Transaction lifecycle

A 4Mica transaction is a cryptographic guarantee: a signed payment commitment backed by payer collateral. The payer does not send an on-chain transfer for every request. They sign a guarantee, the recipient submits it to 4Mica Core, and Core returns a BLS certificate after it verifies the request and locks collateral. The BLS certificate is the payment authorization. After the recipient verifies it, they can provide the service knowing Core accepted the guarantee. There are two types of guarantees:

• V1 is payable as soon as Core issues it. Use it for agreed payments.
• V2 is validation-gated. A verifier, such as an ERC-8004 validation registry, must confirm the job before the recipient can use the validation path for payment.

With V1, the payer and recipient already accept the payment terms. Core checks the payer signature, user status, accepted version, and collateral. If the request passes, Core stores the guarantee as FINALIZED_PAYABLE so it can enter cycle netting. With V2, the payer locks collateral without making the guarantee payable right away. The signed request includes a validation policy. Core checks that policy, stores the guarantee as PENDING_VALIDATION, and keeps it out of netting until the lifecycle changes. The recipient can use the validation path only if the trusted registry publishes a result that matches the policy.

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Where req_id comes from

req_id must exist before the payer signs because it is part of the signed request. The payer or SDK generates a unique request identifier before signing. The cycle-native Core issuance path, /core/guarantees, does not generate req_id. It verifies the signed value, derives the deterministic guarantee_id from it, and rejects another guarantee with the same identity.

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How V1 works

V1 fits known-party payments and x402 flows where you do not need external outcome validation.

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V1 signed request fields

The payer signs these fields before the recipient submits the request to Core. Core verifies them, but it does not rewrite them. The submitted request also includes signature and scheme. The SDK uses EIP-712 signing.

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V1 certificate fields

After Core accepts the request, it signs a BLS certificate over the issued guarantee. The certificate adds fields that come from Core rather than from the payer.

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V1 lifetime

V1 does not normally remain in ISSUED. Core stores accepted V1 guarantees as FINALIZED_PAYABLE because no validation step is left.

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How V2 works

V2 is for payments that need validation before the recipient can collect. The trust model has three parties:

1. Recipient proposes the validation requirements, including which registry to use, in the payment request.
2. Payer signs those requirements, agreeing to pay only if that specific registry confirms the outcome.
3. Core enforces the allowlist: before locking any collateral, Core checks that the proposed validation_registry_address is on the operator-configured allowlist. If it is not, the request is rejected immediately.

To find out which registries are approved on a given Core deployment, call GET /core/public-params. The response includes a trusted_validation_registries field listing all accepted registry addresses. This endpoint does not require authentication.

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V2 signed request fields

V2 signs all V1 request fields plus validation_policy.

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V2 validation policy fields

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V2 certificate and on-chain fields

Core issues the same certificate fields as V1 and sets version to 2. The encoded V2 certificate also includes the validation policy fields.

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V2 lifetime

The on-chain validation remuneration path does not use cycle netting. If the registry result does not match the policy, remunerate reverts and no funds move.

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How settlement cycles affect both versions

Both V1 and V2 guarantees flow into a settlement cycle once they reach FINALIZED_PAYABLE. The cycle batches those guarantees, computes net positions across all participants, and commits a Merkle clearing batch on chain. Only the net amounts move. Individual guarantees are not settled one by one. Each cycle runs through six phases: Timings are configurable per deployment. V2 guarantees that remain PENDING_VALIDATION, DISPUTED, or CANCELLED when a cycle closes are excluded from netting. They do not affect any net debit or credit position in that cycle.

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V1 and V2 comparison

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Builder guidance

Choose V1 when a signed request should become payable as soon as Core verifies it. Choose V2 when the payer should lock collateral first and release value only after a trusted validator confirms the result. When you build with V2:

• Call GET /core/public-params and check trusted_validation_registries before building your payment requirements. Core rejects any registry not on that list.
• Put all validation requirements in paymentRequirements.extra before the payer signs.
• Use the SDK to compute validation_subject_hash and validation_request_hash.
• Keep validation_chain_id aligned with the chain_id returned by GET /core/public-params.
• Set min_validation_score from 1 to 100.
• Make sure the validator publishes a result with the expected validator address, agent ID, score, and tag.
• Treat pending guarantees as locked collateral until the lifecycle finalizes, disputes, cancels, or remunerates.

See Settlements, Bilateral netting cycles, and How x402 works for related flows.