User Story · The Issuer

Ivan brings the balance sheet.

He has a token, a treasury, and a liquidity problem no market maker retainer ever solved. Here is what he commits, what it becomes, what he earns, and why rugging his own market only rugs him.

What he brings

USDC required. Tokens optional.

the cushionThe non-negotiable part: his USDC seed, painted as the opening bid ladder — junior, locked, first-loss under every outside depositor. This is the credit enhancement that lets strangers trust a young market: if bad debt ever hits, Ivan burns first.

the token sideOptional — it answers one question: who sells to the first buyer? A token with a live holder base can launch USDC-only and let holders make the ask side. A tightly-held token should seed asks, or the first weeks are a one-way market.

whose proceedsIf he seeds tokens, the default is market-owned: sale proceeds accrete to the floor, deepening it — the strongest credibility signal. A separate, labeled "treasury ask program" (proceeds to Ivan) exists, but it's disclosed extraction, capped like self-borrowing. The two never blur on a dashboard.

What it becomes

Not an LP position — a market's opening balance sheet

the shapeNo xy=k pair anywhere. His USDC stands as discrete bids below reference; his tokens rest as asks above. The pool traders swap in IS this book — every buy re-cashes it, every sell hands it discounted inventory, every crossing pays a fee to whoever filled.

triple dutyThe same seed dollars are simultaneously lending capital (funding borrowers, earning credit fees), swap depth (earning venue fees), and settlement capacity (the guaranteed buyer that makes liquidation a title transfer). One deposit, three jobs — none of which a burned LP token ever did.

What he earns

The seed works for a living

as top of bookHis 95¢ bucket funds the first loans (origination, skim share, premiums, rollovers) and catches the first dumps (swap fees + dip inventory + round-trip spreads on recovery). Early on, almost every fee in the market routes through his capital — compensation for standing alone.

the retiring cushionThe rolling unlock: as external deposits lock in, his seed unlocks dollar-for-dollar — re-committable under the next tranche of growth, and ultimately reclaimable. Bootstrap costs the yield on his treasury, not the treasury.

the endgameA mature market with a deep public book, a self-deepening market-owned floor, and his seed home free — versus a market-maker retainer that spent the same money and left nothing behind.

Why he can't rug

Every rug routes through his own money first

dump the treasuryHe'd be selling into bids his own seed part-funds, and any bad debt hits his junior cushion before anyone else loses a cent. He rugs himself first, publicly, on-chain.

pull the seedLocked while loans stand; unlocks only against external locked deposits. Visible on every dashboard, and caps shrink with departing depth — the market defends itself by getting smaller.

self-borrowCapped in code and disclosed. The issuer's seat has skin, not keys.

See it live: the Market story opens with Ivan's seed as the player's one decision — run it with a $50k cushion, then $200k, and watch what depth buys. The full Class B mechanics live on the Issuer page.