Skip to content

payment-router: define the protocol fee model #72

Description

@joelpeace48-cell

Problem

There is no protocol fee, and no decision recorded about whether there should
be. Grant programmes routinely ask how a project sustains itself after the
grant; "we have not decided" is a weak answer, and retrofitting a fee onto live
escrows is a breaking change.

What to do

  • Decide the model: basis points on settlement, flat per-attestation, a
    subscription, or explicitly zero-fee with a stated funding plan.
  • If a fee exists: configurable within a hard-capped range enforced by the
    contract, so governance cannot raise it arbitrarily. The cap is what makes the
    fee acceptable to counterparties.
  • Fee changes affect only escrows opened after the change — never in-flight
    ones.
  • Route fees to a treasury address, changeable only under the admin process.
  • Emit an event on every fee collection so revenue is publicly auditable.

Acceptance criteria

  • Fee model decided and documented publicly, including a zero-fee choice
  • Hard cap enforced in contract code, not policy
  • Fee changes never retroactive
  • Collection events emitted

Notes

The hard cap matters more than the rate. A fee that governance can raise
without limit is indistinguishable from a fee of 100% from a counterparty's
risk perspective.

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions