intents machine
intents machine
value·price·light·updated

Chains

A jam is measured in the source chain's own confirmations, never in time. The required depth per chain is fixed at deploy. The pending count and the last settlement are live from the machine's records.

CHAINASSETDEPTH REQUIREDPENDING INTENTSLAST SETTLE
bitcoinBTC6 blocks
zcashZEC10 blocks
moneroXMR10 blocks
ethereumETH32 slots
solanaSOL32 slots
nearNEAR1 block
bitcoin6 blockszcash10 blocksmonero10 blocksethereum32 slotssolana32 slotsnear1 block
fig. 1 · Confirmation depth the machine waits for on each source chain before calling a vend intent jammed, on one linear scale. Depths are in the chain's own unit and never in seconds.

Why depth and not time

A timer would make the machine's behaviour depend on the clock of whoever runs it. A confirmation depth makes it depend only on the chain the asset came from. Ten Monero blocks is the same condition on every machine on earth; ten minutes is not.

Depths are chosen as the point past which a reorg on that chain is not a practical concern. They are conservative on purpose. A jam is rare and it is always the source chain's fault, never the machine's.