Obligation Graph

Formalization

At any point in time, the network's unresolved obligations form a directed graph G = (V, E), where V is the set of Settlement Domains and each edge e(i, j) is the sum of obligation notional currently owed from domain i to domain j.

This graph is not maintained per-obligation for clearing purposes — obligations are aggregated to the domain-pair level before compression, which limits how much any single participant can infer about another's individual obligations from graph structure.

Why a Graph

Representing obligations as a graph rather than a queue of independent transfers is what makes cycle detection (11) and multilateral netting (12) possible. A queue can only be processed pairwise; a graph exposes structure — cycles, hubs, chronically deficit corridors — that a queue cannot.