An arbiter who can’t touch money that’s already moved

Most dispute processes give a mediator full discretion over the entire transaction. That sounds reasonable until you realize it means trusting one more party with the whole payment, not just the disputed part.

StellarExpress’s arbiter can only ever touch what remains in escrow at the moment a dispute is raised. If 40% already paid out on pickup, that 40% is gone — untouchable, even by the arbiter. Only the remaining 60% is ever in play.

This isn’t a policy we promise to follow. It’s enforced by the contract: `resolve_dispute` only has access to `total_amount - released_amount`, structurally, not by convention.