> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://railhood.gitbook.io/railhood-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://railhood.gitbook.io/railhood-docs/inside-the-pool.md).

# Inside the pool

Four moves in the life of off-market value: Screen, Enter, Hold, Settle. Enter and Hold are live; Screen and full Settle receipts ship per the [Roadmap](/railhood-docs/roadmap.md). No math degree required — but the mechanics are all here.

![FIG 2 · THE LIFECYCLE OF OFF-MARKET VALUE](https://3506126944-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FtlCeSg7ikIcaMHKqusLi%2Fuploads%2Fk4Ju9ZklrrzIxMhLLe1r%2Ffig2-lifecycle.png?alt=media)

### Screen — the door

Entries get checked against public sanctions and illicit-flow data before they can join the pool. Dirty funds bounce at the door. That's how the crowd stays clean without anyone surveilling the inside — the venue checks IDs at entry instead of bugging the room.

### Enter — value becomes a sealed note

Your deposit becomes a **sealed note**: "this much value, owned by this key," encrypted. Only your key can spend it. The chain stores a fingerprint of the note — a [commitment](/railhood-docs/glossary.md) — in a shared tree next to everyone else's fingerprints. Nobody can read yours. Not us, not anyone.

![FIG 3 · A TREE OF SEALED NOTES — NOT A POT OF MIXED COINS](https://3506126944-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FtlCeSg7ikIcaMHKqusLi%2Fuploads%2FVOVCZFH75nTUH9rBS3yG%2Ffig3-tree.png?alt=media)

#### Why the tree matters

The tree is a compact way to prove membership: any single note can prove "I'm in here" against the root without pointing to its own leaf. Every entry rebuilds the root, so the whole pool vouches for every note while learning nothing about any of them. That's the trick that makes a crowd cryptographic.

#### Standard sizes, again

Entries happen in the six standard sizes (0.001 – 100 ETH). Inside the tree, a 1-ETH note is indistinguishable from every other 1-ETH note — which is precisely the point. Uniform units are what let one participant vanish into many; it's the round-lot principle doing privacy work.

### Hold — spending without pointing

To spend, your device builds a [zero-knowledge proof](/railhood-docs/glossary.md): a real note exists in the tree, it's never been spent, and you own it — proven without revealing *which* note. Spending also publishes a [nullifier](/railhood-docs/glossary.md), a one-way stamp that burns the note so it can't be spent twice. The tape learns "a valid note was spent." It never learns which. Your secret never leaves your device.

### Settle — back on the tape, clean

Exit goes through the settlement agent (covered fully in [Execution & settlement](/railhood-docs/execution-and-settlement.md)) to any address you choose. On the roadmap, exits carry a zero-knowledge receipt — proof the funds trace to screened, clean entries — so counterparties and venues get their assurance while the public still gets nothing.

### "So it's a mixer?"

No. A mixer throws everyone's coins in a pot and deals them back out. RAILHOOD never pools ownership — your note is yours the whole way through, sealed and individually owned. And the architecture ships with a front door and an exit receipt, which is the opposite of a laundromat.

|           | Mixer                        | RAILHOOD                                    |
| --------- | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| Ownership | Pools everyone's coins       | Each note sealed, individually owned        |
| Payout    | Deals you coins from the pot | You spend your own value                    |
| History   | Erased                       | Provable on demand — viewing keys, receipts |
| Entry     | Anything in                  | Screened at the door                        |


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