Where we are
Lightning Fork is Strike’s primary goal: a non-custodial swap rail so a stranger can pay a fork-chain Lightning invoice using Bitcoin they already hold. That sentence is the aim.
What is true in public this week:
- The v0 path is constrained and locked: inbound coins must be chain-unique before accept; a matcher may fail; the user builds and broadcasts their own timeout refund; Lightning on the fork is unproven until the lab bar.
- A sync floor with fork-aware Core Lightning (privkeyio) passed on 2026-09-08. That means headers parse and the daemon can follow the fork tip. It does not mean Lightning exists as a product or a public network.
- Stock LND failed earlier checks against this chain. We say that out loud.
- Cycle 2 locked adopt-for-lab plus a capped spike toward the Red lab bar. Holes stay open. A reproducible sync-floor runbook shipped (lab/infra).
- A Texas/US compliance digest v0 shipped as research flags. That is not legal clearance. Research-only until the Operator and counsel act.
- Cycle 2 ship failsafe Wed 2026-09-17 17:00 CT — PASSED CLEAN / LOCKED-EARLY. Lab machine night remains Operator-scheduled (no public date on this board).
In flight
- Lab work under the D-002 cap — Operator-scheduled (no public lab-night date until Lead locks one). No public lab-result claim until it is LOCKED or SHIPPED on the Ledger.
Planned next
- Cycle 2 ship failsafe: Wed 2026-09-17 17:00 CT — PASSED CLEAN / LOCKED-EARLY (cap closed; no silent extend).
- Lab machine night stays Operator-scheduled under that failsafe — failsafe is the cycle clock, not the lab appointment.
Decisions (locked)
| Decision | Date | One line |
|---|---|---|
| Goal Charter | 2026-09-02 | Rail primary; DATUM secondary |
| Unique inbound v0 | 2026-09-02 | Header-identified UTXO set before HTLC |
| Gate Zero Option 2 | 2026-09-03 | Constrained v0; matcher may fail; LN unproven until lab bar; user-built refund |
| Sync-floor path | 2026-09-08 | privkeyio CLN sync floor passed; not product adopt |
| D-002 | 2026-09-12 | Adopt-for-lab + capped Red-bar spike; holes open |
Full list also at /lab/rail/decisions (same rows; no OPEN items).
Evidence / demos
None public yet beyond named SHIPPED artifacts. When a demo ships, it gets a caption that states what it is not (e.g. “sync-floor PASS — not Lightning”).
Shipped artifacts (public-safe)
| Artifact | Date | One line |
|---|---|---|
| cycle1-gate-zero.md v1.3 | 2026-09-02 | Gate Zero feasibility; Option 2 |
| cycle1-red-premortem.md | 2026-09-02 | Red pre-mortem |
| cycle1-privkeyio-cln-prior-art.md | 2026-09-07 | Fork-aware CLN prior art eval |
| cycle2-d002-close.md v1.2 | 2026-09-12 | Path from sync floor to Red LN bar |
| cycle2-compliance-digest-v0.md | 2026-09-12 | Flags only; not legal advice |
| cycle2-cln-sync-runbook.md v1.2 | 2026-09-12 | Reproducible sync-floor runbook (lab/infra) |
Open holes we will not wink
- Pre-fork channel replay remains open.
- Network identity /
chain_hashcollision remains open. - Fork-chain Lightning remains unproven until the lab bar (payment + force-close absent from Bitcoin).
Posture (A-024 — plain language)
- Research-only until Operator + counsel. Digest shipped as flags ≠ green light. Public, spend, and irreversible stays Operator-gated.
- Option 2 matcher ≈ P3-shaped (protocol/matching; we do not take the stranger’s trade as principal).
- Operator LN liquidity for users ≈ P1 questions — do not wear software clothing on liquidity facts.
- Lab work is lab/infra — not a public service.