Introduction to Stream Finance

General overview of Stream Finance

Stream Finance is a project focusing bridging what we call the 'liquidity moat' that exists between TradFi and DeFi. Currently, real DeFi lending rates for USD stable coins range from .2%-2% on the high end, while the "risk free" US treasuries is around 4% and expected to rise to 5%. Highly rated corporate bonds yield 5-7%, and the disparity continues. The objective of Stream's suite of products is to bridge the gap between crypto and TradFi rates, and although now this will effectively mean crypto assets being deployed into TradFi, in the future we believe that our products will bring more uses and investment into the crypto space in general.

Bond Vaults

Bond Vaults are exactly what they sound like. Stream Finance will initially need ways to save users from gas and transfer fees which can bite into yields, especially with a smaller initial TVL. The Vault method, revolving around buying the shortest 4 week US Treasuries, with a set deposit and withdrawal period, will limit these costs. By having 4 of these vaults, users will be able to deposit every week. While there will be a set withdrawal and deposit time, for larger users we will allow for OTC conversions.

In exchange for sending your vault tokens, the Stream Team will return to you your principle plus the interest you have earned during this time period. There may be slight fees charged on the interest, but your principle (given at least a few days) should be protected even after accounting for conversion and transfer fees. Initially, we will have a limit that requires at least $10k worth of deposits in a singular vault order to process an OTC withdrawal.

Bond vaults will initially launch without performance fees as these fees will cut into customer rewards especially at low TVL. However, Stream reserves the right to charge up to 10% in performance fees on the profits but not the principle of users.

Stream Flow

Flow is a future planned product of Stream which will allow depositors to earn slightly lower amounts than the bond vaults in exchange for more liquidity and the ability to withdraw whenever needed. The lower yield is reflective of the fact that the contract will have to have a certain portion of its assets liquid in order to honor redemptions. Larger redemptions may take longer, but at maximum will take a few days as assets are from TradFi on-chain. This effectively allows for more easy liquidity via one simple product. The token behind Stream Flow is called stUSD, and it rebases to reflect returns.

Arbitrage Integrations

Currently, we have a large amount of ideas when it comes to creating integrations to work with Stream. Fundamentally, these integrations combine users with different risk profiles (for ex major crypto lenders, USD based depositors) so as to create mutually beneficial arrangements. These can function for example by taking advantage in gaps between lending rates and risk free rates, allowing the difference to be split between the leveraged individual (lower on capital structure) and the provider of credit in the form of ETH/BTC as collateral (higher on the capital structure).