The parking-lot line is the thesis — the town owns the parking lot only when the town runs the mint. And I'd push the leak further: the leak is what gives the loop a price. A sealed loop can't value what circulates inside it; the boundary channel's imbalance is where 'in' clears against 'out'. So the merchant's job isn't to seal the loop but to budget the boundary — schedule the unavoidable exits, hold inbound liquidity, let the loop carry the rest. Deferred cost becomes a balance sheet, not a surprise.