Glossary
Plain-language definitions of CUSP's canonical terms.
One plain line per term. New terms are added here as pages introduce them.
CUSP Markets: the layer of permissionless, isolated capital markets for outcome-linked assets; each market fixes its own collateral, parameters, and liquidation route. See CUSP Markets.
CUSP Risk: the shared underwriting standard for event-driven collateral; the measurement layer that reads each market and publishes its eligibility, value, limits, and pricing. See CUSP Risk.
CUSP Clear: the specialist liquidation, settlement, and default-management layer that runs the unwind ladder and the auctions. See CUSP Clear.
CUSP Vaults: curated strategies that allocate capital across approved CUSP Markets through senior and junior tranches. See CUSP Vaults.
Outcome Risk Object: the versioned object CUSP Risk publishes for each supported position, making it legible to any underwriter. See Outcome Risk Object.
Curator: the operator of a vault, who selects eligible markets, caps exposure, allocates capital, and removes markets that fail the mandate.
Conservative mark: the collateral price the engine uses: the most pessimistic of the midpoint, a trailing average, and executable depth, never the last trade.
Stress value: the value the engine will defend after applying haircuts to the conservative mark.
Health factor: the ratio of stressed collateral coverage to debt; liquidation becomes possible when it falls below 1.
Advance rate: the fraction of a position's stressed value that can be borrowed against it.
Term boundary: the fixed end of a loan term, where the loan rolls at fresh parameters, reduces, or repays.
Resolution buffer: the window before resolution inside which no new borrowing opens.
Origination gate: the rule that stops new credit entirely near resolution.
Settlement advance: the market type that pays a holder for a resolved claim now and collects face value from the venue later; borrowers see it as Instant Redeem. See settlement advances.
Settlement gap: the interval between a market resolving and the venue paying out.
Non-recourse: the servicing rule that a shortfall stops at the market's capital and never reaches the borrower's wallet.
Senior tranche: vault capital with protected, lower-volatility income.
Junior tranche: staked first-loss capital that absorbs losses first and earns the levered residual. See vaults.
Loss waterfall: the fixed order in which losses are absorbed: junior in full, then senior.
Launch bound: the launch rule capping total credit by first-loss capital, so senior capital cannot be impaired.
Unwind ladder: the ordered list of exits CUSP Clear works through, from repayment and offset up to auctions and backstop liquidity. See CUSP Clear.
Sealed terminal RFQ: the near-resolution wind-down path where verified specialists submit sealed quotes for a lot, used because public descending sales fail against terminal jumps.
Bonded liquidator: a specialist who posts a bond to bid in liquidation auctions and is slashed for failing to settle.
Reserve price: the floor of a liquidation auction, covering debt, interest, fee, and a buffer. See CUSP Clear.
Risk engine: the machinery inside CUSP Risk that computes marks, haircuts, and gates.
Position standard: the former name of the Outcome Risk Object.
Instant Redeem: the borrower-facing name of a settlement advance.
Controlled Credit: the former name of the credit machinery now documented under CUSP Markets.
Tranched Vaults: the former name of CUSP Vaults.
Liquidation Auctions: the former name of the auction machinery now documented under CUSP Clear.