Payment channels

A merchant-pull subscription channel — a one-way payment channel for repeated draws by a single payee, settled with a single on-chain close. It’s the honest, key-safe substitute for a standing “pull”: the payer authorizes draws cryptographically, in advance, up to a cap.

How it works

You open a channel backed by a shielded note up to a cap. Off-chain, an in-circuit Schnorr-over-Grumpkin signature authorizes each offline draw the merchant takes — no chain transaction per draw, and the merchant can never exceed the authorized amount.

Two ways it ends:

• open → close — a channel_close circuit proves the final balance and settles it back into the pool in one shielded action.
• open → expiry → reclaim — if it lapses, the payer reclaims the remaining balance.

Both paths were live-verified on testnet.

Why it matters

• Cheaper — one open, one close, regardless of how many draws happen in between.
• More private — the chain sees a single settlement, not every individual draw.
• Key-safe — the merchant holds an authorization, never the ability to spend your notes.

For one-off conditional releases rather than repeated draws, use escrow instead.