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FAQs

1. Do CoverPools hold capital?​

No. CoverPools are "boxes" of delegated capacity from restakers. Capital isn't moved from restaking protocols.

Delegators commit slashable capacity (e.g., "$10m to this pool") that can be tapped if a covered event occurs. That capacity stays staked with the underlying restaking protocol but can be slashed and redirected if a covered event occurs.

In the early stages, the first CoverPools will be centrally managed by the Catalysis core team to bootstrap adoption. Over time, qualified curators will be able to spin up and operate their own CoverPools independently.

2. Who underwrites the risks?​

Risk is underwritten by specialized entities called CoverPool Curators.

  • At launch: Catalysis itself will serve as the initial curator, running the first CoverPools. These early CoverPools will be underwritten in collaboration with neutral actuaries and independent third-party assessors to ensure credibility and robustness.
  • Over time: Underwriting will shift to a permissionless model, where any qualified curator—fund managers, risk DAOs, insurance specialists or other domain experts—can spin up and operate their own CoverPools.

3. What risks can be covered with Catalysis?​

In principle, any risk with a CoverPool can be underwritten. The initial focus is on coverage for institutional entities and DeFi protocols, particularly around:

  • Institutional financial losses (e.g., strategy underperformance, borrower defaults, third-party failures)
  • Market infrastructure risks in lending, stablecoins, and RWA credit

At launch, Catalysis will not cover direct smart contract exploits, though this could be reconsidered in the future as the ecosystem matures.

4. Why CoverPool architecture?​

The CoverPool architecture isolates risk into dedicated pools. Each CoverPool has its own rules, scope and capacity, so losses in one pool don't spill over into another.

This design mirrors how traditional insurance syndicates work (e.g., Lloyd's of London), where multiple underwriters each take a slice of a policy. Similarly, in Catalysis, multiple CoverPools can underwrite a single policy, distributing risk and creating a resilient, modular marketplace for risk coverage.

5. Are Coverage Payouts instant?​

In most cases, payouts are near-instant once a claim is triggered, since assets are onchain and execution is programmable. For larger covers, there may be a short delay, usually hours to a few days, to allow for dispute windows or claim checks.

Unlike traditional coverage, there is no long manual process that takes weeks or months. Claims are settled directly and transparently onchain.