neuron-tai/.scratch/alpha-hardening/issues/10-fraud-penalty-calibration-wiring.md

Status: ready-for-agent

10 — FRAUD: Penalty calibration wiring (forfeit + strike + ban)

What to build

End-to-end wiring: confirmed audit failure → atomic pending forfeiture + strike + reputation decay + audit-rate snap to max. Ensure payout cannot race penalty (ADR-0015). Document 19× deterrence math in validator README.

Code refs:

• packages/validator/meshnet_validator/__init__.py — _slash_route (~102–134)
• packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/server.py — _handle_billing_forfeit (~2429–2464)
• packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/billing.py — forfeit_pending (~280–292), payout exclusion for banned (~3337–3344 in settlement loop)
• packages/validator/README.md — update 20× → 19× at p=0.05

Per ADR-0018: full pending forfeiture is primary penalty; ×0.8 is routing decay per strike, not partial forfeit.

Test-first

1. Red: integration from issue 34 — extend with multi-hop blame wallet from issue 07.
2. Green: node with pending balance → audit fail → pending zero, strike++, banned on 3rd, excluded from next settlement.
3. Settlement loop skips banned wallets (~3337–3344).

Acceptance criteria

• Audit failure triggers forfeiture + strike in one tracker transaction
• Banned nodes excluded from payables / settlement
• Validator uses authenticated forfeit endpoint (issue 02)
• README: L > 19× g at p=0.05; pending balance = collateral
• Integration test: 60-request fraud scenario → ban within threshold

ADR links

• ADR-0018
• ADR-0015
• Research: research-verifiable-inference.md §1.1

Blocked by

• 07-fraud-commitment-bisection-blame.md
• 08-fraud-reputation-model-persistence.md
• 02-a2-unified-auth-boundary.md