# Glossary

The commercial and technical terms used throughout this portal.

## Adjudicator / decision authority

The party authorized by the accepted policy to decide whether a claim qualifies and the amount awarded. See [Claims and decisions](claims.html).

## Beneficiary

The explicitly agreed recipient of a refund. This is not necessarily the address that sent the original payment.

## BLISK

Boolean circuit Logic Integrated into the Single Key. A cryptographic authorization primitive that compiles structured monotone AND/OR signer policies into one verification key. It does not handle all commercial or accounting logic.

## Claim

A purchase-bound request for a remedy, with a reason, requested amount, filing time and required evidence.

## Collection source

The enrolled reserve, wallet, balance or account structure from which an approved refund can actually be collected. See [Funding and execution](funding.html).

## Commitment

The agreed record binding the parties, purchase, terms, authority and refund constraints before payment.

## Enrollment

The merchant configuration linking identity, signing authority, collection source, risk policy and permitted decision authorities.

## Exposure

Potential merchant liability under active protected purchases. Exposure capacity is distinct from available cash or reserved liquidity.

## Finality

The original payment remains settled. The refund mechanism does not reverse it.

## Guarantee

An explicit reimbursement promise from a named, funded provider under defined terms. Cleard does not automatically supply one, and none exists in this preview.

## Nonce / replay protection

Unique material used with execution state to prevent unintended reuse. A nonce printed in a JSON file is not, on its own, replay enforcement.

## Outstanding obligation

An approved amount still unpaid because eligible collection funds are unavailable. An accounting obligation alone is not an enforceable collection path.

## Protected purchase

A purchase with a compatible commercial commitment accepted before payment. This preview’s unsigned fixtures illustrate that concept without establishing actual protection.

## Recourse

A pre-agreed path to a remedy after a commercial transaction fails. The path can exist even if available funding is insufficient.

## Refund authority

Bounded permission granted by the merchant before payment for future qualifying refunds. It must be backed by an account or source that can enforce it.

## Reserve

Merchant funds maintained to support potential liabilities. A reserve may be pooled at merchant level rather than fully collateralizing every purchase.

## Settlement receipt

A record linking an authenticated actual payment to the previously accepted purchase commitment.

## Withholding

A portion of merchant inflows allocated to a reserve or protection balance under an agreed policy.