Verifier Lifecycle for Genesis-Anchored Light Clients

Abstract

This note defines the lifecycle of a Genesis-Anchored Light Client verifier: the distinct operational phases a verifier transitions through while maintaining trust guarantees derived from a genesis anchor.

The lifecycle formalizes when a verifier accepts, rejects, defers, or refuses verification based on available state, resources, and connectivity.

This model treats verification as a stateful process over time, not a one-shot computation.

1. Scope and Non-Goals

In Scope

• Verifier state transitions
• Conditions for acceptance and refusal
• Offline and intermittent operation
• Bounded resource assumptions

Out of Scope

• Execution of transactions
• Consensus participation
• Network topology or gossip mechanisms
• Full node or validator behavior

This document concerns verification only.

2. Lifecycle Overview

A Genesis-Anchored Light Client verifier progresses through the following phases:

1. Initialization
2. Anchored Validation
3. Steady-State Verification
4. Bounded Operation
5. Refusal
6. Recovery / Resumption

These phases are logical states, not necessarily sequential or permanent.

3. Phase 1 — Initialization

Description

The verifier is instantiated with:

• The genesis anchor (as defined in GALV)
• The minimal persistent state (as defined in 0x01)

At this phase, the verifier does not assume:

• Network connectivity
• Liveness of peers
• Availability of historical data

Guarantees

• The verifier knows where trust begins
• No claims beyond the anchor are accepted

Initialization is a trust bootstrapping step, not a synchronization step.

4. Phase 2 — Anchored Validation

Description

The verifier validates that:

• All observed statements trace back to the genesis anchor
• No alternative lineage is substituted
• The anchor has not been altered or replaced

This may include:

• Hash linkage checks
• Header continuity checks
• Statement lineage verification

Guarantees

• Lineage integrity
• Temporal ordering derived from the anchor
• Protection against hidden restarts or rewrites

At this phase, verification is structural, not semantic.

5. Phase 3 — Steady-State Verification

Description

The verifier operates normally by:

• Accepting new statements
• Verifying them against the current state frontier
• Advancing its internal verification state

The verifier does not require:

• Full history
• Full execution traces
• Continuous connectivity

Guarantees

• Deterministic verification results
• Monotonic advancement of trusted state
• Bounded growth of stored state

This is the expected long-running mode of operation.

6. Phase 4 — Bounded Operation

Description

The verifier encounters one or more constraints:

• Memory limits
• Compute limits
• Proof size limits
• Time or latency constraints

Rather than degrade security, the verifier restricts behavior.

Possible Actions

• Stop accepting new statements
• Require stronger proofs
• Delay verification
• Enter refusal state

Guarantees

• No silent acceptance of unverifiable data
• Explicit enforcement of resource bounds

Bounded operation is designed behavior, not an error condition.

7. Phase 5 — Refusal

Description

The verifier enters refusal when:

• Required verification conditions cannot be met
• Proofs are missing or malformed
• Resource limits are exceeded
• Lineage cannot be established

In refusal:

• No claims are accepted
• No state is advanced
• Existing verified state remains trusted

Guarantees

• Safety over liveness
• No false positives
• Explicit signaling of uncertainty

Refusal is a correct and secure outcome.

This phase is essential to bounded verification.

8. Phase 6 — Recovery / Resumption

Description

The verifier resumes verification when:

• Missing data becomes available
• Connectivity is restored
• Resource pressure is reduced
• Stronger proofs are supplied

Recovery does not require:

• Restarting from genesis
• Re-executing history
• Trusting external actors

Guarantees

• Continuity of trust
• Deterministic resumption
• No rollback of verified state

9. Lifecycle Invariants

Across all phases, the verifier maintains:

• Anchor immutability
• Deterministic verification
• Explicit refusal semantics
• Bounded resource usage

These invariants ensure that the verifier never:

• Accepts unverifiable claims
• Assumes hidden trust
• Violates its own constraints

10. Relationship to Other Notes

• 0x00 (GALV): Defines the anchor that enables the lifecycle
• 0x01 (Minimal State Tracking): Defines what state persists across phases
• 0x03 (Bounded Verification & Refusal): Formalizes refusal semantics introduced here
• Later notes: Build on this lifecycle to reach edge-native verification

11. Summary

Verification is not a binary event — it is a lifecycle governed by constraints.

A Genesis-Anchored Light Client verifier:

• Starts with a fixed point of truth
• Advances deterministically
• Refuses safely when limits are reached
• Recovers without trust regression

This lifecycle is the foundation for offline-resilient, edge-native verification systems.