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Settlement in Canopy requires no broker, no clearing house, and no administrator. The smart contract enforces every transfer deterministically — when conditions are met, funds move; when they are not, transactions revert. This is a structural property of the protocol, not a policy choice that could be reversed. Whether you are settling a spot trade in the same block it was filled or redeeming a forward months after it was originated, the mechanics are identical: the contract evaluates onchain state and executes atomically.

Spot Settlement

Spot offers settle at the moment of fill. When a buyer submits a fill transaction, the protocol performs an atomic swap: the buyer’s quote tokens flow directly to the seller (plus fee to the fee recipient), and the seller’s escrowed asset tokens flow directly to the buyer. Both legs of the transfer happen in a single transaction — either both succeed or neither does. There is no pending state, no waiting period, and no possibility of one leg completing without the other.

Atomic Execution

Both legs of the swap execute in a single transaction. No partial settlement is possible.

No Intermediary

Quote tokens move directly from buyer to seller. The venue never holds quote balances.

Instant Finality

Once the fill transaction confirms, settlement is complete and irreversible.
Quote tokens are never custodied by the venue. At fill time, they flow directly from buyer to seller (and fee recipient) in the same transaction that releases the escrowed asset. The venue’s custody surface is limited to the asset being sold.

Deferred Settlement

For forward offers, the underlying assets remain in escrow from offer creation through the series’ unlock time. During this window, claim tokens circulate freely as ERC-20 tokens and the collateral backing them is fully secured. When the unlock timestamp passes, the claims become immediately redeemable — no off-chain oracle, no admin action, and no separate on-chain trigger is required.

Collateral Secured Until Unlock

Escrowed assets cannot be withdrawn, moved, or reallocated while outstanding claims exist. The backing is immovable until redemption.

Immediate Eligibility at Unlock

The contract evaluates the current block timestamp at redemption time. The instant the timestamp is reached, redemptions are valid — no waiting for a separate trigger.

Redemption Process

Any address that holds claim tokens for an unlocked series can redeem at any time after the unlock timestamp. The process is fully self-service:
1

Holder Calls Redeem

The claim token holder submits a redemption transaction to the venue, specifying the series ID and the quantity of claim tokens to burn. The caller must hold at least this many tokens in their wallet.
2

Claim Tokens Are Burned

The protocol immediately burns the submitted claim tokens from the caller’s balance, reducing the total outstanding supply for the series. This is the first on-chain state change — irreversible once the transaction executes.
3

Escrowed Assets Released

The protocol releases exactly amount units of the underlying asset from escrow to the caller’s wallet in the same transaction. The series’ backing counter is decremented by the same amount. This is a strict 1:1 exchange — one claim token always redeems for one unit of the underlying asset.

Permissionless by Design

No party — not the offer seller, not the protocol team, and not any administrator — can block or delay redemption once the unlock time passes. The contract’s redemption logic has no access controls gating the caller, no pause mechanism on the redemption path, and no whitelist requirement. If you hold claim tokens and the unlock time has passed, you can redeem.

No Admin Approval

Redemption does not require any signature, approval, or action from the seller or protocol team.

No Whitelist

Any address holding claim tokens can call redeem, regardless of how they acquired the tokens.

No Off-Chain Trigger

The unlock time is evaluated entirely from the block timestamp. No oracle, API, or keeper bot is required.

No Pause on Redemption

The redemption path is not affected by the entry pause. Once the unlock time is reached, redemption is unconditionally available.
The protocol cannot prevent redemption after the unlock time. This is a deliberate design guarantee — claim holders can always recover their underlying collateral once the unlock timestamp passes, regardless of any external circumstances.

Settlement Comparison

PropertySpotDeferred (Forward)
When assets transferAt fill timeAt redemption (post-unlock)
Quote token flowBuyer → Seller + Fee Recipient, at fillBuyer → Seller + Fee Recipient, at fill
Asset token flowEscrow → Buyer, at fillEscrow → Redeemer, at redemption
Claim tokens issuedNoYes
Unlock time requiredNoYes
Permissionless settlementYes (instant at fill)Yes (anytime post-unlock)
There is no expiry on redemption rights. Claims remain redeemable indefinitely after the unlock time — the protocol does not confiscate unclaimed collateral. You can redeem a week, a month, or a year after unlock and your collateral will still be waiting in escrow.
Yes. Each redemption reduces the outstanding claim supply and the series’ backing counter by the exact amount redeemed. Multiple holders can each redeem independently; the 1:1 backing ratio ensures every holder receives their full entitlement.