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Safety Grade
The Safety Grade summarises overall stablecoin safety as a single letter from A+ (safest) to F (failed). It combines three pillars — peg stability, pre-depeg stress, and structural design — into a 0–100 safety score, then maps that score to a grade band. Higher safety score = safer stablecoin.
Three Pillars
Inverted live depeg risk score. A healthy stablecoin (risk score 0) contributes the full 40 pts. A fully depegged token (risk score 100) contributes 0 pts.
40 × (1 − risk_score / 100)Inverted Peg Canary Score pre-depeg stress score. CALM conditions (Peg Canary Score ~5) contribute ~29 pts; DANGER (Peg Canary Score ~90) contributes ~3 pts. If Peg Canary Score data is unavailable, this weight is redistributed to the other two pillars.
30 × (1 − pcs_score / 100)Composite of peg mechanism, governance type, token type, holder concentration (HCI), mint cap status, and Webacy contract risk. Captures inherent design safety independent of current price behaviour.
30 × (structural_score / 100)Grade Bands
| Grade | Safety Score | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | 90 – 100 | Highest safety. Fiat-backed or well-collateralised. Zero current stress. Battle-tested governance. |
| A | 80 – 89 | Excellent. Minor imperfections in structure or slight pre-stress signals. Low risk overall. |
| A− | 70 – 79 | Very good. Low risk score with slightly weaker governance or mechanism design. |
| B+ | 60 – 69 | Good. Modest risk or structural trade-offs (e.g. delta-neutral mechanism, smaller governance). |
| B | 50 – 59 | Acceptable. Noticeable structural weaknesses or elevated Peg Canary stress. Monitor periodically. |
| B− | 40 – 49 | Below average. Multiple structural concerns or sustained pre-stress. Not suitable for large allocations without close monitoring. |
| C+ | 30 – 39 | Weak. Significant structural or market stress indicators. Active risk signals likely present. |
| C | 20 – 29 | Poor. High risk. Multiple pillars in stress simultaneously. |
| C− | 10 – 19 | Very poor. Near-critical conditions. Consider exit. |
| D | 5 – 9 | Critical. Active depeg or extreme pre-stress. Exit recommended in most cases. |
| F | 0 – 4 | Failed or effectively dead. Token has depegged catastrophically or is in graveyard status. |
Hard Caps (Active Depeg Overrides)
If a token is actively depegging, the score is capped regardless of how good its structure looks.
| Condition | Max Safety Score | Max Grade |
|---|---|---|
status == "dead" (graveyard) | 0 | F — no exceptions |
tier == "critical" OR risk_score ≥ 75 | 9 | D — takes precedence over all pillar scores |
risk_score ≥ 50 (warning range) | 39 | C+ maximum |
risk_score ≥ 25 (watch range) | 69 | B+ maximum |
Structural Pillar Breakdown
How safe is the token's design, independent of current price? Formula: 0.65 × mechanism_score + 0.35 × governance_score + adjustments
Peg Mechanism Score (65% weight within structural)
| Mechanism | Score | Examples | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
fiat_reserve | 100 | USDC, USDT, PYUSD | Cash or T-bills backing — redeemable 1:1 at any time with the issuer. |
rwa | 82 | BUIDL, mTBILL, USDY, OUSG | Real-world assets with regular attestations. Slightly less liquid than pure cash. |
commodity | 72 | PAXG, XAUT | Gold-backed with audited reserves. Price floats vs USD but asset is real. |
crypto_collateral | 55 | DAI, LUSD, crvUSD | Overcollateralised but exposed to collateral price volatility. |
delta_neutral | 40 | USDe | Funding-rate hedged. Works in normal markets; funding flips during stress. |
algo | 15 | UST, FRAX (partial) | Algorithmic / unbacked. Death-spiral risk profile. UST is the defining case. |
Governance Score (35% weight within structural)
| Governance Type | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|
cefi | 80 | Regulated centralised issuer (Circle, Tether). Compliance audits, AML/KYC, legal accountability. |
defi | 70 | On-chain governance — no single point of failure. Smart contract auditability partially offsets key-person risk. |
cefi_dependent | 65 | DeFi protocol with CeFi collateral dependency. Decentralised at the protocol layer but inherits the issuer's trust assumptions. |
Structural Adjustments (additive)
| Adjustment | Condition | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Token type — algo | token_type == algo | −10 pts |
| Token type — synthetic | token_type == synthetic | −5 pts |
| Token type — yield | token_type == yield | +3 pts |
| Token type — rwa | token_type == rwa | +2 pts |
| HCI — Extreme concentration | top_10 holders ≥ 50% of supply (non-fiat tokens only) | −15 pts |
| HCI — High concentration | top_10 holders 30–50% (non-fiat) | −10 pts |
| HCI — Medium concentration | top_10 holders 10–30% (non-fiat) | −5 pts |
| Mint cap — two_step_uncapped | Off-chain completion pattern with no on-chain cap (USR pattern) | −12 pts |
| Mint cap — uncapped | Authorised minter with no cap detected | −10 pts |
| Webacy contract — high risk | Webacy contract score ≥ 75 | −15 pts |
| Webacy contract — moderate | Webacy contract score 50–74 | −10 pts |
| Webacy contract — low risk | Webacy contract score 25–49 | −5 pts |
Worked Example
A delta-neutral stablecoin under mild stress:
| Pillar | Input | Calculation | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peg Stability (40%) | risk_score = 35 (watch range) | 40 × (1 − 35/100) | 26.0 pts |
| Peg Canary (30%) | pcs_score = 45 (ALERT band) | 30 × (1 − 45/100) | 16.5 pts |
| Structural (30%) | delta_neutral (40 pts) + defi gov (70 pts) × weights, no HCI penalty | 0.65×40 + 0.35×70 = 50.5 → 30×(50.5/100) | 15.2 pts |
| Safety Score total | 57.7 → 58 | ||
| Hard cap check: risk_score 35 ≥ 25 → max 69. Score 58 is under cap, no change. | 58 (unchanged) | ||
| Final Grade | B (50–59) | ||