Payment channel architecture
A clearing house that never searches for a path.
A fully-meshed payment-channel network. Routers are regional banks; customers attach as spokes. Every payment is spoke → router → router → spoke. It can be built on any cryptocurrency with basic script functionality. CLR in the lab is a demonstration unit, not a coin.
- Hops per payment
- 3
- Timeout hops
- 1
- Core pairs
- 15
- Demo capital
- 233,200
Why the mesh
6 routers · 12 spokes
01
No chained timeouts
Only the last hop has a clock. A mid-chain timeout can leave a router having paid out without being paid. Here that cannot happen — the payment simply never starts.
02
No path finding
The core is a complete graph. Every payment is sender’s router to receiver’s router. Always three hops.
03
Throughput scales with pairs
Every router pair clears in parallel. Capital per router has a minimum — open Scale to see where spoke cost crosses mesh cost.
04
One protocol, two jobs
Payments and 3-party novation share PREPARE, staggered deposits, COMMIT via preimage, and CANCEL with dispute.
Path contract
Alice → Bob → Carol → Dave
A PREPARE state on each hop. Staggered deposits replace Lightning-style decrementing clocks. Dave reveals the preimage; COMMIT walks backward. If anything fails, only the designated party may CANCEL — and a signed CANCEL beats COMMIT in a dispute window.