two checks in the mint path reject a transaction outright. the pat cap: the curve entry c may not exceed two eth. the budget: the tokens this mint would issue, added to what the block has already issued, may not exceed the budget. neither check is about the caller. both are about the block.

the budget check is what gives pressure something to measure. without it a single block could issue any amount and pressure would be a tax without a limit. with it, a crowded block fills, later transactions in that block revert, and the next block opens with pressure raised. throughput is bounded per block, and the bound falls as the curve fills.