Checkpoints

Settling every off-chain payment on Bitcoin L1 would defeat the point of a cluster. Instead, Coalesce checkpoints: payments finalize automatically on a regular cadence, and any member can type propose at the prompt to force one early.

> send bob 250000
[ok] sent, pending checkpoint

> propose
[ok] checkpoint finalized, payments locked in

What "pending" means

A payment shows as unconfirmed (pending checkpoint) until the next checkpoint locks it in. Nothing about the system runs on placeholder numbers before that: over-balance sends are refused upfront with exact committed/pending/available figures, and a proposer can never confirm anything by itself; finalizing a checkpoint still requires the same quorum cooperation as any other state change.

Why this design

• No on-chain footprint per payment: only funding and closing ever touch the chain.
• No single party can force a checkpoint through: propose triggers the process, it doesn't unilaterally decide the outcome.