STEP-06-STATE-MACHINE-EX-ST-01.md

Version: 1.0 Status: DRAFT Date: 2026-02-09

1. Purpose of the State Machine

This state machine governs the lifecycle of Settlement under EX-ST-01, ensuring governance control, separation of confirmation, verification, and proof, and auditability. It is implementation-agnostic and does not define payment methods or accounting logic.

2. Canonical State List

• INITIATED
• PAYMENT_EVIDENCE_SUBMITTED
• UNDER_VERIFICATION
• VERIFIED
• ANCHORED
• SETTLED
• REJECTED
• CANCELLED

3. State Definitions

| State | Governance Meaning | Allowed Roles | Mandatory Records | Explicit Prohibitions | |--------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|------------------------|----------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------| | INITIATED | Settlement process formally started | Payer Authority | Settlement Request Record | No payment evidence submitted | | PAYMENT_EVIDENCE_SUBMITTED | Payment evidence formally submitted | Payer Authority | Proof of Payment Record | No verification before evidence | | UNDER_VERIFICATION | Payment evidence under independent review | Financial Verifier | Verification Record | No confirmation, no anchoring | | VERIFIED | Payment evidence verified as valid | Financial Verifier | Verified Settlement Record | No settlement confirmation, no anchoring | | ANCHORED | Settlement record hash anchored for proof only | Oversight/Audit Role | Anchoring Proof | No settlement confirmation, no payment | | SETTLED | Settlement confirmed and closed | Oversight/Audit Role | Settlement Confirmation Record | No further changes, no anchoring | | REJECTED | Settlement rejected due to nonconformity or error | Financial Verifier | Rejection Record | No settlement, no anchoring, no confirmation | | CANCELLED | Settlement process cancelled before completion | Payer Authority | Cancellation Record | No settlement, no anchoring, no confirmation |