# Key Participants

Trilobyte's lending model involves four key participants, each with distinct roles and responsibilities.

```
┌─────────────┐         ┌──────────────┐         ┌─────────────┐
│  Borrower   │◄────────│  Pool Manager │────────►│  Investor   │
│ (business)  │  loan   │ (underwriter) │  yield  │ (lender)    │
└─────────────┘         └──────────────┘         └─────────────┘
                              │
                     underwrites & monitors
                              │
                        ┌─────────────┐
                        │   Protocol  │
                        │  (Governor) │
                        └─────────────┘
```

## Borrower

A **business** that needs working capital. The borrower receives the loan proceeds once the vault is fully funded and approved, and repays through incoming revenue over the loan term.

**Key responsibilities:**

* Apply for a loan through a Pool Manager
* Make periodic repayments on schedule
* Withdraw available funds from the cash pool

**On-chain actions:** `receive_payment`, `withdraw_cash`

## Pool Manager

A **professional underwriter** who evaluates businesses, negotiates loan terms, and manages the vault throughout its lifecycle. Pool Managers are the bridge between borrowers and investors.

**Key responsibilities:**

* Perform due diligence on borrowers
* Structure loan terms (principal, rate, term, split ratio)
* Create vaults via the Factory contract
* Deposit collateral (skin in the game)
* Approve and disburse funded loans
* Monitor repayments and apply late fees when necessary
* Propose renegotiation when terms need adjustment

**Requirements:**

* Must be approved by the protocol's Operations Admin
* Must deposit collateral covering a percentage of each vault's principal
* Subject to credit limits that cap total outstanding principal
* Flagged as delinquent if a vault defaults — blocked from creating new vaults until cleared

**On-chain actions:** `create_vault`, `deposit_collateral`, `approve_and_disburse`, `apply_late_fee`, `propose_renegotiation`, `approve_renegotiation`, `reject_renegotiation`

## Investor

Anyone who funds a loan and earns yield from the borrower's repayments. Investors deposit funds into a vault during its fundraising phase and receive SEP-41 debt tokens representing their share.

**Key responsibilities:**

* Evaluate available vaults and their terms
* Deposit funds during the RaisingFunds phase
* Claim yield from the EMI pool as repayments come in
* Monitor vault health and repayment status

**In permissioned vaults**, investors must be allowlisted by the Pool Manager before they can deposit.

**On-chain actions:** `deposit`, `withdraw`, `claim_yield`

## Governor

The **protocol administration** that manages global settings and infrastructure. Governance actions are routed through a **Timelock** contract that enforces a delay on critical changes.

The Governor manages three roles:

| Role                 | Who                 | Responsibilities                                                       |
| -------------------- | ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Admin**            | Governor / Timelock | Set global settings, whitelist assets, upgrade contracts, set treasury |
| **Security Admin**   | Security team       | Pause/unpause the protocol in emergencies                              |
| **Operations Admin** | Operations team     | Approve/remove pool managers, set credit limits, clear delinquency     |

**On-chain actions:** `set_settings`, `add_supported_asset`, `set_fee`, `pause`, `unpause`, `add_pool_manager`, `approve_pool_manager`, `set_manager_credit_limit`, `clear_delinquency`


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.trilobyte.finance/overview/key-participants.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.