COMPARISON
Session caps vs. Pacts vs. Transaction Protection
Three vendors, three guardrail models. Where each one fails, and what an operator is actually liable for.
11 min ·
Session caps
Coinbase enforces a ceiling per session and per call, checked inside the enclave before signing. The failure mode is session sprawl: many small sessions, each individually within cap, aggregating past any figure the operator intended.
Pacts
Cobo binds authorization to an object carrying expiry, counterparty and amount. It is the tightest of the three when counterparties are known in advance, and the least usable when an agent discovers counterparties at runtime.
Transaction Protection
MetaMask simulates, applies policy, then confirms. Simulation catches the malicious-contract class of failure that pure amount caps miss, but it depends on the simulated state matching settlement state.
What the operator owns
In all three models the residual risk sits with whoever configured the scope. None of the vendors underwrite an agent that was granted more authority than the task required.