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Every license on Autheo Chain moves through a four-state machine managed by the x/license keeper.

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The four states

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State transitions

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ISSUED → BOUND

Triggered by MsgBindLicense. Requirements:
  • License status must be ISSUED
  • Category policy must permit the binding
  • Any cooldown from a prior unbind must have elapsed
  • For Sovereign: binding target must be the owner’s own validator address
  • For Prime/Core: target validator must exist, be bonded, and not be jailed

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BOUND → ACTIVE

Triggered automatically when delegation is created or increased on the bound validator:

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ACTIVE → BOUND

A license moves back to BOUND when:
  • Owner fully undelegates from the bound validator
  • Validator is jailed (JailInterceptor fires)
  • Governance revokes the license
Partial undelegation does not change license status. The license remains ACTIVE as long as any delegation with positive token value exists.

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BOUND → ISSUED (unbinding)

Triggered by MsgUnbindLicense. Requirements:
  • No active delegation to the bound validator
  • Cooldown period from any prior unbind must have elapsed
After unbinding, a cooldown timer starts. The license cannot be re-bound until the CooldownPeriod in the category policy has elapsed.

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Any → REVOKED

Triggered only by MsgRevokeLicense via governance proposal. For Sovereign revocations, the validator is immediately jailed. For Prime/Core revocations, only same-owner sibling licenses are affected.

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REVOKED → ISSUED

Triggered only by MsgReinstateLicense via governance. The owner must complete the full recovery sequence manually:
1

Governance reinstates

MsgReinstateLicense → license status: ISSUED
2

Owner binds

MsgBindLicense → license status: BOUND
3

Operator unjails

MsgUnjail — JailInterceptor allows because Sovereign license is no longer REVOKED
4

Owner delegates

MsgDelegate → license status: ACTIVE

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Transfer restrictions

Only ISSUED licenses can be transferred. The category policy must have Transferable = true. Transferring a license does not clear the unbind cooldown timer — the new owner inherits it.

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Edge cases