Off-Exchange Settlement in detail
Injera uses multiple "Off-Exchange Settlement" providers such as Copper and Ceffu.
These are two separate, non-US based & owned, well-regarded & institutionally focused organizations with the sole focus of holding digital assets in custody.
Protocol assets are never held in control or beneficially owned by the "Off-Exchange Settlement" provider at any point.
Management of Risks
There are two principal risks that are front of mind when using "Off-Exchange Settlement" providers:
Accessibility and Availability - Injera’s ability to deposit, withdraw, and delegate to and from exchanges. Any of these abilities being unavailable or degraded would impede the trading workflows & availability of the mint/redeem USDi functionality.
It is important to note that if there was a degradation of the availability of this functionality it should NOT affect the value of USDi's backing.
Injera actively monitors and engages with partners. The system also uses multiple "Off-Exchange Settlement" providers to mitigate the potential impact of service degradation of one.
Performance of Operational Duties - In the event of an exchange failure, the protocol is reliant upon the cooperation and legal behavior of our "Off-Exchange Settlement" provider partners to facilitate the expedient transfer of any PnL at risk with an exchange.
It is important to note that exchanges post collateral with "Off-Exchange Settlement" providers to ensure the "Off-Exchange Settlement" provider is able to settle without delay given the typical rolling 4-hour settlement cycle frequency.
Injera uses multiple "Off-Exchange Settlement" providers with the same exchange as a further step to help mitigate the aforementioned risks.
Differences between "Off-Exchange Settlement" Solutions
Copper offers a custodian approach where funds are either segregated or held in a co-mingled omnibus wallet. In a segregated wallet, Injera retains a key share along with Copper and a professional trusted third party and the funds are not exposed to any operational issues from Copper’s side. In the co-mingled omnibus wallet, the funds are held on behalf of Injera by Copper in a bankruptcy-remote trust whereby the funds are accessible & not expected to form part of Copper's estate in the event of Copper entering administration or bankruptcy.
Additional Benefits
"Off-Exchange Settlement" providers also enable Injera to connect to more than just centralized exchanges as pools of liquidity. With our "Off-Exchange Settlement" partners, Injera is able to connect to decentralized exchanges as well as OTC markets without hassle. This enables Injera to diversify counterparty risk, among other risks, by holding hedging positions with a greater number of counterparties (CeFi Exchanges, DeFi Exchanges, OTC Counterparties).
"Off-Exchange Settlement" providers also enable Injera to offer on-demand mint/redeem USDi workflows in a timely and cost-effective manner. There is no delay or additional cost when delegating/undelegated collateral to/from exchanges.
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