Skip to main content

How does Collateral and Borrowing work?

Understanding collateral and Borrowing with your Cash Card

Updated over a month ago

In Borrow Mode, your borrowing limit depends on the value of the assets in your Safe:

  • Different assets may have different LTV values

  • The system ensures you maintain a healthy collateral ratio

  • If collateral values drop significantly, you may need to add more funds or repay some debt

Supported Tokens ​and their LTV (Loan-to-value)

The following tokens are available for deposits and collateral:

Core Assets:

  • wETH (Wrapped Ethereum) - 55% LTV

  • weETH (Ether.fi's wrapped eETH) - 55% LTV

  • eBTC (Ether.fi's staked BTC) - 52% LTV

  • USDC (USD Coin) - 90% LTV

  • USDT (Tether USDt) - 90% LTV

Platform Tokens:

  • ETHFI - 20% LTV

  • SCR (Scroll) - 20% LTV

  • eUSD (Ether.fi's staked USD) - 80% LTV

Ether.fi's Liquid Vaults Tokens:

  • LiquidETH - 50% LTV

  • LiquidBTC - 50% LTV

  • LiquidUSD (Market Neutral USD) - 80% LTV

Understanding Liquidation Risk

  • What is liquidation?

    • If your borrowing exceeds your maximum allowed amount (due to collateral value decreases or other factors), the system may liquidate some of your assets to maintain the health of your account.

  • How to avoid liquidation:

    • Monitor your borrowing power and total borrowings

    • Keep a healthy margin between what you've borrowed and your maximum borrowing limit

    • Add additional collateral or repay some debt if your position approaches risky levels

    • Ensure you maintain sufficient collateral value for any borrowed funds

  • What happens during liquidation:

    • The Debt Manager controls the liquidation process

    • Specific tokens from your Safe are transferred to the liquidator

    • 50% of your total collateral is liquidated first; if the position is still unhealthy, the rest of the assets are liquidated as well

    • The liquidator decides what they want. Each asset has a liquidation bonus. A higher bonus means more profit to the liquidator, but they also need to assess whether there is enough liquidity to swap those assets. Higher bonuses are often assigned to riskier or less liquid tokens. So it depends on the liquidator; they determine the priority based on what makes sense for them.

  • After liquidation: Your Safe remains operational, and you can continue using the remaining assets either as collateral or for Direct Pay mode spending


Cash Collateral Liquidation Thresholds

Here’s a more detailed look at Liquidation Thresholds for each asset type. This will help you understand the point at which liquidation starts and the bonus applied when assets are liquidated.

Asset

Contract Address (Scroll)

LTV

Liquidation Threshold

Liquidation Bonus

USDC

0x06eFdBFf2a14a7c8E15944D1F4A48F9F95F663A4

90%

95%

1%

WeETH

0x01f0a31698C4d065659b9bdC21B3610292a1c506

55%

75%

3.5%

SCR

0xd29687c813D741E2F938F4aC377128810E217b1b

20%

50%

5%

LiquidETH

0xf0bb20865277aBd641a307eCe5Ee04E79073416C

50%

70%

5%

LiquidBTC

0x5f46d540b6eD704C3c8789105F30E075AA900726

50%

70%

5%

LiquidUSD

0x08c6F91e2B681FaF5e17227F2a44C307b3C1364C

80%

90%

2%

EUSD

0x939778D83b46B456224A33Fb59630B11DEC56663

80%

90%

2%

EBTC

0x657e8C867D8B37dCC18fA4Caead9C45EB088C642

52%

72%

5%

WETH

0x5300000000000000000000000000000000000004

55%

75%

3.5%

ETHFI

0x056A5FA5da84ceb7f93d36e545C5905607D8bD81

20%

50%

5%

USDT

0xf55BEC9cafDbE8730f096Aa55dad6D22d44099Df

90%

95%

1%

Liquidation Cheat Terms:

1. LTV (Loan-to-Value) - 90% for USDC

LTV is the maximum amount you can borrow against your collateral when initially taking out a loan.

Example: If you deposit $10,000 worth of USDC as collateral, you can spend up to $9,000 (90% of $10,000) in direct pay mode.

2. Liquidation Threshold - 95% for USDC

This is the point at which your position becomes eligible for liquidation. If your borrowed amount exceeds this percentage of your collateral value, liquidators can step in.

Example: You deposited $10,000 USDC and borrowed $9,000 worth of assets. If market movements cause your debt to grow (through interest) or your collateral value to drop, and your debt reaches $9,500 (95% of collateral), your position can be liquidated. This gives you a 5% buffer between your maximum borrow (90%) and liquidation (95%).

3. Liquidation Bonus - 1% for USDC

This is the incentive paid to liquidators who repay bad debt. They receive the collateral plus this bonus percentage.

Example: Your position gets liquidated with $10,000 USDC collateral and $9,500 debt. A liquidator repays your $9,500 debt and receives $9,595 worth of your USDC collateral ($9,500 + 1% bonus = $9,595). The 1% bonus ($95) compensates them for the gas fees and effort of performing the liquidation.

Did this answer your question?