VELMVellum Protocol8,420 waitlist KITEKite Ledger2,190 waitlist PLSDPalisade ID1,640 waitlist NRTLNorthlineDay 8 of 14 SABLSable RailDay 5 of 14 QULLQuill MarketsDay 11 of 14 CDWLCinder Well6,947 waitlist HRTNHartline8,787 waitlist OBSNObsidian Rail4,416 waitlist FENLFen Clearing1,060 waitlist LUMNLumen Books5,510 waitlist RDCTRedact ID6,485 waitlist HRBNHarbor NAV6,973 waitlist QLTDQuilt1,876 waitlist NMBMNimbus Match7,864 waitlist BRASBrass4,166 waitlist SLSTSolstice Credit9,342 waitlist WLTRWillow Transfer7,031 waitlist EMBREmber Registry2,487 waitlist NQAYNorth Quay2,013 waitlist KLNSKiln4,412 waitlist GLSHGlass HouseDay 8 of 14 IRNPIron PierDay 1 of 14 PLFRPale FireDay 3 of 14 VELMVellum Protocol8,420 waitlist KITEKite Ledger2,190 waitlist PLSDPalisade ID1,640 waitlist NRTLNorthlineDay 8 of 14 SABLSable RailDay 5 of 14 QULLQuill MarketsDay 11 of 14 CDWLCinder Well6,947 waitlist HRTNHartline8,787 waitlist OBSNObsidian Rail4,416 waitlist FENLFen Clearing1,060 waitlist LUMNLumen Books5,510 waitlist RDCTRedact ID6,485 waitlist HRBNHarbor NAV6,973 waitlist QLTDQuilt1,876 waitlist NMBMNimbus Match7,864 waitlist BRASBrass4,166 waitlist SLSTSolstice Credit9,342 waitlist WLTRWillow Transfer7,031 waitlist EMBREmber Registry2,487 waitlist NQAYNorth Quay2,013 waitlist KLNSKiln4,412 waitlist GLSHGlass HouseDay 8 of 14 IRNPIron PierDay 1 of 14 PLFRPale FireDay 3 of 14

POPE

Closed

CLOSEDPayments orchestration

Poplar Rail

Window closed. 2,314 asked while it was live. You are reading history.

Heat 30. Window 0d. If you are going to read one Payments orchestration company, this is the one.

Poplar Rail — A routing layer in front of payment firms that already hold licences. One API picks the rail (SEPA, cards, local schemes) and can present a wallet-like checkout. The wallet is the interface. It is not a coin.

Closed on this board. Any capital event was completed with the issuer’s own providers. RCA Pad took 0%.

Closed. The live conversation is over. The pack remains as archive.

Diligence, not a prospectus. RCA Pad does not allocate, take orders, or close funding. If this company raises, it raises with its own counsel.

Waitlist

Window

Closed

Heat

0/99

Inbound / wk

0asks

Asking now

0live

Named pilots

Redacted on the public page

Live nodes

Account abstraction · testnet

Counsel hours

Edinburgh · closed private round

Sentences killed

Before listing

Claims live

0/11

Sprint

Our cut

Of any proceeds

Plate Orbit · 8047

POPE

The plate

Orbit. Edition 8047.

A unique plate for Poplar Rail. Geometry, orbit, and edition belong to this company — no other listing on the board shares it.

POPE · Edinburgh · Payments orchestration

Score

Desk diligence

Pilots

Named, redacted

Waitlist

Product demand

Edinburgh

Licensed PSPs

Sells

Annual

Annual PSP seat

Markets

Edinburgh

Years

Founded 2026

Surfaces

Account abstraction · testnet

Complete

File readiness

The wedge

Annual PSP seat

Poplar Rail is betting that Edinburgh PSPs will buy routing as software rather than issue a coin.

Why the desk took it

A real job, not a ticker.

US was taken off the file in the first hour. That is adult.

Traction

3 named pilots (redacted).

Founded 2026, headquartered in Edinburgh. 3 named pilots on file (identities redacted in public). 2,314 on the waitlist, gated — product demand, not a book built. 11 nodes or connected surfaces reported. Desk diligence score 91/100. A qualified custodian reconciling against this book. A dual-control drill exists on paper. We have not watched it live yet — that is the next ask.

Next 12 months

Two paying PSPs or the file should not go to Build.

Modulr and Lemonway sell the account. Poplar Rail sells the router in front of accounts they already have. Bps on a job that already has a budget line. A public coin would not make the invoice larger.

The brief

How a serious reader should hold this.

Before the waitlist, before the window, there was a refusal. Poplar Rail would not let a public sale sit on this page. That is why a company in Payments orchestration is listed here at all — and why the people who wanted a coin left, and the people who wanted the product stayed.

Poplar Rail exists because the incumbent brand will not staff the unglamorous middle of Payments orchestration. The product is that middle. The token, if it ever exists, is not the product — and is not for sale here. The people in the queue already understood the difference.

On a Tuesday in Edinburgh, an exception posts back into the customer’s existing case system. Nobody opens a side spreadsheet. That is the product: the night someone in ops does not stay late.

From the screen

This communication is not an offer. Participation mechanics do not exist on this pad. If a later reader treats the public stack as the offer, the stack was already wrong.

From ops

A dual-control drill exists on paper. Production evidence is the next artefact, not a tweet.

From counsel

We will not describe this as Reg CA-compliant, MiCA-stickered, or FCA-authorised. Issuers retain their own counsel in every relevant jurisdiction.

The window

Miss this and you read the archive.

Founders who want a pack this tight apply. Readers who wait get a closed stamp.

0% of proceeds. Fixed fee. The incentive is a clean campaign — not a raise.

If you are a founder who wants a pack like this: apply. If you are a buyer: call them — not us.

Window

Closed

Closed. History only — not a place to buy.

Sentences killed: 7
Counsel hours on file: 86
Asks / week: 289
Our cut: 0% of proceeds

The decline pile is a compliment. It means the screen still means something.
Mei Berg, Chief executive

This company

Poplar Rail

A L2 wrapper is cheaper. It is also a different perimeter — and declined here.

In the same conversation

Modulr
Lemonway
Checkout.com routing
Not a L2 payments coin

The bet

Why this company exists.

Poplar Rail is betting that Edinburgh PSPs will buy routing as software rather than issue a coin.

MiCA is forcing PSPs to choose a perimeter. Houses that will not become CASPs still need programmable checkout. The ones that pick software over a coin will buy this. The ones that want a token will be declined here.

PSP orchestration in Europe is a multi-billion software market. Buyers already pay for routing. A token would not make the invoice larger; it would make the licence harder.

Versus the field

The incumbent brand sells the relationship. Poplar Rail sells the job the brand will not staff. A protocol pitch is the thing this company has already refused. Open-source looks free until the auditor asks who attests.

Edinburgh being the city does not make local retail a default audience. Communications capable of inducing investment activity still have a promotions problem.

How it works

01Payer or merchant hits a single checkout API
02The router selects a licensed rail the PSP already runs
03Account-abstraction is an optional UX layer (currently testnet)
04Settlement lands in the PSP’s existing accounts — no new token
05Exceptions (chargebacks, scheme rejects) post back into the PSP’s existing case system
06Kill of a public sentence is an hour, not a committee.

In the same conversation as

Modulr
Lemonway
Checkout.com routing
Not a L2 payments coin

If they raise

Where the money would actually go.

Not a token float. A budget against work. RCA Pad still takes 0% of proceeds.

Control environment
31%
Adapter work against the incumbent register, admin, or custodian.
Counsel & perimeter
28%
Hiring the operator who already does this job at a licensed firm.
Claims & campaign ops
15%
Dual-control drills, key ceremonies, and the person who owns them.
Named operators
26%
A counsel memo that can survive a later reader.

Operating week

What “in market” actually looks like.

SunOwnersWho can decide messaging and budget on a recorded line. If the answer is nobody, stop.
FriKill switchRehearse unpublish in 24 hours. If it takes a committee, it is not a switch.
WedCounselPerimeter diffs. If the site drifted from the memo, the site moves — not the memo.
MonClaimsEvery public sentence checked against the register. Anything extra is unpublished.

The wedge

Why this one, not the other one.

They sell: Annual PSP seat
Who pays: A qualified custodian reconciling against this book.
Unit economics: Bps on a job that already has a budget line. A public coin would not make the invoice larger.
Moat on file: ISO 20022 maps that took eighteen months — not a wrapper on Stripe.
Switching cost: Network effects only if a second named counterparty writes. One customer is a service firm.
Vs the comps: Modulr and Lemonway sell the account. Poplar Rail sells the router in front of accounts they already have.
Why we listed it: US was taken off the file in the first hour. That is adult.

Next twelve months

What has to be true.

Two paying PSPs or the file should not go to Build.

A dual-control drill exists on paper. We have not watched it live yet — that is the next ask.

If they raise, it is to hire the remaining certifications and the second market — not to float a coin.

Traction

What you can verify today.

Operating notes for Account abstraction · testnet
No token contract listed as a public sale
Named founder; customer still a conversation
Edinburgh is the operating centre
The waitlist, if any, is a product list — not a book
Raise, if any, closed with issuer providers

Readiness

Six things a serious buyer asks. 100 is “ready to take to counsel and a customer.”

Product95
Customers96
Legal path84
Tech maturity61
Demand52
Market access44

Risks

What can kill it.

The one that actually kills it

The founder wants a public book

The moment Poplar Rail asks this pad to allocate, sell, or complete funding, the listing ends. That is not a moral project. It is how a services firm stays a services firm.

Token temptation

If the wallet layer is ever described as a means of payment, the product becomes an e-money or CASP problem. This file treats that as a hard stop.

Perimeter

A supervisor can still read account-abstraction as issuing. Until counsel names the path, treat the AA layer as a lab.

Customer concentration

A handful of PSP design partners can stall the company if they slip. Ask who is paying, not who is ‘interested’.

United States

The US is out of scope on this file. That is deliberate. It also caps the TAM.

Scheme freeze

A card scheme can kill the router without talking to Poplar Rail. Concentration in one scheme is existential.

Incumbent feature

The administrator, CCP, scheme or custodian can ship this as a checkbox. Poplar Rail has to be cheaper or faster before that happens.

Ask these next

01Who is the first named paying customer — not a letter of intent?
02Which geography is actually locked, and which is a hope?
03Is the waitlist demand for a product, or a queue for a coin?
04Has counsel written the perimeter in a memo you can file?
05What happens if a founder later wants a public token?
06If RCA Pad disappeared tomorrow, could the customer still run the job?

Structure

How money would actually move.

Window closed. Tombstone is theirs. Archive is ours. 0% of proceeds.

Entity: Poplar Rail Ltd
Path on file: Edinburgh · closed private round
Posture: Window closed
Pack: Sprint

Where they can operate

Named vs off-limits.

Named markets are where a sentence is allowed. Restricted is where it is not. This is not a worldwide offering.

Edinburghnamed
Global publicrestricted
United Statesrestricted

Team

Who runs it.

Mei BergChief executive
Hannah ColeHead of product

Stack

Account abstraction · testnet
Payments orchestration
Disclosure templates
Takedown SLA

Named with them

Clearline
Meridian Tax

Who can decide

Mei Berg (Chief executive) will take a 30-minute call and decide budget. If the only person who can accept “we are not opening a sale” is a silent co-founder in another time zone, this company would not be on the board.

A second counterparty writing into the record is the only network effect that counts. One customer is a consultancy. Two is a market.

Claims with evidence

Statements with evidence.

Statement	Evidence	Status
Poplar Rail does not sell a token to the public on this pad	Posture lock	withdrawn
The product is payments orchestration sold to institutions	Architecture + customer type	withdrawn
Account abstraction · testnet is the method — not a listed asset	Desk snapshot	withdrawn
Retail buyers are out of scope	Named markets lock	withdrawn
Any raise completes with the issuer’s counsel and providers — not on RCA Pad	Fixed-fee terms	withdrawn
Production date for the chain layer is not committed	Desk file	withdrawn
No public token is sold on this pad	Engagement terms + posture lock	withdrawn
Customers contemplated: Edinburgh	Named markets on the file	withdrawn

On the record

Final registerArchiveAug
Close reportReportAug
Tombstone copyArchiveAug

Operating log

19 Aug 10:00
Close report. 0% of proceeds.
12 Aug 18:00
Poplar Rail archived. Live claims withdrawn.
11 Aug 09:30
Final creator pass. Residual claims pulled.

Path to now

Open
File
Before any public sentence.
Close
Archive
We did not take a cut.

Not a subscription

This is not a sale page.

Window closed. Tombstone is theirs. Archive is ours. 0% of proceeds. Founders who want a pack like this one apply. Readers who want the company talk to the company — not to this pad.

Launch your own How an RCAICO works

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