Cover photo

This Week at Royco #6 - Stress Tested

New markets, a live stress event, and the first real test of the protocol's design.

TL:DR

  • AA_FalconXUSDC is live on Royco Dawn.

  • The apyUSD market entered Observation Period after a drawdown on the underlying asset.

  • Royco joined the first cohort of the Ethereum Security Subsidy Program.

  • Two editions of Royco Talks now live on Paragraph: with Certora and with Portals.

  • Royco ETH Vault will go live soon, with looping features in development.


AA_FalconXUSDC is Live on Royco Dawn

A new market is open for public access. AA_FalconXUSDC is the structured credit position from Pareto, sourced from prime brokerage lending through FalconX.

Senior and Junior tranches are open for deposits.


A Real Stress Test

For the first time, the apyUSD market on Royco entered Observation Period after a drawdown on the underlying.

Observation Period is the protocol's pause mechanism. When the underlying drops, the market pauses before booking any loss. The window length depends on the underlying; for apyUSD, it's 30 days. While it runs, no losses are realized on either side.

While the window is open, all yield is redirected to Junior to rebuild the buffer. The window ends when the underlying recovers, when Junior fully covers the drawdown, or after the 30 days.

This week, that's exactly what played out. Spot apxUSD dipped below par across exchanges, but the fundamental NAV barely moved. No losses have been booked on either side, and coverage is still well above the minimum.

How Royco prices the underlying matters here. We broke it down in a recent thread:


Accepted into the Ethereum Security Subsidy Program

Royco has been selected for the first cohort of the Ethereum Security Subsidy Program, alongside other projects backing the security of Ethereum mainnet.

Thanks to Nethermind, Chainlink, and the Ethereum Foundation for the recognition. Security is, and will keep being, our paramount priority.


Two Conversations Worth Reading

Two recent podcast conversations now have written versions on Paragraph. Useful if you'd rather get the takeaways without watching the full episode.

Both worth the read.


Royco ETH Vault is Live

A hint for those who actually read this every week, and for those who've already noticed it on the site. Nothing officially announced yet.

ETH holders will soon have a clean path into Royco's Senior layer. The vault borrows USDC at conservative ratios and routes it into srRoyUSDC, the curated portfolio of Senior tranches.

A single deposit, full exposure to the Senior side, while keeping exposure to ETH's volatility.

Looping features are already in development, designed to take the yields a step further.

post image

What's Next

The apyUSD Observation Period still has weeks to run. We'll keep showing the view from inside as it evolves.

More launches coming. The momentum is already building.