How work reaches Ethereum

How verified rounds of work become settled work on Ethereum.

TL;DR

• Settlement adds verified wheel-work records to Ethereum, where they complete Squeek blocks.
• A submitted transaction succeeds and passes confirmation checks before it appears as confirmed work.
• After mining starts, a later checkpoint issues the scheduled $SQK for settled blocks and funds staking with all of it.

Why settle on Ethereum?

Settlement puts verified rounds on Ethereum as a public, checkable record. Chain views show them only after confirmation.

A later checkpoint issues $SQK for completed blocks, and Mining immediately funds Staking with all of it. Settlement itself doesn't create claimable rewards.

How it works

The Oracle first verifies the device's records and completed round totals. The Reporter selects eligible work and signs permission to settle that exact batch. A separate relayer sends the transaction to Ethereum and pays its gas cost.

Core checks the signed batch before recording the work, and public chain views show it after deployment checks and 12 confirmations. Every settled round traces back to a saved device record.

Why can settlement take longer?

Settlement has no deadline. Outages or unresolved checks can delay either submission or confirmation. Work moves through these stages:

verified round → signed batch → submitted transaction → successful transaction → confirmed chain view

Each stage proves only that its own step finished: a successful transaction isn't yet in confirmed views, and no stage funds rewards.

Technical detail: settlement rules

A batch closes every round up to the last one it covers. Listed rounds record positive work; omitted rounds in that span are recorded as zero. Core prices each positive-work round at the previous difficulty, then adjusts difficulty for later work.

• The Oracle verifies each batch against signed device records and rejects totals that go backward.
• An elapsed all-zero span can settle on its own; it doesn't wait for later positive work.
• Work above the configured per-round cap rejects the whole batch; it is never truncated or repaired.
• Retries and uncertain outcomes never count work twice.
• The SqueekCore reference covers the signature, nonce, deadline, and batch-size rules.
• Indexer or API failure affects public views, not SqueekCore records, Pi counting, or Oracle receipt checks.
• A checkpoint, not settlement, issues $SQK and funds Staking; stakers then claim separately.

Example

Illustrative batch: Core has settled through round 10. The Pi records zero work in rounds 11 and 12, then 5 work units in round 13. The Reporter submits one positive entry through round 13; Core certifies rounds 11 and 12 as zero and adds 5 work units. Settlement issues no $SQK.