The Architecture of Trust
Time-Locked Transaction
A transaction locked until a specified time or block height — enabling inheritance plans, escrow, and dead-man switches in custody design.
Definition
A transaction that cannot be spent or executed until a specified block height or timestamp has been reached. Time-locks are a native Bitcoin feature (CheckLockTimeVerify, CheckSequenceVerify) that enables sophisticated custody arrangements: inheritance plans that activate after a period of inactivity, escrow agreements with automatic release, and dead-man switches that redistribute authority if a custodian becomes unreachable. Time is weaponised as a security parameter.