Arbitrator V2 Specification

Full specification of the KlerosCore arbitrator component

Complete specification of the KlerosCore contract, the central arbitrator of Kleros V2.

Dispute Lifecycle

Period Transitions

Disputes progress through periods. Each period has a configurable duration set per court:

1. Evidence: Parties submit evidence. All jurors must be drawn before advancing.
2. Commit: Jurors submit vote commitments (hidden vote courts only).
3. Vote: Jurors reveal votes / cast direct votes.
4. Appeal: Anyone can fund an appeal. If funded, a new round begins.
5. Execution: Ruling is finalized and enforced.

Appeal Mechanics

• Appeals increase the juror count (typically doubling + 1)
• When juror count exceeds jurorsForCourtJump, the dispute moves to the parent court
• If the parent court doesn’t support the current dispute kit, it switches to a compatible one
• Appeal funding uses an asymmetric model: losers pay 2× and have half the time

Reward Distribution

After execution:

• Coherent jurors (voted with the final ruling) receive PNK from incoherent jurors and their share of arbitration fees
• Incoherent jurors lose a portion of their staked PNK (proportional to alpha)
• Distribution is calculated per round

Emergency Controls

• Guardian can pause (blocks staking and rewards)
• Governor can unpause and modify parameters
• Core dispute resolution (voting, appeals) continues when paused