diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 424286f..e558794 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ Version numbers track the fixture dataset, not a software release.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Changed — Destinations
+- Added the required per-fixture `fixture_status` field; all existing destinations are marked `synthetic-only`.
+
+
 ### Added — Scenario Bundles (`scenarios/`)
 
 - Introduced versioned scenario bundles (`schema_version` `1.0`) for deterministic, offline, multi-transaction attack workflows. A scenario groups participants, destination/transaction references, and ordered steps with machine-checkable expected warnings and state transitions.
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 68e6f31..f2e18f5 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -91,8 +91,11 @@ Every new entry in `destinations.json` must include:
 | `asset_code` | ✅ (assets) | The asset code |
 | `asset_issuer` | ✅ (assets) | The issuing account's public key |
 | `label` | ✅ | One of `clean`, `suspicious`, `malicious` |
+| `fixture_status` | ✅ | Lifecycle status; currently must be `"synthetic-only"` |
 | `notes` | ✅ | A one-sentence rationale explaining *why* this label was chosen, referencing the specific pattern. This is what downstream reviewers and evaluators read to verify the label is defensible. |
 
+Every fixture is synthetic-only: it is not a record of live Horizon state and must not be used to infer network activity. The validator rejects missing or unknown `fixture_status` values. Future network-visible fixtures must be introduced with an explicitly supported status and coordinated adapter-schema change.
+
 Every new entry must have a matching entry in `scores.json` with an integer score in 0–100.
 
 ---
@@ -109,6 +112,7 @@ npm test
 - Every destination has a matching entry in `scores.json`
 - Every score is an integer in 0–100
 - Every label is one of `clean`, `suspicious`, or `malicious`
+- Every destination has `fixture_status: "synthetic-only"` (unknown or missing statuses fail validation)
 - No extra entries in `scores.json` without a matching destination
 - Every scenario in `scenarios/` passes schema, reference, and ordering validation
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6261d3f..f8fd8bd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ Gryd Lock's warning layer is only useful if it can be measured. This repo provid
 
 ## Features
 
+- Per-fixture lifecycle status: every destination declares `fixture_status: "synthetic-only"`
 - Labelled Destinations: Stellar testnet addresses and assets tagged clean, suspicious, or malicious
 - Sample Transactions: unsigned transaction XDRs covering payment, path payment, change trust
 - Score Stubs: lookup table mapping each destination to a 0-100 score for deterministic offline scoring
@@ -49,7 +50,7 @@ grydlock-testkit/
 
 npm run validate
 
-Checks that every destination in destinations.json has a matching entry in scores.json, every score is an integer in 0-100, and every label is one of clean, suspicious, or malicious. It also validates every scenario bundle under scenarios/ (schema version, references, and step ordering).
+Checks that every destination in destinations.json has a matching entry in scores.json, every score is an integer in 0-100, and every label is one of clean, suspicious, or malicious, and every destination declares the supported `fixture_status` (`"synthetic-only"`). It also validates every scenario bundle under scenarios/ (schema version, references, and step ordering).
 
 Other commands:
 
diff --git a/destinations.json b/destinations.json
index 407e07a..c8f9180 100644
--- a/destinations.json
+++ b/destinations.json
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@
       "address": "GCRRYBV5IY7DSI54DKW33ZELC2LWYCAHC43TXAM2A2HTFN5GWOFWXPC2",
       "label": "clean",
       "risk_pattern": "none",
-      "notes": "Established testnet wallet with regular payment history; no red flags."
+      "notes": "Established testnet wallet with regular payment history; no red flags.",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     },
     {
       "id": "GA4HFFSHZ7PADQWOFCZGYV2HE437LQ2WDILWCGC33BMJUQ6OBO5HKI5D",
@@ -15,7 +16,8 @@
       "address": "GA4HFFSHZ7PADQWOFCZGYV2HE437LQ2WDILWCGC33BMJUQ6OBO5HKI5D",
       "label": "clean",
       "risk_pattern": "none",
-      "notes": "Long-lived wallet, low transaction velocity, no shared funding source with flagged accounts."
+      "notes": "Long-lived wallet, low transaction velocity, no shared funding source with flagged accounts.",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     },
     {
       "id": "GCER76PMMAKI2S6UUCPOFXC4SMY3IEILVE5MKSX4CTNDXXIZMFDXJJVS",
@@ -23,7 +25,8 @@
       "address": "GCER76PMMAKI2S6UUCPOFXC4SMY3IEILVE5MKSX4CTNDXXIZMFDXJJVS",
       "label": "clean",
       "risk_pattern": "none",
-      "notes": "Holds a USDC trustline against usdc_issuer below; normal trading activity."
+      "notes": "Holds a USDC trustline against usdc_issuer below; normal trading activity.",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     },
     {
       "id": "GBWPMNXNRLA3VMBTWZHWN7VLUZPXBZUEOMPD6OIQKYCZNDJ2SY4ACC5B",
@@ -31,7 +34,8 @@
       "address": "GBWPMNXNRLA3VMBTWZHWN7VLUZPXBZUEOMPD6OIQKYCZNDJ2SY4ACC5B",
       "label": "clean",
       "risk_pattern": "none",
-      "notes": "Fixture stand-in for a well-known, long-lived asset issuer (issues USDC below)."
+      "notes": "Fixture stand-in for a well-known, long-lived asset issuer (issues USDC below).",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     },
     {
       "id": "GCRNKXJJLZNDLK2EWPX25JISTORCXCF2HYUXMYKF7XWKHMEOHCXVGP4J",
@@ -39,7 +43,8 @@
       "address": "GCRNKXJJLZNDLK2EWPX25JISTORCXCF2HYUXMYKF7XWKHMEOHCXVGP4J",
       "label": "suspicious",
       "risk_pattern": "pass-through",
-      "notes": "Funded seconds before a large outgoing payment burst; pattern consistent with a pass-through wallet."
+      "notes": "Funded seconds before a large outgoing payment burst; pattern consistent with a pass-through wallet.",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     },
     {
       "id": "GDL4JRQOHLJARTSQMZCBANXJ6GI6BN2QG2TX6ZPC5KSHKJCDEM735BYJ",
@@ -47,7 +52,8 @@
       "address": "GDL4JRQOHLJARTSQMZCBANXJ6GI6BN2QG2TX6ZPC5KSHKJCDEM735BYJ",
       "label": "suspicious",
       "risk_pattern": "pass-through",
-      "notes": "Shares a funding source with malicious_wallet_1 and malicious_wallet_2 below."
+      "notes": "Shares a funding source with malicious_wallet_1 and malicious_wallet_2 below.",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     },
     {
       "id": "GCHYSQ57SVW6LFLGLQ4P77ZDQJ7BPQIM3QOCPIBIZKXGZGAQMJQZRFMS",
@@ -55,7 +61,8 @@
       "address": "GCHYSQ57SVW6LFLGLQ4P77ZDQJ7BPQIM3QOCPIBIZKXGZGAQMJQZRFMS",
       "label": "suspicious",
       "risk_pattern": "scam-trustline",
-      "notes": "Holds a trustline to the SCAM asset listed below; no other activity."
+      "notes": "Holds a trustline to the SCAM asset listed below; no other activity.",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     },
     {
       "id": "GD7XPB2A7CG5Z4ICV24B3LXCRHAEJRFEK4OEW3ZIOQAPJOHAXBB7QHGE",
@@ -63,7 +70,8 @@
       "address": "GD7XPB2A7CG5Z4ICV24B3LXCRHAEJRFEK4OEW3ZIOQAPJOHAXBB7QHGE",
       "label": "malicious",
       "risk_pattern": "sweep",
-      "notes": "Path-payment sweep pattern: drains newly funded wallets within seconds of receiving deposits."
+      "notes": "Path-payment sweep pattern: drains newly funded wallets within seconds of receiving deposits.",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     },
     {
       "id": "GCAMGLMB5EN55ICM26RYDGZSE5P4GKMK6TD6ZB7LACMVE7IEDTWVYZDF",
@@ -71,7 +79,8 @@
       "address": "GCAMGLMB5EN55ICM26RYDGZSE5P4GKMK6TD6ZB7LACMVE7IEDTWVYZDF",
       "label": "malicious",
       "risk_pattern": "phishing-drainer",
-      "notes": "Repeated small 'test' payments precede a large drain; matches a known phishing-drainer shape."
+      "notes": "Repeated small 'test' payments precede a large drain; matches a known phishing-drainer shape.",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     },
     {
       "id": "GDQPZVGOJY6Q4PPASHZBIFN3PTIBD6WCRDCCAIFIPHZIYKSDQ7PZWPNJ",
@@ -79,7 +88,8 @@
       "address": "GDQPZVGOJY6Q4PPASHZBIFN3PTIBD6WCRDCCAIFIPHZIYKSDQ7PZWPNJ",
       "label": "malicious",
       "risk_pattern": "rug-pull",
-      "notes": "Destination of multiple change-trust + immediate max-sell patterns typical of rug-pull collection wallets."
+      "notes": "Destination of multiple change-trust + immediate max-sell patterns typical of rug-pull collection wallets.",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     },
     {
       "id": "GAJLLIIPHII6OCG4KQJIGPCHVN6DNCRBXHX6DEUTPE7MQ6OONAYBRLET",
@@ -87,7 +97,8 @@
       "address": "GAJLLIIPHII6OCG4KQJIGPCHVN6DNCRBXHX6DEUTPE7MQ6OONAYBRLET",
       "label": "malicious",
       "risk_pattern": "rug-pull",
-      "notes": "Issuer of the SCAM asset below; no distributed supply outside the issuer's own control."
+      "notes": "Issuer of the SCAM asset below; no distributed supply outside the issuer's own control.",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     },
     {
       "id": "SCAM:GAJLLIIPHII6OCG4KQJIGPCHVN6DNCRBXHX6DEUTPE7MQ6OONAYBRLET",
@@ -96,7 +107,8 @@
       "asset_issuer": "GAJLLIIPHII6OCG4KQJIGPCHVN6DNCRBXHX6DEUTPE7MQ6OONAYBRLET",
       "label": "malicious",
       "risk_pattern": "rug-pull",
-      "notes": "Newly issued token with no liquidity outside the issuer; classic rug-pull setup."
+      "notes": "Newly issued token with no liquidity outside the issuer; classic rug-pull setup.",
+      "fixture_status": "synthetic-only"
     }
   ]
 }
diff --git a/scripts/validate-fixtures.mjs b/scripts/validate-fixtures.mjs
index 045a8bb..90ea1ab 100644
--- a/scripts/validate-fixtures.mjs
+++ b/scripts/validate-fixtures.mjs
@@ -8,9 +8,20 @@ const scores = JSON.parse(readFileSync(root + '/scores.json', 'utf-8'));
 
 const VALID_LABEL_SET = new Set(VALID_LABELS);
 const VALID_RISK_PATTERN_SET = new Set(VALID_RISK_PATTERNS);
+const VALID_FIXTURE_STATUSES = new Set(['synthetic-only']);
 const errors = [];
 
+export function validateFixtureStatus(destination) {
+  if (!Object.hasOwn(destination, 'fixture_status')) return 'missing fixture_status';
+  if (!VALID_FIXTURE_STATUSES.has(destination.fixture_status)) {
+    return `invalid fixture_status \"${destination.fixture_status}\"`;
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
 for (const d of destinations) {
+  const fixtureStatusError = validateFixtureStatus(d);
+  if (fixtureStatusError) errors.push(d.id + ': ' + fixtureStatusError);
   if (!VALID_LABEL_SET.has(d.label)) {
     errors.push(d.id + ': invalid label "' + d.label + '"');
   }
diff --git a/tests/backward-compat.test.mjs b/tests/backward-compat.test.mjs
index 6b313c5..9c431d5 100644
--- a/tests/backward-compat.test.mjs
+++ b/tests/backward-compat.test.mjs
@@ -62,3 +62,20 @@ test('backward compat: the scenario example only references existing fixtures',
   assert.ok(transactions.has('payment'));
   assert.ok(transactions.has('path_payment'));
 });
+
+import { validateFixtureStatus } from '../scripts/validate-fixtures.mjs';
+
+test('fixture status validation: accepts the supported synthetic status', () => {
+  assert.equal(validateFixtureStatus({ fixture_status: 'synthetic-only' }), null);
+});
+
+test('fixture status validation: rejects a missing status', () => {
+  assert.equal(validateFixtureStatus({}), 'missing fixture_status');
+});
+
+test('fixture status validation: rejects an unknown status', () => {
+  assert.equal(
+    validateFixtureStatus({ fixture_status: 'network-visible' }),
+    'invalid fixture_status "network-visible"'
+  );
+});