As businesses expand their operations globally, blockchain rails become a more efficient way to pay employees and contractors as part of payroll infrastructure. Bastion’s regulated wallet API offers a unique opportunity to build payroll infrastructure, combining technical scalability with regulatory compliance. This article outlines how Product, Compliance, and Engineering teams can leverage Bastion’s infrastructure to build a robust and value-driven payroll solution.

Step 1: Understanding the Payroll Workflow

At a high level, payroll infrastructure involves the movement of funds from a business to employees, contractors, or partners. With Bastion, payroll can be executed seamlessly across digital assets, including stablecoins and cryptocurrencies, using the following steps:

• Wallet Creation: Each employee or contractor requires a wallet.
• Fund Management: The company holds assets in its treasury or master wallet.
• Compliance Checks: AML and sanction checks are applied to each payroll payout.
• Payroll Execution: Transfers occur from the business wallet to the employee wallets.
• Transaction Confirmation and Reporting: All transactions are logged, confirmed, and reported for internal purposes and regulatory audits.

Bastion’s APIs automate and simplify these processes, allowing payroll teams to focus on seamless operations while ensuring compliance and scalability.

Step 2: Leveraging Bastion for Key Payroll Infrastructure Components

1. Wallet Management: Easy API Integration

Bastion's API allows for seamless wallet creation with a single line of code, enabling payroll departments to create custodial wallets for every employee, contractor, or partner. This provides flexibility for managing payroll at scale across various currencies and assets.

• Custodial Wallets: Bastion handles the custody of assets, meaning companies don’t need to manage keys or security.
• Custom Smart Contract & Programs Interactions: For businesses leveraging complex on-chain protocols, Bastion wallets can interact with any contract or program.
• Multi-Asset Support: Supports multiple cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, providing employees the option to receive payments in their preferred digital asset.

2. Transaction Routing and Execution

Bastion’s Smart Transaction Routing automatically connects to the most cost-efficient blockchain networks for executing payroll transactions. This ensures global payroll can be managed effectively without incurring high fees or transaction delays.

• Cost Efficiency: Smart routing reduces transaction costs by selecting the most affordable blockchain paths.
• Scalability: Bastion’s infrastructure supports high transaction volumes, making it ideal for businesses that require large-scale, frequent payroll execution.

3. Built-in Compliance and Regulatory Support

One of the most significant advantages of using Bastion is its built-in compliance framework, which is invaluable for companies operating in regulated markets.

• Regulatory Coverage: Bastion’s MSB (Money Services Business) status and MTLs (Money Transmitter Licenses) allow businesses to operate within compliant channels across multiple jurisdictions.
• KYC Screening: Bastion automates know-your-customer (KYC) checks as part of wallet creation, reducing manual compliance workloads.
• Transaction AML Screening: Every deposit and withdrawal is screened through Bastion’s AML/CFT checks, ensuring funds are compliant, and reducing the operational burden on your team.

For Compliance teams, this built-in compliance reduces risk exposure and simplifies the reporting structures. Bastion’s platform also eliminates the need for separate KYT (know-your-transaction) vendors, further streamlining the payroll process.

4. Security and Insurance

Security is critical when building payroll infrastructure, especially with digital assets. Bastion provides an advanced security framework that incorporates hardware security modules (HSMs) and Nitro Secure Enclaves, ensuring maximum security and protection.

• Private Key Security: Cryptographic keys for wallets are generated and managed in highly secure environments, preventing unauthorized access.
• Secure Signing and Policy Enforcement: Transactions are signed within secure hardware, with multi-signature approvals, time-based limits, and transaction caps in place to ensure no single point of failure.
• Crime & Cyber Insurance: Assets held within Bastion are covered under crime and cyber insurance policies, reducing the financial risk of potential asset loss.

5. Audit Trails and Reporting

Comprehensive audit trails and reporting are vital for maintaining payroll security and compliance over time. Bastion offers detailed, tamper-evident audit logs for all payroll transactions and key operations.

• Tamper-Evident Logs: Every key generation, policy change, and transaction is securely logged and accessible for audit purposes.
• Customizable Reporting: Detailed reporting tools allow you to generate reports based on transaction type, volume, or recipient, making internal audits and regulatory filings easier.

Step 3: Bringing Value to Your Teams

For Product Teams

Bastion allows product teams to focus on building user-friendly payroll products without getting bogged down by the complexities of wallet management or compliance. By abstracting these into API calls, product teams can quickly deliver a payroll feature that’s flexible and scalable.

• Rapid Integration: Bastion’s APIs allow you to quickly roll out payroll products, reducing the time to market.
• Cross-Chain Capabilities: Offering multi-asset support ensures that payroll can be delivered flexibly, appealing to a broader range of global employees.

For Compliance Teams

Bastion’s built-in compliance tools drastically reduce the manual work involved in adhering to global regulations. Automated AML, KYC, and transaction monitoring ensures your payroll process is fully compliant.

• Automated Compliance: Built-in compliance checks mean there’s no need for manual monitoring of every transaction.
• Audit-Friendly Reporting: Comprehensive, tamper-evident logs make internal and external audits easier and more transparent.

For Technical Teams

Bastion simplifies technical implementation by abstracting the complexity of wallet management, transaction routing, and compliance into its APIs. This allows engineers to focus on building and scaling rather than securing or managing compliance infrastructure.

• API Documentation: Clear and well-documented APIs streamline the technical integration process.
• Scalability and Reliability: Bastion’s infrastructure supports high transaction volumes without compromising security or performance, ensuring your payroll system grows with your business.

Conclusion

Building payroll infrastructure with Bastion enables product, compliance, and technical teams to collaborate on a secure, scalable, and compliant platform. From wallet management to regulatory compliance and transaction execution, Bastion simplifies every aspect of the payroll process, offering immense value across your organization.