Settlement is the act of finality. When an agent executes a transaction, authority declares what it may do, provenance records what it did, and settlement declares that the record is complete — obligations discharged, dispute window open, liability assigned.
Three schemas in settlement.json:
settlement_record — declares an action record settled. Sets the dispute window deadline, assigns liability, and declares finality status (final, conditional, disputed, reversed).
clearing_record — confirms value transfer through a clearing layer. Used when settlement passes through an intermediary system such as x402 or a GENIUS-compliant rail.
dispute_record — initiates a challenge against a settled action before the dispute window closes. Grounds include unauthorized action, scope exceeded, value mismatch, counterparty breach.