeps who sent and who approved each version, and when.
What an approver checks
Four things, in the order the app puts them in front of them.
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Needs you
The payout comes to them
On Overview, Needs you shows “Approve the September payout” with the total, the number of recipients and the changed addresses. The email to every owner and approver except the sender has the totals, every changed address in full and the fingerprint.
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Changes only
They read what changed
Review opens the payout on Changes only: who was added or removed, old amounts struck through next to new ones, and a changed address in full, with the differing groups of characters marked.
The same comparison runs on two of your own payout CSVs in the free payout diff checker.
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Fingerprint
They compare the fingerprint
The fingerprint, the first 8 characters of the hash of the lines, is in the email and on the payout page. If the two differ, they don’t approve.
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Approve with passkey
They sign the exact lines
Touch ID, Face ID, Windows Hello, a phone or a security key signs the payout’s hash on the approver’s own device. Nobody else, Payclose included, can give that approval for them.
If they can’t approve, the page says why: they sent it, they’re an editor, they already approved, or an address in it was revoked after sending.
Next step, beside the lines, says who the payout waits for and the one thing to do now. Roles, the rule and the edge cases are in the guide to approvals and roles.
When the lines change after sending
Sending freezes the lines as a version. To change one, an owner or editor reopens the payout: it goes back to a draft, its approvals no longer apply, and sending it again creates a new version with a new fingerprint.
If an address in it is revoked or replaced after sending, the payout can’t be approved or paid until it’s reopened and sent again. A Safe batch already in the Safe{Wallet} queue that pays the old address should be rejected there.
Version 1, fingerprint 4f0e9a27
Reopened
- Approved by Anna K.No longer counts
Version 2, fingerprint c61d58b0
In approval, 0 of 2
- Arjun Mehta’s bonus corrected by Maria S.16:30
- Can approveAnna K., David R.
Sample data. Approvals belong to one version: reopening a payout starts the count again.
Why “ok” in a chat isn’t an approval
The usual ways of signing off a payout, where each one leaves a gap, and what replaces it in Payclose.
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An approval of a message
The old way:
“bonus for Arjun ok?” “ok”The OK is for a sentence in a chat, not for the list that gets paid. Later, nobody can say which amounts it covered.
In PaycloseAn approval is a passkey signature of the hash of the exact lines that were sent.
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The preparer signs off
The old way:
“checked it myself, sending now”When the person who built the sheet also approves it, there’s one pair of eyes, however many people are on the thread.
In PaycloseWhoever sends a payout can’t approve it, and Payclose says who else can.
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Edits after the OK
The old way:
Payouts Sept FINAL v3.xlsxThe sheet changes after it was approved, and the transfers are made from the newer file.
In PaycloseThe lines freeze when the payout is sent. A change means reopening it, and earlier approvals don’t carry over.
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Signatures without the context
The old way:
MultiSend: 24 transfersMultisig owners confirm a transaction. Unless someone briefs them, they don’t see who joined, whose rate changed or which address is new.
In PaycloseApprovers decide with the changes in front of them, before the batch exists, and the batch is built from what they approved. See payouts from a Safe multisig.
Proof an auditor can check without trusting Payclose
Every approved payout has a proof file: the exact lines that were approved, each approver’s passkey signature and, once paid, the transactions that paid them. It’s on the payout’s Approvals tab.
Anyone you give it to can check it at payclose.app/verify without an account: the page recomputes the fingerprint, checks every signature with the browser’s own cryptography, counts the different people who approved against your rule, and checks that every line was paid. The file never leaves the browser.
What it can’t show is who holds a passkey: the name next to each approval is Payclose’s record.
What Payclose doesn’t do
Approvals work the same for every payout it runs: USDC on Ethereum, Base and Arbitrum One; USDT on Ethereum and Arbitrum One; USDC.e on Arbitrum One, from a Safe or a regular wallet. TRON comes later.
- Hold funds or keysIt isn’t a wallet and has no key that can sign a transfer: your own Safe or wallet signs every payout.
- Ask for token allowancesNo token approvals and no contract of its own: every transfer goes from your wallet straight to the contractor.
- Exchange or convert cryptoNo exchange, conversion or bridging: you pay from the stablecoins you already hold.
- Payroll, taxes or employmentIt isn’t an employer of record or a payroll provider: no tax calculation or filing, employment contracts or legal advice.
How signing, approvals, sign-in and your data are protected: Payclose security.
Questions
Isn’t a 2-of-3 Safe already four-eyes?
On the transaction, yes. Approval in Payclose is on the payout: the names, amounts and changes since last month, before the batch exists. Approvers approve in Payclose, then your owners sign in Safe{Wallet}. From a regular wallet, the approval in Payclose is the second pair of eyes.
Do approvers need a crypto wallet?
No, a passkey: Touch ID, Face ID, Windows Hello, a phone or a security key. Approvers see recipients and payouts and change nothing else; editors, who prepare payouts, never approve.
Can we require two approvals?
Yes. An owner sets Approvals required to 1 or 2 per payout in Settings → Organization. With 2, the payout needs two people other than the sender, and Payclose warns you when fewer than three members can approve.
Can Payclose approve on our behalf?
No. The private part of a passkey never leaves the approver’s device. Payclose keeps only the public part, which can check a signature but can’t make one.
Read next
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Roles, the rule, approving a payout and an address, and what to do when nobody can approve.
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Check a proof file in the browser: the approved lines, every passkey signature, the rule, the payments.
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From approval to a single Safe transaction your owners confirm in Safe{Wallet}.
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Compare last month’s payout CSV with this month’s, in your browser.
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How a new address is checked, approved by someone else and held for 24 hours.