Our View on the Stream Finance Situation
The recent developments involving Stream Finance highlight the critical importance of prudent risk management, proper due diligence, and transparency in leveraged investment structures.
Edge Capital had no exposure to Stream Finance or xUSD nor on deUSD (Elixir). We were one of the very few curators in the market who chose not to work with Stream Finance. To the best of our knowledge, our due diligence identified what we considered to be significant shortcomings in risk management, operational design, and decentralization.
Various market participants proceeded despite these red flags, creating apparently unleveraged synthetic loan structures that, in our opinion, exposed investor capital to potentially unnecessary risk while layering on additional fees. We want to reaffirm that Edge Capital has never engaged in such practices, and none of our smart contracts had any direct or indirect exposure to Stream Finance or xUSD.
Stream Finance appears to have operated as a fund of funds, engaging in complex arrangements that may have allowed underlying funds to leverage their positions. This structure could have created hidden exposure and systemic risk among participating funds.
It remains unclear how Stream Finance could report losses as significant as $90m, as the underlying funds’ actual losses during the October 10 sell-off period were materially smaller. Based on publicly available information, these losses may have arisen from structural weaknesses, governance failures, or other operational issues rather than market exposure alone.
We believe affected investors may wish to consider pursuing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the United States, given Stream Finance’s U.S. registration. Such proceedings could potentially enable oversight by the SEC and allow for the recovery of assets, including funds redeemed prior to insolvency. This reflects our general view on investor protection mechanisms rather than specific legal advice. During Chapter 11 proceedings, there could be potential recovery through clawback mechanisms, allowing affected investors to pursue restitution.
In our opinion, clawback risks for curators might be significant. Certain market participants who withdrew funds from Stream Finance shortly before insolvency was reported could, depending on the circumstances, be subject to clawback review under U.S. bankruptcy law.