Escape hatch
An escape hatch is the ability to exit a system unilaterally — without needing the operators running it to cooperate.
Merces supports one: unlike designs that rely purely on ciphertexts an operator would need to help decrypt, Merces users hold encrypted notes they can use to exit independently of the TACEO Network.
The escape hatch is currently in beta stage and will be released to mainnet soon.
How it works
The network design already ensure no funds can be rerouted or stolen — every state update carries a proof the chain verifies. But that is not liveness: a network that cannot cheat you can still stop.
To ensure unilateral exit, the network publishes for every transfer, each party's balance and blinding value, encrypted under their registered key. You hold your own opening long before anything goes wrong.
If the queue stalls for a fixed window, roughly a day, the contract switches to escape mode on its own — no operator, committee or multisig decides this. Each user then redeems independently, proving they hold the key registered at their index, and the contract pays out. Recovery runs through a reconciliation step where the network accounts for every redemption before normal processing resumes.
Redemption is a withdrawal, so the amount and receiving address become public, exactly as with a normal withdrawal.
For the full design — the note and nullifier construction, the fraud proof that keeps the published openings honest, and why the trigger belongs to nobody — see Escape hatches in MPC, and who may open them.