General FAQ

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About Tori Finance

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What is Tori Finance?

Tori Finance is a synthetic dollar protocol that brings institutional-grade, market-neutral strategies on-chain. For decades, these strategies have been accessible only to accredited investors with million-dollar minimums. Institutional trading desks and money market participants have relied on them. Tori changes that, making them available with any amount.

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What problem does Tori solve?

Most of the $300 billion-plus sitting in stablecoins earns nothing. Existing yield options force difficult tradeoffs: T-bill wrappers cap out at the risk-free rate, basis-trade protocols swing with funding and can go negative, and credit protocols take default risk and tend to lock up exactly when you want out. Tori runs liquid, market-neutral strategies whose returns are designed not to depend on market direction. The market landscape page compares the options side by side.

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Core products

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What are trUSD and strUSD?

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What’s the difference between trUSD and USDC/USDT?

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Why would I use trUSD instead of USDC?

To earn on your dollar exposure. USDC is stable and pays you nothing. trUSD stays dollar-denominated and can be staked for strUSD, which accrues rewards from the trading strategies.

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Getting started

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How do I get started?

The quickstart guide walks through each step with screenshots.

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Is there a minimum amount?

No. Start with whatever you’re comfortable with.

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What wallets are supported?

Any Ethereum-compatible wallet:

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What chains are supported?

Ethereum mainnet. Native transfers to other networks run through Chainlink CCIP using the Cross-Chain Token standard, with Ethereum as the hub; the app shows which networks are currently enabled.

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Rewards & returns

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How are rewards generated?

By market-neutral trading: money market placements, spot-futures basis trades, and calendar spreads between contract expiries. Long and short legs offset, so returns come from pricing gaps rather than market direction, and no single trade has to carry the book. Strategy covers each one in depth.

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What returns can I expect?

Variable ones. Volatility and trading volume create opportunities; competition and rate cycles compress them. The current rate is shown in the app as an APY: the trailing 7 days of realized performance, annualized with daily compounding.

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Are returns guaranteed?

No. Never. Rewards depend on the opportunities the market offers.

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Can there be temporary drawdowns?

Yes. Delta-neutral positions can move against each other before they converge; that’s expected, and the offsetting legs are designed to resolve. A temporary drawdown is not a permanent loss.

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Can rewards go negative?

They can. The strategies are hedged, not riskless, and a strategy can lose money over a period. When a loss happens it is reported on-chain through the same distribution path that pays rewards (see Roles and timelocks), and the reserve fund exists to absorb drawdowns. Diversification smooths performance; it doesn’t guarantee it.

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Fees

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What are the fees?

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How does the performance fee work?

A 10% performance fee is taken only from generated rewards, never from the tokens you stake. Example: your position generates 100 trUSD in rewards. 10 trUSD goes to the protocol, and 90 trUSD accrues to your strUSD. The fee is factored into the strUSD exchange rate automatically; there is no separate payment.

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Are there hidden fees?

No. The table above is the complete list. Gas is paid to the Ethereum network, not to Tori.

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Cores and referral

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What are Cores?

Points you earn for contributing to the protocol. See the Cores page for the full breakdown.

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How do I earn Cores?

Hold trUSD, stake strUSD, or participate in DeFi integrations. During Season 1’s pre-deposit phase, the rate was 30 Cores per dollar per day.

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What is the pre-deposit boost?

A 2x Cores boost that ran during the pre-deposit phase, the highest planned for the program. The phase has ended. See the Pre-Deposit Vault for how it worked.

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What is the referral program?

Refer a friend and earn 10% of the Cores they earn. They keep all of theirs, and your bonus is paid on top. See the Referral Program.

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What will Cores be used for?

That has not been announced yet. Cores record your contribution, and future seasons will define how the protocol recognizes it. They are not a promise of any token or payment.

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Availability

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Who can use Tori?

Anyone with an Ethereum wallet can hold and stake the tokens, but eligibility is restricted in some jurisdictions, and you are responsible for complying with the law where you live. The Terms of Service list the restrictions.

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Are there any restrictions?

Yes. The Terms of Service exclude certain jurisdictions, and minting or redeeming at NAV requires verification.

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Do I need to verify my identity?

Most users only swap and stake, which requires no verification. Large-scale minting and redemption at NAV is a verified flow; see Minting & Redemption.

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Security

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How is security handled?

In layers, each with an outside party attached: Sherlock and Nethermind audited the contracts, Hypernative watches protocol activity around the clock alongside our internal monitoring, and Accountable attests the reserves independently at tori.accountable.capital. The security overview covers the whole stack, including the reserve fund and role permissions.

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Is trUSD/strUSD insured?

No. Neither token is insured by any government scheme (like FDIC) or private policy, which is standard for DeFi tokens. Size your position accordingly. Protocol cover for the Tori vault is available separately through Nexus Mutual, covering smart contract and oracle risk.

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Can I verify the backing myself?

Yes, without asking anyone’s permission:

1. Reserve attestations: Accountable publishes them continuously at tori.accountable.capital
2. On-chain balances: check the contract balances directly on Etherscan
3. Supply vs backing: compare total token supply against attested reserves

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Contact

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Learn more