Whitepaper / Economic Layer

$GHAST Utility

The $GHAST token has three distinct functions, burn, lock, and stake, separate from Buyer payment.

1. Burn: Verified Delivery

The Creator maintains a ring-fenced Delivery Burn Reserve. When a Capability is purchased, the required $GHAST amount is quoted and reserved for that execution. Its amount and calculation basis are visible and fixed before purchase. The reserved amount burns only after the delivery becomes protocol-final with the Defined Claim met.

A breach, cancellation, or indeterminate final result releases the reserved amount instead of burning it. If the reserve cannot cover a new purchase, the Capability pauses new purchases until the Creator replenishes the balance; open executions continue under their existing terms.

The Delivery Burn Reserve is separate from the Creator Bond, so successful delivery does not reduce the capital available for breach accountability.

2. Lock: Economic Accountability

Creators lock $GHAST as a Creator Bond behind active Capabilities. Each open execution reserves the required bond exposure through protocol finality; reserved exposure cannot be withdrawn or reused for additional risk. If available bond falls below the required level, the Capability pauses new purchases until the Creator replenishes it.

A final breach determination slashes the reserved exposure. The Buyer receives any refund due under Settlement, and a successful Challenger receives a capped reward funded from the slash. Any remaining slash follows the breach disposition bound to the purchased Capability version.

Any party filing a Challenge posts a Challenge Bond. A rejected Challenge burns that bond. A successful Challenge returns it and receives the capped reward from the Creator slash. An indeterminate result returns the Challenge Bond without a reward; a review failure follows the same path unless the transaction rules invoke a retry or replacement Resolver.

The full dispute path is described in Challenges and Disputes.

3. Stake: Capability growth

Underwriters stake $GHAST as a junior, first-loss position behind a Capability-level revenue facility. They receive a premium for bearing that risk, while Capital Providers supply senior stablecoin capital. See Capability Financing.

Economic positions

Buyer payments fund executions. These $GHAST positions separately support delivery-linked burn, accountability, and financing risk.

Parameters and framework details are published before mainnet.