Organization-issued value
Clear demonstrates a simple but consequential idea: an organization can issue its own private, transferable units without pretending those units are cash or placing every holder inside one central account application.
Transferable unit is the broad category: a fungible unit that can move between holders under an issuer's rules. Clear Mint Unit (CMU) is Clear's concrete, keyset-bound implementation of that category, carried in unique bearer Mint Notes.
The units may represent food credits, member benefits, service allowances, event credits, local vouchers, or another promise defined by the issuer. Clear provides the issuance, circulation and redemption machinery. This includes the Mint Notes, transfer mechanics, double-spend protection, and supply accounting. The organization remains responsible for explaining and honouring what the units mean.
An old treasury function
A treasury may receive funds, recognize an obligation, or allocate a resource, then issue units that holders can circulate, exchange, present, or return for redemption. Once redeemed, the units may be retired or reissued according to the program's policy.
The same functional pattern can support mundane instruments such as drink vouchers and gym guest passes, as well as ownership interests, debt claims, or other financial instruments. The machinery may be similar while the meaning is not. Securities and other regulated instruments require specialized legal, governance, transfer, disclosure, and compliance rules that Clear does not supply merely by issuing a token.
treasury receives or recognizes value, resources, or obligations
-> authorized issuance creates transferable units
-> holders circulate or exchange the units
-> a recognized party accepts them for redemption
-> the treasury retires or reissues the redeemed units
Clear supplies that technical lifecycle. Each issuing program supplies the authority, meaning, eligibility rules, transfer restrictions, redemption consequences, and legal framework.
From a program to a transferable unit
organization defines a program
-> Clear mint derives a keyset-bound CMU
-> treasurer issues CMUs
-> treasury holds issued Mint Notes
-> recipient receives a private Clear transfer
-> participating wallets and providers recognize that exact CMU
-> returned units can be retired
Each active keyset creates a canonical identifier such as:
cmu-000051c14ceac8ee
A friendly name such as Harbour Lab Credits and unit alias such as credits make the balance understandable. The complete mint URL and CMU remain visible because they identify the issuer and unit that a wallet must actually validate.
Cash payments and Clear transfers
Clear is designed to sit beside cash, not blur into it.
| Cash | Clear |
|---|---|
| One sat-denominated Cash Balance | Several issuer-specific Clear Balances |
| Used for payments | Used for transfers of defined credits or units |
| Settles through Bitcoin, Lightning, or ecash mints | Settles under an organization's program policy |
| Broadly transferable | Transferable, but recognized within a bounded network |
A Clear transfer can represent an allocation, gift, reimbursement, benefit, or exchange. Calling it a transfer keeps the wallet from implying that every CMU is money or a cash equivalent.
Example: gym guest passes
A gym could issue each member a fixed number of transferable guest passes. A member holds those units in a compatible wallet and can transfer one to any guest. When the guest presents it for admission, the gym verifies the proof, accepts it, and retires the unit so it cannot be used again.
gym issues guest-pass units
-> member holds and transfers them
-> guest presents one for admission
-> gym redeems and retires it
The gym determines how many units are issued, their validity period, and the service they represent. Holders control valid units between issuance and redemption. The passes are therefore transferable units representing in-kind entitlements rather than cash or claims to monetary repayment.
What works now
The current lab system can:
- deploy a Clear mint behind a public URL;
- issue CMUs into a local treasury wallet;
- report issued, retired, and circulating supply;
- select an exact transfer amount and retain change;
- discover Clear support through a recipient's NIP-05 address;
- deliver an encrypted kind
7379transfer through NIP-59; - let Acorn store the transfer separately from cash;
- accept the transfer into spendable kind
7380Clear proof state; - append kind
7381Clear transaction history; and - let Safebox Web display, accept, or delete the pending transfer.
This is a meaningful interoperability milestone across three independently deployable products.
What comes next
The next wallet stage will make accepted Clear balances transferable onward from an ordinary wallet and strengthen crash recovery around mint mutation and relay persistence. The production authority stage will replace the privileged root operator token with signed, currency-scoped treasurer authorization.
Until those stages and an independent security review are complete, Clear should be used only with test units carrying no promise of financial value.