LibraryCredit and stable value2020Design paperCorpus record
Frax: a fractional and fully backed stablecoin design, by the version the docs name
Frax. Frax Finance.
Frax's documents describe a dollar token whose backing the protocol itself changes between collateral and a governance-token component, depending on the version you open.
A reading of the project's public design document. Not a copy, not a benchmark, and not an offer.
Frax's documents describe a dollar token whose backing the protocol itself changes between collateral and a governance-token component, depending on the version you open.
- Evidence
- Primary paper
- Re-measured
- No
- Assumptions
- 3
- Records linked
- 2
01 Claim ledger
What the paper is allowed to say
Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.
Claim 01 · Paper model
The defect
Fractional is a ratio. If the page you cite does not state the ratio's rule, you are not citing Frax. You are citing an adjective.
Claim 02 · Paper model
The proposal
Frax's documents describe a dollar token whose backing the protocol itself changes between collateral and a governance-token component, depending on the version you open.
Claim 03 · Paper model
The mechanism
The collateral ratio, in the versions that use one, is the design variable. Later versions that drop it have to be cited as later versions.
Claim 04 · Paper model
The bound
This note does not state a collateral ratio, a supply, or a peg.
02 Three cuts
Observation, model, falsifier
A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.
01 The defect
Observation
What the study says
Fractional is a ratio. If the page you cite does not state the ratio's rule, you are not citing Frax. You are citing an adjective.
Model
What has to hold
You are reading Frax's docs for the version those docs label. Do not import a ratio from memory.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Which version does the page define?
02 The proposal
Observation
What the study says
Frax's documents describe a dollar token whose backing the protocol itself changes between collateral and a governance-token component, depending on the version you open.
Model
What has to hold
You are reading Frax's docs for the version those docs label. Do not import a ratio from memory.
Falsifier
What would retire it
What assets does that version say back the token?
03 The mechanism
Observation
What the study says
The collateral ratio, in the versions that use one, is the design variable. Later versions that drop it have to be cited as later versions.
Model
What has to hold
You are reading Frax's docs for the version those docs label. Do not import a ratio from memory.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Who can change the backing composition?
04 The bound
Model
What has to hold
You are reading Frax's docs for the version those docs label. Do not import a ratio from memory.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Which version does the page define?
03 Sequence
One action, as an operating tape
- 01The collateral ratio, in the versions that use one, is the design variable. Later versions that drop it have to be cited as later versions.
- 02The algorithmic piece is a claim on the governance token's market, which can fail independently of the custodied collateral.
- 03AMOs or equivalent operations, if documented, are balance-sheet actions. They are not a proof of solvency.
04 Load-bearing
The argument, and where a pitch drops it
What the name has to mean
The cut
Frax's documents describe a dollar token whose backing the protocol itself changes between collateral and a governance-token component, depending on the version you open.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
This note does not state a collateral ratio, a supply, or a peg.
What actually moves
The cut
The algorithmic piece is a claim on the governance token's market, which can fail independently of the custodied collateral.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
This is not a judgement on whether the collateral is custodied where the docs say.
What a later deployment may change
The cut
AMOs or equivalent operations, if documented, are balance-sheet actions. They are not a proof of solvency.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
A later client, parameter or reward formula is a different object from this paragraph.
05 Register
What has to be true
Model · Not re-measured
You are reading Frax's docs for the version those docs label. Do not import a ratio from memory.
Model · Not re-measured
The document is the one at the source URL. A marketing page with the same brand is not this text.
Model · Not re-measured
No price, supply, yield, or adoption figure is added by this desk.
06 Divergence
What happened after the paper
This is not a judgement on whether the collateral is custodied where the docs say.
A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.
07 Pre-mortem
What to check before you use the idea
- 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.
08 Anatomy
The paper, in the order a builder needs
The problem it names
Fractional is a ratio. If the page you cite does not state the ratio's rule, you are not citing Frax. You are citing an adjective.
What the design proposes
- The collateral ratio, in the versions that use one, is the design variable. Later versions that drop it have to be cited as later versions.
- The algorithmic piece is a claim on the governance token's market, which can fail independently of the custodied collateral.
- AMOs or equivalent operations, if documented, are balance-sheet actions. They are not a proof of solvency.
How the mechanism is specified
- The collateral ratio, in the versions that use one, is the design variable. Later versions that drop it have to be cited as later versions.
- The algorithmic piece is a claim on the governance token's market, which can fail independently of the custodied collateral.
- AMOs or equivalent operations, if documented, are balance-sheet actions. They are not a proof of solvency.
What this page does not treat as proven
- This note does not state a collateral ratio, a supply, or a peg.
- Version names matter. Frax v3 is not the 2020 mechanism by default.
- This is not a judgement on whether the collateral is custodied where the docs say.
Why the desk still reads it
Frax's documents describe a dollar token whose backing the protocol itself changes between collateral and a governance-token component, depending on the version you open.
09 Lexicon
Terms, opened into the record
- Collateral ratio
- The share of backing that is collateral rather than a governance-token claim, in versions that define one.
- AMO
- A balance-sheet operation documented by Frax. It is not an audit.
10 Repository
Every linked record on this page
Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.
Concepts
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.