Probabilistic Finality

Probabilistic finality means a transaction is never mathematically irreversible, only exponentially less likely to be reversed as more blocks are built on top of it. Proof-of-work chains such as Bitcoin work this way: rewriting history requires redoing the accumulated work of every block since, so the cost of reversal grows with depth while the chance of success falls. This is why services quote confirmation counts rather than a single moment of settlement, and why a large withdrawal may wait for more confirmations than a small one. It contrasts with deterministic or economic finality, where validators explicitly attest to a checkpoint and reversing it would require destroying a large amount of staked capital.