Key Concepts

Core terminology used throughout the Port documentation

Port: Tokenized private credit platform.

Port Markets: The flagship product. A marketplace of individually structured credit facilities, each tied to a specific originator or trading enterprise. Investors allocate directly to individual Markets.

Port Vaults: Curated allocation vehicles that deploy capital across multiple Markets. Managed by professional Curators according to a defined investment mandate.

Market Structure

Market: A tokenized credit facility on Port, representing a structured financing arrangement between an originator and investors. Each Market has defined parameters including facility type, advance rates, concentration limits, and covenants.

Originator: An intermediary platform that helps source, underwrite, and service credit assets. Originators are often responsible for deal origination, borrower management, collections, and reporting. Examples include SCF platforms, fintech lenders, factoring companies, and trade finance companies.

Trading Enterprise: A medium-to-large business in global trade corridors that accesses Port financing directly for its own working capital, receivables, or inventory needs. Unlike originators, trading enterprises are the end borrowers — they require financing for their own operations rather than intermediating on behalf of others.

Facility: The structured financing arrangement governing how capital flows between investors and the originator or trading enterprise. Port supports two facility types: Asset Backed Lending (ABL) Facilities (revolving and term) and Forward Flow Agreements.

Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV): A bankruptcy-remote legal entity that holds the underlying assets on behalf of investors. SPVs provide structural separation between the originator's balance sheet and the investment pool.

Credit & Risk

Advance Rate: The percentage of an asset's face value that can be drawn as financing, creating an over-collateralization buffer. See Structural Protections for calibration methodology.

Concentration Limit: Maximum exposure threshold preventing over-allocation to any single obligor, geography, industry, or asset type. Enforced at both the Market and Vault level.

Covenant: Contractual conditions the counterparty must satisfy on an ongoing basis. Breaches trigger defined escalation procedures.

Tranching: Division of a Market's capital structure into layers. The counterparty retains a junior (first-loss) tranche, absorbing initial losses before senior investors are affected.

First-Loss Position: The junior tranche retained by the counterparty as risk retention. Losses are absorbed here before affecting senior tranches.

Credit Enhancement: Structural features improving senior position credit quality, including first-loss tranches, over-collateralization, reserve accounts, and insurance coverage.

See Structural Protections for detailed calibration and enforcement of all credit and risk parameters.

Allocation Mechanics

Allocation: The act of deploying capital into a Market or Vault. Allocations are denominated in stablecoins and represented by on-chain tokens.

Epoch: A defined time period governing deposit and withdrawal cycles for Markets. Epoch based processing enables orderly capital management and prevents liquidity mismatches.

Tenor: The expected duration of the underlying credit assets. Port focuses on short-term assets, typically ranging from 30 to 180 days.

Yield: The return earned by investors on deployed capital, expressed as an annualized percentage. Yield is a function of the discount rate applied to underlying assets, net of fees, defaults, and structural costs.

Discount Rate: The rate at which receivables or loans are purchased below their face value. The difference between the purchase price and the face value, collected at maturity, constitutes the gross return.

Distribution

Distribution Partner: A platform through which investors access Port — including digital asset brokerages, exchanges, and qualified custodians. Port integrates at the infrastructure level, embedding credit products within existing interfaces.

Brokerage Integration: Direct integration with digital asset brokerages, enabling their clients to allocate to Port Markets and Vaults alongside existing positions. The brokerage handles onboarding, custody, and reporting.

Qualified Custodian: A regulated entity that holds digital assets on behalf of institutional clients. Port positions are accessible within existing custodial frameworks.

Vault

Curator: A professional entity responsible for managing a Vault end-to-end, from strategy definition to day-to-day capital deployment. See Curators for full details.

Deposit Queue: A Market-level queue managing allocation requests, processed at the end of each epoch.

Withdrawal Queue: A Market-level queue managing redemption requests. If requests exceed available liquidity, processing is pro-rata (pari-passu).

Instant Redemption (Vault): Redemption filled immediately from the Vault's liquidity buffer. A fee applies.

Standard Redemption (Vault): Redemption fulfilled via the underlying Market withdrawal queues, processed at epoch boundaries.

See Port Markets — Queues and Port Vaults — Deposits & Withdrawals for full mechanics.