Coverage and audits
How a coverage record relates to audits and attestations, and what an auditor still does.
A coverage record adds regular evidence between audits and attestations, and the audit stays in place.
Two kinds of evidence
An audit or attestation is a report by an independent accountant on an institution's reserves at a date. It arrives a few times a year and describes a day that has already passed.
A coverage record is a proof, checked on Stellar, that reserves covered what was owed at one ledger. It comes with each cycle and is public as soon as it is written. Solva is designed to run a cycle every day.
| Question | Audit or attestation | Coverage record |
|---|---|---|
| How often | A few times a year | Every cycle, on request or on a schedule |
| Who can read it | Those it is sent to, or the public later | Anyone, as soon as it is written |
| What checks it | An independent accountant | A contract on Stellar |
| Reserves are checked against | Records, statements and confirmations | A custodian-signed or on-chain balance |
| Customer balances | Tested by sampling | All counted in the proof; none published |
| Who controls the reserves | Examined | Not covered |
| Other claims on the reserves | Examined | Not covered |
A proof counts every balance in the customer list it commits. The Testnet build takes up to eight balances and four reserve figures per proof; full-size proofs Coming soon take a full customer list.
What a record adds
- The days between reports. An auditor sees a dated record for every cycle in the period, each tied to a Stellar ledger, and a visible gap wherever a cycle did not run.
- Every balance, not a sample. The proof counts every balance in the committed list.
- A check by each holder. A customer left out of the list fails the inclusion check, so a gap in the list can surface between audits.
What an auditor still does
A record proves the arithmetic and the commitment. Everything outside the proof stays with the auditor, who:
- Confirms the reserves exist, with the custodian, beyond the signed figure.
- Confirms who controls the reserve accounts and if the funds carry other claims.
- Tests that the customer list the institution commits is complete and correct.
- Reviews the institution's controls, its accounts and everything else an audit covers.
An auditor can use the records as evidence for the days between audits. The audit report stays the institution's statement of record.