Boundaries and Bridges
The boundary rule is simple: use Holochain for validated civic coordination and institutional memory; bridge to regulated systems for records that law, finance, or public administration already governs.
Put In Holochain
Section titled “Put In Holochain”| Area | Why |
|---|---|
| Membership and roles | Communities need local authority, term limits, delegation, and visible responsibility. |
| Proposals and resolutions | Decisions need provenance and durable references. |
| Agreements and document hashes | Holochain can preserve references, signatures, and access-controlled evidence. |
| Treasury approvals | Members need to know who requested, reviewed, approved, or rejected a payment. |
| Stewardship reviews | Long-lived domains such as land and housing need memory across boards and households. |
| Validation rules | [Holochain validation][validation] can enforce data integrity inside a distributed network application (DNA). |
| Federation records | Organizations need shared directories, protocol versions, and inter-coop agreements. |
Bridge Out
Section titled “Bridge Out”| External system | Why it stays external |
|---|---|
| Banking rails | Payment execution, settlement, and bank compliance belong to financial systems. |
| Payroll and benefits | Employment law, tax withholding, and benefit administration need specialized systems. |
| Tax filings and audited books | Formal accounting and audit records need accounting systems and professional review. |
| State registries | Entity formation and filing status remain with public authorities. |
| Title, lease, and mortgage systems | Enforceable property records and legal instruments remain outside the Holochain application (hApp). |
| Fiscal-host books | Fiscal sponsorship needs fiduciary oversight and financial management from the sponsor. |
The National Council of Nonprofits describes fiscal sponsorship as fiduciary oversight, financial management, and administrative support.
Solidarity Commons Protocol can record project-facing approvals and evidence. The sponsor’s books and compliance duties remain authoritative.
Bridge Records
Section titled “Bridge Records”The useful artifact is often a bridge record:
- A resolution authorizes a payment.
- An expense packet carries receipt references.
- An export manifest prepares accounting review.
- A data-export manifest records schema, hashes, access scope, requester, and receiving system before a vendor migration.
- A fiscal sponsorship agreement defines the sponsor relationship.
- A community land trust (CLT) stewardship review links to a lease or title record.
- A ValueFlows or Holochain Resource-Event-Agent (hREA) reference connects an economic event.
- A redacted record gives a reviewer only the fields they need.
Read Validation and Integrity for the rule layer and Privacy and Data Placement for the record-placement layer.