How Halo works
Halo issues HUSD, a dollar stablecoin on Robinhood Chain backed by USDG and tokenized equities. This is the reference for how minting, reserves, keeper cycles and the HALO token fit together.
Overview
Every HUSD in circulation is backed by at least one dollar of collateral held in the Halo reserve. The reserve accepts USDG at par today. Tokenized equities such as AAPL, NVDA, MSFT and TSLA are added at a discount set by each asset's risk tier, once a price feed for each is live.
Protocol fees are the revenue source. Every mint and redeem pays 0.10% in HUSD, and those fees are distributed to people who stake HUSD. HUSD itself never rebases: one HUSD is always one HUSD, and the yield accrues to sHUSD instead.
Minting and redeeming
Mint
Deposit USDG and receive HUSD one for one. Deposit a tokenized equity and receive HUSD up to that asset's maximum loan-to-value. Equity deposits open a position that tracks the collateral you supplied.
Redeem
Burn HUSD to withdraw collateral from your position. USDG positions redeem instantly. Equity positions redeem for the same asset you deposited, provided the position remains above the minimum ratio after withdrawal.
Fees
A 0.10% fee applies to mints and redemptions. Fees accrue to the protocol and are distributed to HALO stakers each orbit.
Staking HUSD
Deposit HUSD into the staking contract and receive sHUSD one for one. sHUSD is a normal ERC20: you can hold it, transfer it, or use it elsewhere, and it keeps earning while you do.
Protocol fees collect in a fee splitter contract. Anyone can call distribute, which streams the sHUSD share over the following six hours. Streaming rather than paying in a lump means nobody can deposit immediately before a distribution and capture yield they did not earn.
Claiming
Claim withdraws accrued HUSD to your wallet. Compound adds it straight back to your stake without a transfer, which costs less gas.
Exiting
There is no cooldown and no exit fee. HUSD is a stablecoin and holders need to be able to leave immediately.
Collateral
Assets are listed through a risk tier framework. Each tier sets a maximum loan-to-value and an exposure cap, the largest share of the total reserve that asset may represent. Caps are enforced at mint time and again during rebalancing.
| Asset | Tier | Max LTV | Exposure cap | Deleverage at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USDG | Tier 0 | 100% | No cap | 100% |
| AAPL | Tier 1 | 70% | 20% | 98% |
| MSFT | Tier 1 | 70% | 15% | 98% |
| NVDA | Tier 2 | 65% | 15% | 98% |
| TSLA | Tier 3 | 55% | 10% | 98% |
Tokenized equities are priced using the onchain oracle for each asset. Outside US market hours prices freeze at the last close and LTVs are reduced by five points until the market reopens.
Orbits
An orbit is one keeper cycle. The keeper is a bot that runs every six hours and executes four steps in order. Every step is a transaction, and every transaction appears in the orbit log on the reserves page.
Auto deleverage
If an equity position falls below its deleverage threshold, the keeper sells enough collateral to restore the minimum ratio and burns the corresponding HUSD. Positions are processed from least healthy to most healthy. A 2% penalty applies to the collateral sold, split between the protocol and the keeper.
HALO
HALO is the protocol's fixed supply token. Staking HALO returns sHALO, a receipt that accrues protocol revenue. Unstaking has a seven day cooldown during which no revenue accrues.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Total supply | 1,000,000,000 HALO |
| Staking receipt | sHALO |
| Unstake cooldown | 7 days |
| Buyback cadence | Every orbit |
Revenue split
Today, 100% of protocol revenue streams to sHUSD holders. When HALO launches the split becomes 20% to sHUSD and 80% to the HALO side, where it buys HALO on the open market and streams it to HALO stakers.
| Source | Rate |
|---|---|
| Mint and redeem fees | 0.10% |
| Reserve yield | Variable |
| Deleverage penalty | 1% of 2% |
| Swap fees on HUSD pairs | 0.30% |
Parameters
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum collateral ratio | 100.00% |
| Orbit interval | 6 hours |
| Mint fee | 0.10% |
| Redeem fee | 0.10% |
| Deleverage penalty | 2.00% |
| After hours LTV reduction | 5 points |
| Unstake cooldown | 7 days |
Contracts
Live on Robinhood Chain, chain id 4663. Phase 2 contracts publish here when HALO launches.
Risk
- Market risk. Tokenized equities move with their underlying stocks and can gap outside market hours.
- Oracle risk. Prices depend on onchain oracles. Stale or manipulated prices are mitigated by freezing outside market hours and by exposure caps.
- Smart contract risk. Contracts will be audited before mainnet. Audits reduce risk, they do not remove it.
- Keeper risk. If the keeper fails, orbits pause. Mint and redeem continue to work; buybacks and attestations resume with the next successful orbit.
FAQ
Is HUSD live?
Not yet. This site is a preview while contracts and the keeper are in development.
Which chain?
Robinhood Chain, an Arbitrum based L2.
Does HUSD earn yield?
No. Yield goes to HALO stakers. HUSD stays a plain dollar with no rebasing.
Can I redeem for a different asset than I deposited?
No. Redemptions return the collateral in the position you opened.
What happens if the keeper stops?
Minting and redeeming keep working. Buybacks and attestations resume with the next orbit.
Glossary
- HUSD
- The Halo dollar. Backed one to one by reserve collateral.
- Orbit
- One keeper cycle: rebalance, sweep, buy back, attest.
- Exposure cap
- The maximum share of the reserve a single asset may represent.
- sHUSD
- Receipt token for staked HUSD. Accrues protocol fees.
- sHALO
- Receipt token for staked HALO. Arrives with the token launch.
