RIADeFi
Refusal file · other

Why Ketju rejected Solstice

Memo v1Published by Ketju Research

A registry memo, published verbatim and versioned. Superseded versions are recorded, never edited away. A rejection is a judgment for Ketju's client base and thesis, not a universal safety claim. Not investment, legal, tax, or compliance advice.

The memo

REJECTED ON AN EXPLICIT, CATEGORICAL US-PERSON EXCLUSION. Solstice is a Solana-native synthetic-dollar protocol structurally similar to Ethena's USDe: USX is minted against collateral and staked into eUSX for delta-neutral, funding-rate-driven yield, with reasonable security investment (three Halborn audits, weekly third-party proof-of-solvency attestation, a 3-of-5 multisig behind a 24-hour timelock). None of that reaches this registry's client base: Solstice's own Terms of Service state plainly that "the Solstice tokens are not offered or sold, and will not be offered or sold, in the United States or to U.S. Persons," name the United States explicitly on its Restricted Jurisdictions list, and separately restrict all products to institutional, professional, accredited, or otherwise "legally permitted" counterparties, excluding retail users in every jurisdiction. This is a harder and more explicit exclusion than the access bar this registry has applied to comparable products, and it is dispositive regardless of the underlying mechanism's quality.

What would reopen the file

  • A US-eligible offering opens to this registry's target client population
  • The named hedging/exchange venue for the delta-neutral strategy is disclosed
  • Twelve consecutive months of on-chain operation, including at least one negative-funding-rate stress period, with no yield disruption or delayed redemption
  • Custodian regulatory status (Copper Technologies, Ceffu) is independently confirmed

Facts on file

Verdict
Rejected
Exposure
other
Chains examined
Solana
Memo version
v1
Reviewed
Next review

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