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Circle Arc finality: what a committed block proves
Separate consensus finality from application delivery.
Arc documents deterministic finality through BFT consensus. Under the protocol's validator and fault assumptions, a committed block does not need Bitcoin-style accumulating confirmations to become final.
A final payment is not a delivered order
An application still has to check whether its intended transaction executed successfully and whether the correct recipient and amount were recorded. A transaction included in a finalized block can have an execution failure.
Then comes off-chain work. If the order service crashes after observing payment, consensus does not send the missing receipt. The service needs a durable record of what it processed and a way to resume without duplicate delivery.
This distinction matters in comparisons. Bitcoin confirmations, Ethereum L1 finality, and a rollup withdrawal describe different mechanisms or stages. Compare the guarantee needed by a particular operation, rather than treating every “confirmation” number as equivalent.
Arc's performance claims also depend on operating conditions. Deterministic describes the consensus rule, not a promise that every RPC response or complete checkout finishes instantly.
Sources and further reading
Check your understanding
Does finality prove that an order was delivered?
No. Execution success and off-chain delivery require separate checks.