# Core concepts \[Team, Member, and Account: the three ideas everything else builds on]

Splits is built around three concepts:

* **Team**: the primary organizational unit. Everything in the app (accounts, balances, transactions, bank info) is scoped to a team. A team maps to one entity (a company or an individual).
* **Member**: a person in a team. A member authenticates with email, has a role, and saves passkeys that can become signers on accounts.
* **Account**: where assets are stored within a team. Each account has the same address on every network and is controlled by signers.

## Team

Everything in the app (accounts, balances, transactions, bank info) except personal settings is scoped to the current team, shown in the team selector (top left).

A team maps to one legal entity. On/offramps and compliant payments require [legal entity verification](/banking) (KYB/KYC), and **each team can have only one verified entity**. A tax ID is a useful litmus test: Alice belongs to the Splits Labs team (EIN) and her own personal team (SSN): two tax IDs, two teams.

When deciding between a new team and an existing one, ask "who are the owners?" Same owners → existing team; different owners → new team. This matters for Recovery. See [Change recovery signers](/teams/recovery#changing-recovery-signers).

You can belong to any number of teams. See [Creating a team](/teams).

## Member

A member is a person in a team. Members authenticate with email; one login can belong to multiple teams. Every member has a [role](/teams/permissions) (Owner or Member) that determines what they can administer.

Members save passkeys, and passkeys can become [signers](/accounts/signers) on accounts. Passkeys, email, display name, and avatar belong to the login, not the team: they work across every team you're in. Membership itself grants no signing authority. See [Members](/teams/members).

Personal settings live at [Settings > Personal](https://app.splits.org/settings/personal/general/).

## Account

An account is where a team's assets are stored. Each account has the same address on every network.

Each account has signers: public keys that can approve its transactions. Signers are the passkeys members have saved, or registered EOAs. The public key is stored onchain; the private key stays in your password manager (iCloud Keychain, Google Password Manager, Yubikey, 1Password, etc.). **Splits never has access to your private keys.**

For account types and the ownership chain, see [Accounts](/accounts).