What a gate-check actually does
Before EDMA mints any token or releases any payment, the protocol runs three automated checks against the real-world evidence behind every claim. If any check fails, nothing happens — no token, no payout, no exception path. This page walks through what each check does and why it’s the foundation of trust on the network.
When an operator submits a claim to the EDMA chain, it doesn't go straight to mint. It enters the gate. The gate is three sequential checks the protocol runs on-chain, in a strict order, before any state change is permitted.
The checks are not procedural niceties. Each one closes a specific failure mode that real-world tokenisation projects have stumbled on: missing or skewed attestor sets, diverging copies of the same evidence, and the same evidence being used to mint twice. The protocol enforces all three at the contract level, there is no off-chain override, no admin key, no "trust us" path.
The three checks
- 01
Attestation quorum
The protocol counts the attestations on the claim. The default route requires at least two attestations from at least two distinct roles, and the AUDITOR role is always required. Routes can be configured with stricter quorums (e.g. energy routes require METER_OP + GRID + AUDITOR). Below quorum → fail.
- 02
Equality check
All counted attestations must reference the exact same evidenceHash. Canonical-JSON serialisation makes identical facts produce identical bytes, which produce identical hashes. If two attestors signed slightly different versions of the dossier, different timestamps, different ordering, different field rounding, the hashes diverge and the gate rejects.
- 03
One-claim exclusivity
The same evidenceHash can be finalised exactly once across all routes on the entire network. The protocol checks the global registry. If the hash has been finalised before, on any route, by any operator, this claim is rejected. The first valid finalisation wins; everything after is recorded as a rejection.
Failure modes the gate prevents
Self-attestation
An operator (or a single attestor) signing into existence a claim no one else has verified. Quorum + role-distinct requirement blocks this at gate 01.
Evidence drift
Two attestors signing slightly different versions of the same event. Equality check at gate 02 rejects any claim where the underlying hashes don't match exactly.
Double-counting
The same kWh of solar generation backing two ETT mints, or the same Bill of Lading funding two milestone releases. One-claim exclusivity at gate 03 makes this impossible.
