Wrapped Herculis Gold Coin — version comparison

Back to wXAUH

From

Update XAUH.md

06 Oct 2026, 08:15 UTC · PaoloDiStef · 19801de · assessments/draft/XAUH.md

view this version

To

Publish XAUH.md

06 Nov 2026, 16:03 UTC · PaoloDiStef · c054ce0 · assessments/published/XAUH.md

view this version

Structured data (26 changes)

FieldBeforeAfter
Risk parameters
risk_parameters.liquidation_price80—
risk_parameters.maturitynull1 year
risk_parameters.minimum_collateral10—
Risk scores
risk_scores.market_risk12.00%12.52%
risk_scores.tail_risks.counterparty_risks[0].nameHerculis GroupHerculis Tokens S.A.
risk_scores.tail_risks.smart_contract_risks[0].nameSmart-Contract ExploitXAUH Smart-Contract Exploit
risk_scores.tail_risks.smart_contract_risks[0].compensation0.5%0.50%
risk_scores.tail_risks.governance_risks[0].nameIssuer/admin-control and custody intervention riskAdmin-Control
risk_scores.tail_risks.governance_risks[0].probabilityLowVery Low
risk_scores.tail_risks.governance_risks[0].severitySevereCritical
risk_scores.tail_risks.governance_risks[0].compensation0.5%0.50%
risk_scores.tail_risks.liquidity_risks[0].nameSecondary Market Liquidity & Minting/Redemption Impairment—
risk_scores.tail_risks.liquidity_risks[0].probabilityLow—
risk_scores.tail_risks.liquidity_risks[0].severitySevere—
risk_scores.tail_risks.liquidity_risks[0].compensation0.5%—
risk_scores.tail_risks.smart_contract_risks[1].name—wXAUH Smart-Contract Exploit
risk_scores.tail_risks.smart_contract_risks[1].probability—Very Low
risk_scores.tail_risks.smart_contract_risks[1].severity—Critical
risk_scores.tail_risks.smart_contract_risks[1].compensation—0.50%
Links
links.etherscanhttps://etherscan.io/token/0xa9b17f572341219703bc951725bdb3ca756b1a65https://etherscan.io/token/0xC174B12B3195D9887e8dA7aA886EC11c13101060
links.coingeckohttps://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/herculis-gold-coin""
links.otherhttps://dexscreener.com/ethereum/0x03852AE3df6DE29ea7B9E4077cD63A3E3e14832Chttps://github.com/Frankencoin-ZCHF/Frankencoin/discussions/128
General
asset_nameHerculis Gold CoinWrapped Herculis Gold Coin
General
asset_tickerXAUHwXAUH
General
contract_address0xa9b17f572341219703bc951725bdb3ca756b1a650xC174B12B3195D9887e8dA7aA886EC11c13101060
General
assessment_date2026-09-232026-11-06

Narrative (markdown)

assessments/{draft/XAUH.md@19801de → published/XAUH.md@c054ce0} RENAMED
@@ -1,40 +1,46 @@
1
- # Collateral Risk Assessment: Herculis Gold Coin
2
 
3
  ## Summary
4
 
5
- XAUH is a tokenized gold product issued by Herculis Tokens SA. Each XAUH token represents exposure to one gram of Swiss-stored LBMA 999.9 physical gold. Herculis describes the asset as backed by Swiss-stored, insured, and audited gold, with regular custody attestation by KPMG Switzerland. XAUH also exists on other networks, including TON and TRON. From a minimum of 500 XAUH, physical redemptions are possible for KYC-ed holders at a 3% redemption fee plus applicable transportation and insurance costs.
6
 
7
- The underlying exposure is high-quality and relatively low-volatility, but XAUH is still a small tokenized wrapper with issuer, custody, admin-control, and liquidity tail risks. Herculis Tokens SA is incorporated in Panama as a subsidiary of Herculis Group, a Swiss Wealth Management & Asset Protection boutique founded in 2009.
8
 
9
- The proposed 25% retained reserve addresses ordinary gold-price volatility and liquidation execution risk. The proposed 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit and 2.5% target interest rate are the main safeguards against the wrapper-specific tail risks.
10
 
11
- ## Free Float/Liquidity
12
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
13
  Classification: Sufficient
14
 
15
- XAUH currently has a highly concentrated holder distribution on Ethereum: around 78% of supply is held in a single issuer-controlled address, while roughly 17% sits in the Uniswap pool. Over the coming weeks, Herculis plans to expand Uniswap liquidity, add Ethereum XAUH support to the existing Biconomy and BTSE listings, and promote the Ethereum version with its merchant integrations such as ChangeNOW, Changelly and Wert. The holder distribution is expected to improve as these listings and integrations progress.
16
 
17
- Importantly, XAUH also has a documented primary-market minting mechanism. KYC-approved customers can request new issuance either by contributing eligible physical gold or by transferring FIAT for newly issued XAUH.
18
 
 
 
19
  ## Public Information
20
 
21
  Classification: Strong
22
 
23
- Public information is strong. XAUH has a public website, whitepaper, Ethereum token contract, CoinGecko listing, and public market data.
24
 
25
- Since the underlying is Gold, other gold markets can be used as a reference to derive the XAUH token price with applying a potential discount for the physical redemption and delivery process.
26
-
27
  ## Market Risk
28
 
29
- 99%-VaR, 96h close-to-close: 8.46%
30
 
31
- Maximum Drawdown, 96h close-to-close: 12.00%
32
 
33
- To account for ordinary gold-price volatility over 96h, the 2% challenger reward, and applying an additional haircut for liquidation costs and potential time delays, a 25% minter reserve appears appropriate.
34
-
35
  ## Tail Risks
36
 
37
- ### Counterparty Risk: Herculis Group
38
 
39
  Likelihood: Medium
40
 
@@ -42,9 +48,9 @@
42
 
43
  Compensation: 1.00%
44
 
45
- Assessment: XAUH is a tokenized wrapper whose value depends on Herculis as issuer, the custody of the underlying gold, the redemption process, and market confidence. A failure in any of these components could impair the token relative to the underlying gold price. This risk is higher than for larger tokenized-gold products with longer operating histories, and the token could depeg more significantly from the underlying gold price in such a scenario. A 1.00% compensation is therefore assigned for issuer, custody, and redemption dependency.
46
 
47
- ### Smart Contract Risk: Smart-Contract Exploit
48
 
49
  Likelihood: Very Low
50
 
@@ -52,36 +58,34 @@
52
 
53
  Compensation: 0.50%
54
 
55
- Assessment: XAUH depends on an upgradeable Ethereum token contract with issuer-admin functionality. Reviewed functionality indicates controls such as freeze, unfreeze, wipe of frozen addresses, pause, unpause, supply adjustment, supply-controller assignment, asset-protection role assignment, and fee-controller functions. Such controls are common for centrally issued RWA tokens, but they introduce dependency on correct administration, secure key management, and predictable issuer behaviour. A contract-level issue, malicious upgrade, compromised admin key, pause, freeze, wipe, or supply-control error could impair transferability, settlement, or liquidation proceeds. A 0.50% compensation is assigned for smart-contract risk.
56
 
57
- ### Governance Risk: Issuer/admin-control and custody intervention risk
58
 
59
- Likelihood: Low
60
 
61
- Severity: Severe
62
 
 
 
63
  Compensation: 0.50%
64
 
65
- Assessment: XAUH is issued by Herculis Tokens SA, while the underlying physical gold is held in custody in Switzerland. Herculis Tokens SA is incorporated in Panama and reports to the local regulator. This creates a governance/admin-control risk because the regulator could require the issuer to freeze or restrict operations.
66
 
67
- The token contract also includes address-level blocking controls, including functions to add or remove addresses from a blocked list, check whether an address is blocked, and destroy funds held by a blocked address. These controls are not unusual for centrally issued RWA tokens, but they create a residual governance/admin-control risk for Frankencoin liquidations. A 0.50% compensation is assigned for this risk.
68
 
69
- ### Liquidity Risk: Secondary Market Liquidity & Minting/Redemption Impairment
70
 
71
- Likelihood: Low
72
 
73
- Severity: Severe
74
 
75
  Compensation: 0.50%
76
 
77
- Assessment: Ethereum XAUH liquidity is limited, and the holder base is currently highly concentrated. The practical Ethereum liquidity sources are the Uniswap pool and the direct minting/redemption path. In a Frankencoin liquidation, the unavailability of these paths could delay the challenge process because potential challengers may not be able to acquire or recycle sufficient XAUH quickly and at a predictable price.
78
 
79
- The exit path after a successful challenge could also be impaired. A challenger may face limited immediate secondary-market depth and may need to rely on primary-market redemption, which can involve KYC, minimum redemption sizes, redemption fees, delivery costs, and timing frictions. Arbitrageurs would therefore likely apply a significant haircut to compensate for delayed exit, limited executable liquidity, and redemption uncertainty. A 0.50% compensation is assigned for this risk.
80
 
81
  ## Conclusion
82
 
83
- The proposed retained reserve of 25% is appropriate relative to expected market volatilty of the underlying gold exposure, and leaves a substantial buffer for liquidation execution. It should not be interpreted as protection against issuer, custody, redemption, admin-control, or liquidity tail risks. Those risks are addressed primarily through the proposed 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit and the 2.5% target interest rate.
84
-
85
- The target interest rate of 2.5% is justified by the selected risk premia: 1.00% for counterparty risk, 0.5% for smart-contract, 0.5% for governance risks, and 0.5% for liquidity risk as described.
86
-
87
- The proposed 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit is the primary safeguard as long as the free float and liquidity of the token are limited. The issuer has however indicated plans of growing the Ethereum version with additional integrations and CEX listings. A higher global minting limit should then be possible.
 
1
+ # Collateral Risk Assessment: Wrapped Herculis Gold Coin
2
 
3
  ## Summary
4
 
5
+ wXAUH is a no transfer-fee wrapper of XAUH. Each wXAUH represents one XAUH, and each XAUH represents exposure to one gram of Swiss-stored LBMA 999.9 physical gold. wXAUH was created because XAUH’s fee-on-transfer mechanics are not compatible with the Frankencoin collateral flow.
6
 
7
+ The underlying exposure is high-quality and relatively low-volatility, but wXAUH remains exposed to issuer, custody, smart-contract and admin-control risk. The 25% retained reserve addresses ordinary gold-price volatility and a potential liquidation discount. The 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit and 2.5% effective interest rate are the main safeguards against these tail risks.
8
 
9
+ ## Asset Overview
10
 
11
+ wXAUH can be wrapped and unwrapped one-for-one against XAUH. The wrapper does not charge a transfer fee. A 0.02% fee applies when wrapping or unwrapping XAUH, so an auction buyer that unwraps wXAUH receives slightly less than one XAUH per token.
12
 
13
+ Herculis Tokens S.A., a Panamanian company, is the issuer and primary-market counterparty behind XAUH. It is part of Herculis Group, a Swiss wealth-management and asset-protection boutique established in 2009. The issuer’s terms describe XAUH as a contractual right against Herculis.
14
+
15
+ The gold is stored in Switzerland and KPMG has verified the gold amount in custody through various reserve reports. The latest report from 28 August 2026 recorded 18 certificates representing 15.5 kg of gold, matching the outstanding token supply.
16
+
17
+ KYC-verified holders may request physical redemption of underlying XAUH from 500 XAUH. The stated redemption fee is 3% at 500 g and 1% from 1 kg, in addition to delivery, security, insurance, customs and other third-party costs. Redemption may be delayed or refused for compliance, sanctions, legal, logistical or operational reasons.
18
+
19
+ ## Free Float
20
+
21
  Classification: Sufficient
22
 
23
+ wXAUH can be wrapped and unwrapped one-for-one against XAUH. Its relevant liquidity is therefore that of underlying XAUH.
24
 
25
+ XAUH is listed on Biconomy and BTSE, and Ethereum XAUH has Uniswap liquidity. XAUH on TON has liquidity on Ston.fi and Capital DEX. Changelly, ChangeNOW and Wert provide additional XAUH purchase integrations. A majority of XAUH supply is currently not on Ethereum, and only Herculis can bridge tokens across chains for users. XAUH also has a primary issuance route for KYC-approved customers contributing eligible physical gold or fiat. These routes provide sufficient ways for challengers to acquire XAUH and wrap it into wXAUH.
26
 
27
+ The current Ethereum market depth and the 500 XAUH physical-redemption process however limit the expected efficiency of an auction. This is addressed by the 25% retained reserve and the 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit.
28
+
29
  ## Public Information
30
 
31
  Classification: Strong
32
 
33
+ Gold has an observable and liquid underlying market. Herculis publishes token documentation, terms, a white paper and periodic information on the bullion backing. The wXAUH conversion is one-to-one with XAUH. The price source used for the partner venues is Chainlink’s XAU/USD feed converted to a per-gram XAUH price. These inputs allow challengers to estimate a likely auction value by starting from the gold price and applying a discount for redemption delay and costs.
34
 
 
 
35
  ## Market Risk
36
 
37
+ Worst 48h close-to-close drawdown observed: 12.52%
38
 
39
+ The 25% retained reserve is above the observed gold-market decline and provides an additional buffer for the challenger reward and the costs of redeeming underlying XAUH.
40
 
 
 
41
  ## Tail Risks
42
 
43
+ ### Counterparty Risk: Herculis Tokens S.A.
44
 
45
  Likelihood: Medium
46
 
 
48
 
49
  Compensation: 1.00%
50
 
51
+ wXAUH'w value depends on Herculis Tokens S.A. as issuer, the custody of the underlying gold, the redemption process and market confidence. A failure in any of these components could impair wXAUH relative to the underlying gold price.
52
 
53
+ ### Smart-Contract Risk: XAUH Smart-Contract Exploit
54
 
55
  Likelihood: Very Low
56
 
 
58
 
59
  Compensation: 0.50%
60
 
61
+ wXAUH is backed by XAUH. A defect or exploit in the XAUH token accounting or authorisation logic could allow an unauthorised transfer, mint or burn, or prevent the underlying token from settling correctly.
62
 
63
+ Such a technical failure could impair the value or recoverability of wXAUH even if the wrapper contract itself continues to function.
64
 
65
+ ### Smart-Contract Risk: wXAUH Smart-Contract Exploit
66
 
67
+ Likelihood: Very Low
68
 
69
+ Severity: Critical
70
+
71
  Compensation: 0.50%
72
 
73
+ wXAUH is a wrapper contract that holds XAUH and issues the corresponding wrapped balance. A defect or exploit in its wrapping, unwrapping, accounting or transfer logic could break the one-to-one relationship with XAUH or prevent collateral from being transferred and auctioned.
74
 
75
+ The Frankencoin team’s mainnet-fork tests confirmed the intended transfer, approval, position, challenge, bid and forced-sale flows. The residual risk is a failure in the deployed wrapper contract or its integration path.
76
 
77
+ ### Governance Risk: Admin-Control
78
 
79
+ Likelihood: Very Low
80
 
81
+ Severity: Critical
82
 
83
  Compensation: 0.50%
84
 
85
+ The underlying XAUH token is controlled by a 3-of-4 Safe for token ownership and supply control, while a separate 3-of-4 Safe controls proxy upgrades. The owner Safe can pause transfers, appoint an asset-protection role and replace the supply controller.
86
 
87
+ An appointed asset-protection role can freeze an address and wipe the balance of a frozen address. The proxy-admin Safe can replace the token logic entirely. These powers can make the XAUH backing held by the wrapper untransferable or destroy it on-chain, impairing wXAUH collateral.
88
 
89
  ## Conclusion
90
 
91
+ The 25% retained reserve is appropriate relative to the 12.52% worst 48h close-to-close drawdown observed for the underlying gold market and leaves a substantial buffer for the underlying XAUH execution route, redemption fees and settlement friction. The 2.50% effective interest rate compensates the Herculis Tokens S.A. counterparty risk, XAUH and wXAUH smart-contract risk, and admin-control risk. The 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit restricts the maximum withdrawable amount to 187,500 ZCHF and contains exposure to the issuer, custody and redemption risk. wXAUH’s Sufficient Free Float supports a 48 hour auction duration, and a maturity of 1 year is appropriate before reassessment.
 
 
 
 
assessments/{draft/XAUH.md@19801de → published/XAUH.md@c054ce0} RENAMED
@@ -1,40 +1,46 @@
1
- # Collateral Risk Assessment: Herculis Gold Coin
1
+ # Collateral Risk Assessment: Wrapped Herculis Gold Coin
2
2
 
3
3
  ## Summary
4
4
 
5
- XAUH is a tokenized gold product issued by Herculis Tokens SA. Each XAUH token represents exposure to one gram of Swiss-stored LBMA 999.9 physical gold. Herculis describes the asset as backed by Swiss-stored, insured, and audited gold, with regular custody attestation by KPMG Switzerland. XAUH also exists on other networks, including TON and TRON. From a minimum of 500 XAUH, physical redemptions are possible for KYC-ed holders at a 3% redemption fee plus applicable transportation and insurance costs.
5
+ wXAUH is a no transfer-fee wrapper of XAUH. Each wXAUH represents one XAUH, and each XAUH represents exposure to one gram of Swiss-stored LBMA 999.9 physical gold. wXAUH was created because XAUH’s fee-on-transfer mechanics are not compatible with the Frankencoin collateral flow.
6
6
 
7
- The underlying exposure is high-quality and relatively low-volatility, but XAUH is still a small tokenized wrapper with issuer, custody, admin-control, and liquidity tail risks. Herculis Tokens SA is incorporated in Panama as a subsidiary of Herculis Group, a Swiss Wealth Management & Asset Protection boutique founded in 2009.
7
+ The underlying exposure is high-quality and relatively low-volatility, but wXAUH remains exposed to issuer, custody, smart-contract and admin-control risk. The 25% retained reserve addresses ordinary gold-price volatility and a potential liquidation discount. The 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit and 2.5% effective interest rate are the main safeguards against these tail risks.
8
8
 
9
- The proposed 25% retained reserve addresses ordinary gold-price volatility and liquidation execution risk. The proposed 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit and 2.5% target interest rate are the main safeguards against the wrapper-specific tail risks.
9
+ ## Asset Overview
10
10
 
11
- ## Free Float/Liquidity
11
+ wXAUH can be wrapped and unwrapped one-for-one against XAUH. The wrapper does not charge a transfer fee. A 0.02% fee applies when wrapping or unwrapping XAUH, so an auction buyer that unwraps wXAUH receives slightly less than one XAUH per token.
12
12
 
13
+ Herculis Tokens S.A., a Panamanian company, is the issuer and primary-market counterparty behind XAUH. It is part of Herculis Group, a Swiss wealth-management and asset-protection boutique established in 2009. The issuer’s terms describe XAUH as a contractual right against Herculis.
14
+
15
+ The gold is stored in Switzerland and KPMG has verified the gold amount in custody through various reserve reports. The latest report from 28 August 2026 recorded 18 certificates representing 15.5 kg of gold, matching the outstanding token supply.
16
+
17
+ KYC-verified holders may request physical redemption of underlying XAUH from 500 XAUH. The stated redemption fee is 3% at 500 g and 1% from 1 kg, in addition to delivery, security, insurance, customs and other third-party costs. Redemption may be delayed or refused for compliance, sanctions, legal, logistical or operational reasons.
18
+
19
+ ## Free Float
20
+
13
21
  Classification: Sufficient
14
22
 
15
- XAUH currently has a highly concentrated holder distribution on Ethereum: around 78% of supply is held in a single issuer-controlled address, while roughly 17% sits in the Uniswap pool. Over the coming weeks, Herculis plans to expand Uniswap liquidity, add Ethereum XAUH support to the existing Biconomy and BTSE listings, and promote the Ethereum version with its merchant integrations such as ChangeNOW, Changelly and Wert. The holder distribution is expected to improve as these listings and integrations progress.
23
+ wXAUH can be wrapped and unwrapped one-for-one against XAUH. Its relevant liquidity is therefore that of underlying XAUH.
16
24
 
17
- Importantly, XAUH also has a documented primary-market minting mechanism. KYC-approved customers can request new issuance either by contributing eligible physical gold or by transferring FIAT for newly issued XAUH.
25
+ XAUH is listed on Biconomy and BTSE, and Ethereum XAUH has Uniswap liquidity. XAUH on TON has liquidity on Ston.fi and Capital DEX. Changelly, ChangeNOW and Wert provide additional XAUH purchase integrations. A majority of XAUH supply is currently not on Ethereum, and only Herculis can bridge tokens across chains for users. XAUH also has a primary issuance route for KYC-approved customers contributing eligible physical gold or fiat. These routes provide sufficient ways for challengers to acquire XAUH and wrap it into wXAUH.
18
26
 
27
+ The current Ethereum market depth and the 500 XAUH physical-redemption process however limit the expected efficiency of an auction. This is addressed by the 25% retained reserve and the 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit.
28
+
19
29
  ## Public Information
20
30
 
21
31
  Classification: Strong
22
32
 
23
- Public information is strong. XAUH has a public website, whitepaper, Ethereum token contract, CoinGecko listing, and public market data.
33
+ Gold has an observable and liquid underlying market. Herculis publishes token documentation, terms, a white paper and periodic information on the bullion backing. The wXAUH conversion is one-to-one with XAUH. The price source used for the partner venues is Chainlink’s XAU/USD feed converted to a per-gram XAUH price. These inputs allow challengers to estimate a likely auction value by starting from the gold price and applying a discount for redemption delay and costs.
24
34
 
25
- Since the underlying is Gold, other gold markets can be used as a reference to derive the XAUH token price with applying a potential discount for the physical redemption and delivery process.
26
-
27
35
  ## Market Risk
28
36
 
29
- 99%-VaR, 96h close-to-close: 8.46%
37
+ Worst 48h close-to-close drawdown observed: 12.52%
30
38
 
31
- Maximum Drawdown, 96h close-to-close: 12.00%
39
+ The 25% retained reserve is above the observed gold-market decline and provides an additional buffer for the challenger reward and the costs of redeeming underlying XAUH.
32
40
 
33
- To account for ordinary gold-price volatility over 96h, the 2% challenger reward, and applying an additional haircut for liquidation costs and potential time delays, a 25% minter reserve appears appropriate.
34
-
35
41
  ## Tail Risks
36
42
 
37
- ### Counterparty Risk: Herculis Group
43
+ ### Counterparty Risk: Herculis Tokens S.A.
38
44
 
39
45
  Likelihood: Medium
40
46
 
@@ -42,9 +48,9 @@
42
48
 
43
49
  Compensation: 1.00%
44
50
 
45
- Assessment: XAUH is a tokenized wrapper whose value depends on Herculis as issuer, the custody of the underlying gold, the redemption process, and market confidence. A failure in any of these components could impair the token relative to the underlying gold price. This risk is higher than for larger tokenized-gold products with longer operating histories, and the token could depeg more significantly from the underlying gold price in such a scenario. A 1.00% compensation is therefore assigned for issuer, custody, and redemption dependency.
51
+ wXAUH'w value depends on Herculis Tokens S.A. as issuer, the custody of the underlying gold, the redemption process and market confidence. A failure in any of these components could impair wXAUH relative to the underlying gold price.
46
52
 
47
- ### Smart Contract Risk: Smart-Contract Exploit
53
+ ### Smart-Contract Risk: XAUH Smart-Contract Exploit
48
54
 
49
55
  Likelihood: Very Low
50
56
 
@@ -52,36 +58,34 @@
52
58
 
53
59
  Compensation: 0.50%
54
60
 
55
- Assessment: XAUH depends on an upgradeable Ethereum token contract with issuer-admin functionality. Reviewed functionality indicates controls such as freeze, unfreeze, wipe of frozen addresses, pause, unpause, supply adjustment, supply-controller assignment, asset-protection role assignment, and fee-controller functions. Such controls are common for centrally issued RWA tokens, but they introduce dependency on correct administration, secure key management, and predictable issuer behaviour. A contract-level issue, malicious upgrade, compromised admin key, pause, freeze, wipe, or supply-control error could impair transferability, settlement, or liquidation proceeds. A 0.50% compensation is assigned for smart-contract risk.
61
+ wXAUH is backed by XAUH. A defect or exploit in the XAUH token accounting or authorisation logic could allow an unauthorised transfer, mint or burn, or prevent the underlying token from settling correctly.
56
62
 
57
- ### Governance Risk: Issuer/admin-control and custody intervention risk
63
+ Such a technical failure could impair the value or recoverability of wXAUH even if the wrapper contract itself continues to function.
58
64
 
59
- Likelihood: Low
65
+ ### Smart-Contract Risk: wXAUH Smart-Contract Exploit
60
66
 
61
- Severity: Severe
67
+ Likelihood: Very Low
62
68
 
69
+ Severity: Critical
70
+
63
71
  Compensation: 0.50%
64
72
 
65
- Assessment: XAUH is issued by Herculis Tokens SA, while the underlying physical gold is held in custody in Switzerland. Herculis Tokens SA is incorporated in Panama and reports to the local regulator. This creates a governance/admin-control risk because the regulator could require the issuer to freeze or restrict operations.
73
+ wXAUH is a wrapper contract that holds XAUH and issues the corresponding wrapped balance. A defect or exploit in its wrapping, unwrapping, accounting or transfer logic could break the one-to-one relationship with XAUH or prevent collateral from being transferred and auctioned.
66
74
 
67
- The token contract also includes address-level blocking controls, including functions to add or remove addresses from a blocked list, check whether an address is blocked, and destroy funds held by a blocked address. These controls are not unusual for centrally issued RWA tokens, but they create a residual governance/admin-control risk for Frankencoin liquidations. A 0.50% compensation is assigned for this risk.
75
+ The Frankencoin team’s mainnet-fork tests confirmed the intended transfer, approval, position, challenge, bid and forced-sale flows. The residual risk is a failure in the deployed wrapper contract or its integration path.
68
76
 
69
- ### Liquidity Risk: Secondary Market Liquidity & Minting/Redemption Impairment
77
+ ### Governance Risk: Admin-Control
70
78
 
71
- Likelihood: Low
79
+ Likelihood: Very Low
72
80
 
73
- Severity: Severe
81
+ Severity: Critical
74
82
 
75
83
  Compensation: 0.50%
76
84
 
77
- Assessment: Ethereum XAUH liquidity is limited, and the holder base is currently highly concentrated. The practical Ethereum liquidity sources are the Uniswap pool and the direct minting/redemption path. In a Frankencoin liquidation, the unavailability of these paths could delay the challenge process because potential challengers may not be able to acquire or recycle sufficient XAUH quickly and at a predictable price.
85
+ The underlying XAUH token is controlled by a 3-of-4 Safe for token ownership and supply control, while a separate 3-of-4 Safe controls proxy upgrades. The owner Safe can pause transfers, appoint an asset-protection role and replace the supply controller.
78
86
 
79
- The exit path after a successful challenge could also be impaired. A challenger may face limited immediate secondary-market depth and may need to rely on primary-market redemption, which can involve KYC, minimum redemption sizes, redemption fees, delivery costs, and timing frictions. Arbitrageurs would therefore likely apply a significant haircut to compensate for delayed exit, limited executable liquidity, and redemption uncertainty. A 0.50% compensation is assigned for this risk.
87
+ An appointed asset-protection role can freeze an address and wipe the balance of a frozen address. The proxy-admin Safe can replace the token logic entirely. These powers can make the XAUH backing held by the wrapper untransferable or destroy it on-chain, impairing wXAUH collateral.
80
88
 
81
89
  ## Conclusion
82
90
 
83
- The proposed retained reserve of 25% is appropriate relative to expected market volatilty of the underlying gold exposure, and leaves a substantial buffer for liquidation execution. It should not be interpreted as protection against issuer, custody, redemption, admin-control, or liquidity tail risks. Those risks are addressed primarily through the proposed 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit and the 2.5% target interest rate.
84
-
85
- The target interest rate of 2.5% is justified by the selected risk premia: 1.00% for counterparty risk, 0.5% for smart-contract, 0.5% for governance risks, and 0.5% for liquidity risk as described.
86
-
87
- The proposed 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit is the primary safeguard as long as the free float and liquidity of the token are limited. The issuer has however indicated plans of growing the Ethereum version with additional integrations and CEX listings. A higher global minting limit should then be possible.
91
+ The 25% retained reserve is appropriate relative to the 12.52% worst 48h close-to-close drawdown observed for the underlying gold market and leaves a substantial buffer for the underlying XAUH execution route, redemption fees and settlement friction. The 2.50% effective interest rate compensates the Herculis Tokens S.A. counterparty risk, XAUH and wXAUH smart-contract risk, and admin-control risk. The 250,000 ZCHF global minting limit restricts the maximum withdrawable amount to 187,500 ZCHF and contains exposure to the issuer, custody and redemption risk. wXAUH’s Sufficient Free Float supports a 48 hour auction duration, and a maturity of 1 year is appropriate before reassessment.