How Pipeline works

Pipeline is a credit facility that finances vetted commodity trade deals and pays the senior coupon, plus T-bill accrual on idle reserves, to on-chain lenders. Every loan is on-chain and auditable; every USDC dollar sits with a regulated custodian, not inside a smart contract.

The above picture cleanly shows two distinct system components: USDC lives at the custodian on the cash rail, and moves only when MPC cosigners agree. PLUSD and sPLUSD live on the token rail — PLUSD is the 1:1 to USDC stablecoin, and sPLUSD is the ERC-4626 vault share that accrues yield. Three Gnosis Safes (ADMIN, RISK_COUNCIL, GUARDIAN) govern the token rail. The two rails are linked by rules, not shared control.

How your money flows

You deposit USDC through DepositManager smart contract, PLUSD mints 1:1 into your wallet in the same transaction. You stake PLUSD into sPLUSD to earn yield. You redeem through the FIFO WithdrawalQueue when you want out. Minimum deposit is $1,000 USDC. For the lender walkthrough, see lenders; for the rail architecture, see split rail architecture.

Where the yield comes from

Two engines, one share price. Engine A is the senior coupon on commodity trade loans — when the offtaker pays for a cargo, the senior interest leg lands in the sPLUSD vault through a co-signed yield mint. Engine B is T-bill accrual on the USDC reserve — roughly 15% stays liquid (the band runs 10–20%) and the rest sits in USYC, Hashnote’s tokenized Treasury-bill vehicle. USYC’s NAV drift is split 70% to the sPLUSD vault, 30% to the Treasury Wallet. Both engines deliver yield through the same two-party attested yieldMint. See yield engines for the full mechanics.

What gets financed

Pipeline finances physical commodity trade facilities — one loan per offtake contract, senior funded by lenders, equity funded by the originator as first-loss. The visible risk dial is the cargo-coverage ratio, with thresholds at 130 / 120 / 110: above 130 is performing headroom, crossing 120 moves to Watchlist, 110 triggers Risk Council escalation.

1. Originator submits an EIP-712-signed origination request through the Originator UI.
2. Pipeline Trust Company (the Trustee) reviews, and may approve, request changes, or reject.
3. On approval the Trustee mints the loan directly on LoanRegistry — Bridge has no role on LoanRegistry.
4. Bridge prepares the Capital Wallet disbursement and Trustee + Team co-sign via MPC; USDC reaches the borrower through the on-ramp provider.
5. As the offtaker pays, USDC arrives in the Capital Wallet.
6. The Trustee records the split (Senior principal, Senior interest, Equity residual) on LoanRegistry — pure accounting, no capital movement.
7. Bridge + Custodian co-sign a YieldAttestation; PLUSD is minted into the sPLUSD vault (share price rises).
8. At scheduled maturity or early repayment, the Trustee closes the loan.

Dig in

Related

• For lenders — deposit, stake, withdraw, dashboard.
• Security — custody model, supply safeguards, audits.
• Risks — what can go wrong and how the system bounds it.