Claims and resolution

Typed grammar, commitments and the resolution ladder.

A cash settled option requires a terminal price nobody can dispute afterwards. The settlement layer provides it.

Typed claims

A claim names its own referee. If no adapter can resolve it, it is not a claim.

grammar

CLAIM      := SUBJECT COMPARATOR THRESHOLD TEMPORAL VIA SOURCE
COMPARATOR := >= | <= | > | < | crosses
TEMPORAL   := AT <iso8601> | ANYTIME_BEFORE <iso8601>

NVDA.close >= 182.00 AT 2026-10-16T16:00-04:00 VIA nasdaq.official

Implementation note

Comparator matching must be longest first. Matching > before >= splits >= 182 into comparator > and threshold = 182, which then fails as non-numeric. There is a test for it.

Commitments

Every field is bound into one hash. Commitments accumulate into a Merkle tree with domain separated leaf and node hashing, and only the epoch root is anchored, at constant cost per epoch rather than per claim. Epochs chain by previous root, so a deleted or reordered epoch is detectable rather than merely discouraged.

Resolution ladder

Layer	Mechanism	Share
Primary	registered adapter at the stated timestamp	~94%
Redundant	k of n independent operators agree within tolerance	~5%
Dispute	24h window, bonded challenge, committee vote	<1%
Void	source failed, halt, corporate action	rare

A void resolution is excluded from the record rather than settled arbitrarily.