What a milestone gate is
A milestone gate is the boundary between operational evidence and a money movement. Until a gate PASSes, the corresponding tranche of buyer-committed EDSD stays Locked. When the gate PASSes, the rail mints an EMT, deducts the 0.5% protocol fee, burns 50% of the fee in $EDM, and unlocks the tranche to the seller’s wallet in the same atomic transaction.
Each gate has three configured properties: an evidence schema (which signed documents and attestor signatures are required), an attestor role (who is authorised to sign), and a release percentage (how much of the order value unlocks on PASS). The defaults are templated; specific deals can customise within governance-published bounds.
Gates run in order. A later gate cannot PASS before an earlier gate. This is not a politeness, it is enforced by the smart contract: settleTrancheOnPass rejects out-of-order claims. The same evidence cannot finalise twice; the one-claim ledger enforces exclusivity on-chain.
Governance-adjustable within bounds
Some gate parameters are tunable. The release percentages, the attestor list, the evidence schema specifics, and the per-tranche fee caps can all be adjusted via governance proposal with a 72-hour timelock. Templates can be added for specific trade structures, sectors, or corridors.
Other parameters are not tunable. Must-fund before shipping, no EMT without verified evidence, Locked-to-Unlocked only on PoV PASS, and the 50% burn floor on every protocol fee are constitutional. Governance cannot disable the brakes. The invariants are the protocol’s social contract with both sides of every trade.
Must-fund before shipping. No bill of lading is accepted onto the rail before the Pre-Ship EMT exists.
Locked to Unlocked only on verified proof. The state flip can only happen on a PoV PASS; never on a vote, never on an override.
One-claim exclusivity. Same
claim_id cannot finalise twice. Duplicate financing structurally impossible.50% burn. Half of every protocol fee burns $EDM atomically with the settlement transaction.
Evidence checklists. Per-gate evidence schemas can evolve as standards evolve (eBL formats, customs filing types).
Attestor SLAs. Target latencies and quorum thresholds tunable per role within bounds.
Treasury allocation. The 50% treasury half can be split between attestor incentives, network ops, ecosystem grants. The burn half cannot.
Buyer review window. The 0–4 hour window length is governed; the existence of the window is constitutional.
The 4-gate variant for receivables
Trade-finance receivables use a shorter 4-gate template: Invoice Issued, Invoice Verified, Goods Delivered, Invoice Paid. The release schedule is different (typically 30/30/30/10) because the financing is against the invoice, not the underlying goods movement. Evidence schemas centre on document authenticity and counterparty identity rather than container seal photos and customs filings.
The 4-gate variant rides the same rail: same EMT minting, same protocol fee structure, same 50% burn, same one-claim ledger. The deal-flow page covers the receivables flow end-to-end. The Settlement rail does not care which template the deal uses; it cares that the proof is real and the rules are enforced.
