What is a balance in a ledger?

A balance is a store of value in the ledger: a wallet, a bank account, a card, points, escrow, or an internal account such as revenue. Every transaction moves between two balances. The number you show is the sum of those movements.

How does a balance work?

You create a balance with a currency and a ledger. Credits raise it. Debits lower it. Blnk also tracks inflight credit, inflight debit, and queued debit so available funds can differ from the settled number. Available is what you can still spend.

Balance vs wallet

Wallet is a product word for a customer-facing balance. Internal accounts, clearing pots, and fee sinks are balances too. If you only model wallets, fees and float have nowhere to live.

What is a negative balance?

A negative amount means debits have exceeded credits. That is an overdraft if you allowed it, or a bug if you did not. The formula is credit minus debit. The sign is math, not a separate account type.

In Blnk every store of value is a balance with an id. Application balances are the ones you create. Internal balances in the general ledger use an @ indicator. Read the fields on balances and the guide on understanding balances.