the pool

the pool is the other half of the bleed. whatever demurrage removes from idle balances in an epoch is added to a single account for that epoch. the pool is funded only by the sweep. it has no other source and no other sink. value in equals value bled, value out equals value claimed.

the claim is proportional. a wallet that was active in the epoch claims a share of the pool equal to its share of the active balance during that epoch. if a wallet held a tenth of the active supply, it is entitled to a tenth of that epoch's pool. unclaimed amounts do not vanish. they roll forward into the next epoch's pool, so latecomers are never robbed by the schedule, only by their own inactivity.

this makes the system a transfer, not a tax. the supply is conserved at the protocol level. the only thing that moves is the distribution of that supply, from wallets that sat still toward wallets that moved. the pool is the channel through which that movement is settled.