The settlement lifecycle

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Overview

When tokenized currency must move across multiple blockchain networks, Atum provides infrastructure to facilitate fulfillment of payment requests. When its price quote is selected, the settlement operator delivers the payment.

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At a glance

The settlement operator submits a price quote. Once its quote is selected, the operator’s agent runs three on-chain steps — deposit → fulfill → release — and Atum signs the release once it has verified the delivery: Only the payout has to land on the destination chain by the payment’s delivery deadline. The release has no deadline. If the payout cannot land in time, the settlement falls back to a refund: the payer’s funds go back from the settlement vault. If the deposit never landed, there is nothing to refund and the payment fails. The payer sees this as refunding, then refunded or refund_available. If your agent reports an error instead, the payment shows failed to the payer, and your agent still refunds the deposit from the vault. See Refunds.

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Quote selection

Settlement operators compete to fulfill each payment request:

1. Receive request — the Atum gateway broadcasts a payment request to operators
2. Evaluate feasibility — the operator checks it against their participation criteria
3. Submit quote — if suitable, the operator submits a quote to fulfill it
4. Fulfill — the operator whose quote is selected fulfills the request

Each of these steps happen in real time via automated systems.

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Next steps