Phases carry no dates and no quarter is named anywhere. Each phase is defined by quantities rather than activities, and each criterion has a stated consequence if it is missed.
Progress depends on quantities the protocol does not control — how many contributors a language community produces, how many validators can be attested, how long a licensee's procurement cycle runs.
Narrow the phase's domain coverage and retry.
Extend the phase unchanged, drawing on treasury set aside for it.
End the programme on the evidence — a legitimate outcome, not a failure of resolve.
If missed: retention → re-scope to fewer languages; licence → defer.
If missed: margin → defer at level three; ratio → narrower licence scope at a higher tariff.
If missed: no crossover → defer once, then halt.
A claim stated as a property of an archetype can be tested in a market the protocol has not entered. A claim about a country can only be verified by entering it.
Strong collection value, weak Layer II billing. Addressable through the Commons alone, with agents deferred until a rail matures — a legitimate configuration.
Strong billing, weak collection value; incumbent software already serves the workflows. The archetype the protocol is least able to enter.
A fragmented contributor base and a mobile-primary enterprise base coexist in one population. Not rare — and not evenly distributed.
Beyond the Anchor criteria: the local cost of attestation — whether competent validators exist or must be developed — and a channel structure that reaches enterprises below the threshold in groups.
The collection mechanism ports quickly. Licence relationships do not port at all.
A market where the Commons runs smoothly but no licence counterparty exists produces contributor obligations without revenue. The matrix is designed to prevent exactly that.