Infra: L402 OTB Settlement
L402 OTB Settlement gates commercial spend commitments behind Lightning Network micropayments via the L402 protocol on MCP tool calls. The OTB allocation is a funded Lightning wallet. An agent commits spend by calling a gated MCP tool — the payment is the authorization. If the wallet is empty, the tool call fails. The spend record is a settled Lightning payment: cryptographic, timestamped, non-repudiable by either party.
Purpose
OTB as a database field is a permission. OTB as a Lightning wallet is a constraint. The distinction matters because permissions can be overridden, reinterpreted, or explained away after the fact. A failed Lightning payment cannot. This closes the gap between approved budgets and actual spend accountability — in both directions. Management cannot claim it authorized a budget it failed to fund. An agent cannot claim it stayed within OTB if its payments show otherwise.
Status
Draft — full technical spec pending. See platform-thesis for the accountability model this serves. The L402 standard for MCP tool monetization is still maturing; this card will be updated when the integration contract is fully specified.
Scope
- OTB wallet funding: how Head Office allocates OTB to CAT_DEPT wallets
- L402 gate on commercial MCP tools: which tool calls require payment
- Payment failure handling: what happens when a buy commitment fails at payment
- Receipt storage: where Lightning payment receipts are recorded (hawk_timeline or equivalent append-only log)
- Module F reconciliation: how Lightning receipts feed the financial P&L
- CPA agent monitoring: cost-per-action tracking for OTB spend velocity
Related
- platform-thesis — the accountability model this serves
- category-hierarchy — OTB wallets are funded at CAT_DEPT level
- infra-blockchain-evidence-anchor — the evidence rail; L402 is the financial rail