Making finality a programmable variable: Hemi's temporal semantics and service curve
In the world of single chains, 'finality' is often treated as a constant; however, cross-domain systems need to turn time into a product variable. Hemi proposed the design of 'programmable finality': applications can choose different confirmation ladders, fee curves, and rollback strategies for different transactions, making 'how long to wait, how much to pay, and whether it can be revoked' explicit.
Its core is to break down execution promise, settlement visibility, and historical anchoring into three segments of time: the execution domain provides millisecond-level commitments, the EVM settlement domain is visible and composable within minutes, and Bitcoin anchors provide irreversible historical seals at the hourly level.
From an engineering perspective, Hemi allows the definition of 'finality tiers' at the contract level: for example, retail payments can choose quick commitment + small insurance, while institutional settlements may choose a slower tier but with a higher anchored frequency path.
Further, contracts can read the 'finality Oracle', automatically adjusting anchored frequencies and challenge windows when network congestion or costs rise. Users are no longer passively waiting but can choose combinations of 'speed/cost/irreversibility' through a clear SLA interface.
This design changes the way risk pricing is approached. Traditionally, failure means 'rollback everything'; in Hemi, failure is layered: failures in the execution domain are the responsibility of sorting collateral, failures in the settlement domain are compensated by proof markets, and extreme failures in the historical layer are covered by the anchored insurance pool.
Multi-layer insurance is charged based on the selected tier, forming a measurable premium curve. For payment companies, this allows the 'refusal rate' and 'settlement error rate' to be bound to enforceable terms on the chain for the first time.
For market-making institutions, this compresses 'tail rollbacks' into known costs, allowing strategies to operate at higher leverage.
From a macro perspective, 'programmable finality' allows different businesses to meet their needs on the same infrastructure, avoiding the over-design of global parameters for extreme demands and enhancing resource efficiency.
In practice, Hemi externalizes temporal semantics into contract-readable metrics, allowing wallets and settlement front ends to generate a 'settlement progress bar', visualizing the complex consensus process. Ultimately, finality is no longer metaphysical but rather a purchasable, configurable, and auditable product attribute.
At the rate and experience level, Hemi exposes finality to the end user: users can choose 'instant arrival but revocable' or 'slow arrival but irreversible', and see in real time the split between the insurance pool and the anchored costs.
Governance can adjust tier parameters based on historical events, forming data-driven temporal governance.
#Hemi $HEMI #最终性 #SLA #可组合性 @Hemi
