FAQ
Answers to the most common questions about appeX Protocol. For technical term definitions, see the Glossary.
General
What is appeX?
appeX is onchain financing infrastructure. It operates permissionless liquidity vaults that approved borrowers can draw from to solve capital timing problems. Businesses deliver value today and wait months to get paid. appeX turns those idle receivables into working capital on the day they are earned.
Is appeX a payments company?
No. appeX is financing infrastructure. Approved borrowers may use vault capital for instant payments, supplier financing, growth capital, or any other working capital need. The vault does not prescribe how capital is deployed downstream. Instant payments are one application of the protocol, not the only one.
What blockchain does appeX operate on?
appeX smart contracts are deployed onchain. $APPEX is an ERC-20 token on an EVM-compatible chain. Deployment chain details will be announced ahead of launch.
Do I need KYC to use appeX?
For LPs (depositors): No KYC is required. Deposits are permissionless. Geographic restrictions are enforced at the frontend layer for prohibited regions.
For borrowers: Yes. Borrowers undergo credit evaluation, financial review, background checks, and compliance verification before gaining vault access. Each borrower receives individually negotiated terms.
How is appeX different from traditional invoice factoring?
Traditional invoice factoring charges suppliers 10-30% of the receivable value, requires extensive documentation and credit history, operates through relationship-based intermediaries, and takes weeks to process. appeX offers transparent, formula-driven rates (5-15% based on payment terms), permissionless capital supply, immediate settlement, and programmatic operations. The vault is available 24/7 and rates are determined by term duration, not relationship leverage.
For Liquidity Providers
How do I earn yield?
Deposit USDC into a vault. You receive LP tokens that appreciate in value as borrower fees accrue to vault NAV. No action required. Yield is entirely passive.
For additional yield, stake $APPEX alongside locked LP tokens to receive protocol fee distributions. This is a second yield stream on top of base vault yield.
What is the expected yield?
LP yield fees range from 5% to 15% per advance depending on payment term duration. These are per-loan fees, not annual rates. Capital turns multiple times per year as advances are repaid and recycled.
At average 90-day terms with 4x capital turns per year, a 5% per-advance fee translates to approximately 20% simple annualized yield at full utilization. Actual yield depends on vault utilization rate, borrower payment term mix, and any idle periods between advances. Staking rewards provide an additional yield stream from protocol fees.
These figures are illustrative and not guaranteed. See the Fee Structure page for the complete fee reference table.
Is there a minimum deposit?
1 USDC. There is no maximum. The vault is designed to be accessible at any scale.
Can I withdraw at any time?
Withdrawal requests are accepted continuously. Processing is subject to three gates: daily redemption cap, available liquidity check, and per-request limit. Redemptions are funded by withdrawing from DeFi positions (Aave, Compound), which are instantly accessible. During normal conditions, withdrawals process same-day. During periods of high borrower utilization or concentrated withdrawal requests, withdrawals may queue and process over multiple days.
The vault does not liquidate outstanding receivables to service redemptions. Receivables mature on their contractual timeline. Queued requests are processed FIFO as liquidity becomes available.
What happens if a borrower defaults?
The advance enters a 5-day grace period where yield accrual stops but accrued value is preserved. If the borrower does not pay after the grace period, the advance is impaired. Insurance coverage is applied where available. Any remaining shortfall is written down against vault NAV, and the loss is socialized across all LP shares proportionally.
The borrower loses vault access permanently. appeX mitigates default risk through rigorous borrower onboarding, concentration guidelines, and insurance coverage. See Risk Framework for details.
Are LP tokens transferable?
Yes. LP tokens are standard ERC-20 tokens and can be transferred, traded on secondary markets, or used in DeFi. However, LP tokens locked in the staking contract cannot be transferred until the staking position is closed.
Is my capital always working?
Yes. All vault capital is always deployed. USDC in active borrower advances earns LP yield fees. All remaining USDC is deployed to established DeFi lending protocols (Aave, Compound) for continuous yield. These DeFi positions are highly liquid and can be withdrawn instantly to fund new advances or LP redemptions.
For the $APPEX Token
What is $APPEX used for?
$APPEX has five utilities:
- Payment backing. When recipients select $APPEX payouts, USDC from the vault purchases tokens on a DEX. Each payout creates structural buying pressure.
- Staking rewards. LPs who stake $APPEX receive protocol fee distributions on top of base vault yield.
- Fee discounts. Borrowers paying protocol fees in $APPEX receive a 25% discount.
- Platform utility. Recipients can spend $APPEX within partner platforms for subscriptions, services, and marketplace purchases.
- Governance. Staked $APPEX confers voting rights on vault parameters, borrower approvals, fee structures, and protocol upgrades.
What is the total supply?
1,000,000,000 $APPEX. Fixed and immutable. No minting function exists in the token contract.
How much is circulating at TGE?
275,000,000 tokens (27.5% of total supply). This includes the Public allocation (100M), 25% of the Ecosystem allocation (75M), and the Liquidity allocation (100M). The remaining 72.5% unlocks over 12 to 48 months according to the vesting schedules detailed on the Supply and Distribution page.
Can I stake $APPEX without being an LP?
No. Staking requires locked LP tokens. The amount of $APPEX eligible for rewards is hard-capped by the number of LP tokens locked multiplied by the vault multiplier. This ensures only real liquidity providers earn staking rewards and prevents gaming.
What are the lock periods for staking?
No Lock (1.0x multiplier), 3 months (2.0x multiplier), or 6 months (3.0x multiplier). Locked $APPEX cannot be withdrawn before the lock period expires. No early exit is permitted. Longer locks earn proportionally higher rewards.
For Borrowers
How do I become an approved borrower?
Apply through the appeX onboarding process. The evaluation includes credit assessment, financial review, background checks, and compliance verification. Approved borrowers receive a borrowing limit and individually negotiated fee terms based on their margins, payment velocity, creditworthiness, and strategic value.
What fees do I pay?
Two fees per advance: an LP yield fee (5-15% based on your payment term duration) and a protocol fee (negotiated individually during onboarding). The LP yield fee is formula-driven. The protocol fee can be paid in $APPEX at a 25% discount, directly improving your margins.
What am I responsible for?
Repaying principal plus fees to the vault regardless of how you deploy capital downstream or whether your own customers pay. The vault's counterparty is your company, not your customers or suppliers. Default results in permanent loss of vault access.
Can I choose how to deploy the capital?
Yes. The vault does not prescribe downstream use. You decide how to deploy capital: instant payouts, supplier payments, growth financing, or other working capital needs. Recipients can receive funds in $APPEX, USDC, fiat, or any combination.
Why would I use appeX instead of building my own solution?
Building instant payment infrastructure from scratch requires designing and auditing smart contracts, attracting liquidity providers, managing LP relationships, creating risk management frameworks, and maintaining ongoing operations. appeX has already solved all of this. The liquidity exists. The infrastructure works. You plug in and immediately offer accelerated settlements to your users.
Security
Are the smart contracts audited?
Audit reports will be published on the Audits page as they are completed. Audits cover logic errors, access control, reentrancy, economic attacks, oracle manipulation, and gas optimization across all protocol contracts.
Is there a bug bounty program?
A bug bounty program will be established for responsible disclosure of security vulnerabilities. Details will be published on the Bug Bounty page. In the meantime, if you discover a vulnerability, contact the appeX team through official channels and follow responsible disclosure practices.
What are the main risks?
Nine material risk categories are documented in detail: borrower default, vault utilization stress, smart contract vulnerabilities, centralization during the early phase, $APPEX market volatility, oracle/data feed uncertainty, regulatory changes, DeFi composability risk, and concentration risk. Each is documented with mitigations and residual risk assessment in the Risk Framework.
Should I invest more than I can afford to lose?
No. Despite the protocol's risk mitigations, participating in appeX involves real risk. Smart contract risk is inherent to onchain systems. Borrower default risk cannot be eliminated entirely. $APPEX price is subject to market forces. Users should conduct their own risk assessment.