Curator, Risk Committee, and who can change what
Two roles govern the vault's risk. The Risk Committee sets the framework: the capital deployment rules the vault must follow. A professional Curator executes within it, selecting deals, deploying capital, and managing the book day to day. Neither can do the other's job, and that is the point.
What the Risk Committee does. The Risk Committee is the financing vehicle's credit and underwriting governance body. It sets the risk framework the vault runs on: eligible exposures, advance rates, concentration limits, and collateral requirements. It reviews the live book, covering exposures, loan-to-value levels, price moves, and counterparty exposure, and adjusts the limits as conditions change. The framework is set out in a written risk policy.
What the Risk Committee does not do. It does not operate the vault day to day, it does not select deals or move capital, and it holds no platform-administrator controls over the smart contracts. Execution belongs to the Curator, and the platform controls belong to Trade Dollar. The Committee's power is the framework itself.
What the Curator does. The Curator executes the vault's strategy within the Risk Committee's framework. It evaluates the deals the originator brings, approves and deploys capital into the ones that qualify, including the concentration checks, manages the book through each trade's life, and verifies each NAV update against the settlement records before it is posted. It does not write the risk framework it runs on.
Why it is deliberate. Splitting the rules from the execution is a choice, not a shortcut. The body that writes the risk framework does not deploy the capital, and the party that deploys the capital cannot loosen its own limits. The Curator's incentives are aligned with LPs through the performance fee, which is earned only on realized net yield.
Separation of powers. The Curator is a separate, independent entity from Salus, the trade-finance partner. Salus originates deals and runs the trade layer. The Risk Committee, the financing vehicle's governance body, sets the risk framework. The Curator executes within it. Trade Dollar holds the platform-administrator controls over the smart contracts, separate from the Curator. No one party holds every role, and no single party both writes the risk rules and deploys the capital.
Where roles concentrate. Salus plays several operational roles in the trade layer at once: it originates the deals, runs physical custody and monitoring of the goods, issues the Digital Warehouse Receipts, and acts as the primary recovery agent. This is a real concentration, and the structure is built around it. The Curator and the platform administrator are separate entities from Salus. The Risk Committee sets the mandate the Curator operates within. Inspection and assay are independent. Fallback recovery agents are appointed behind Salus, so recovery does not depend on one party.
Built-in protections. Critical changes, such as the fee structure or the strategy, carry a built-in time delay (a timelock). The delay means no important change takes effect at once, so LPs can see it coming and withdraw first if they disagree. Trade Dollar launches with a single Curator, and the design is built to open curation to other qualified risk managers over time.
Who can change what
The table below is the reference for protocol powers: which role can take which action, and what delay applies. It is published in full with the vault parameters.
| Action | Who can do it | Delay |
|---|---|---|
| Set and adjust the risk framework (eligibility, advance rates, concentration limits) | Risk Committee | Changes to on-chain vault parameters are timelocked |
| Select and deploy into deals within the framework | Curator | None (bound by the framework; multisig-controlled) |
| Verify and post NAV updates | Curator | None (verification before posting) |
| Change fee structure | [Published at launch] | Timelocked, multi-day |
| Change Curator | [Published at launch] | [Published at launch] |
| Pause deposits or withdrawals | [Published at launch] | [Published at launch] |
| Upgrade contracts | [Published at launch] | [Published at launch] |
[The full roles table, the signer setup behind each role, and the exact timelock durations are published with the contract addresses at mainnet deployment.]
A single Curator at launch is a known concentration. The path to multiple curators is on the Roadmap.