Toilet paper disappears from shelves because nobody governs the rate at which panicked consumers can drain inventory. Shipping containers stack up at ports because routing capacity is allocated by contract, not by measured congestion. Manufacturers stockpile components they do not need because the last shortage taught them that nobody else is controlling supply. Supplier financing dries up at exactly the moment suppliers need it most because credit lines are set by risk models, not system state.

Every supply chain crisis follows the same pattern: demand spikes, supply allocation fails to respond in real time, panic amplifies the shortage, and by the time intervention arrives, the shelves are already empty or the port is already gridlocked.

Progressive Depletion Minting (PDM) inserts a control layer beneath allocation decisions across the supply chain. Inventory release, routing capacity, and supplier financing are tied to measured depletion thresholds. The system cannot be drained by panic because expansion and release are condition-gated. Contraction runs continuously. Each successive drawdown makes the next one structurally harder, preventing the reflexive hoarding spirals that collapse distribution networks.