> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.useicaria.xyz/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.useicaria.xyz/introduction/design-principles.md). # Design principles Eight rules that every design decision inside Icaria has to survive. ## 1. Truth sits at the reference price Wherever the underlying trades is where an RWA's real price gets made, and pretending otherwise is not something this venue does. Quotes are built out from the Chainlink mid, fills are held inside a limit measured from it, and [execution quality](/transparency/execution-quality.md) is scored against it and put on the record. Discovering what Apple is worth is not the job. Delivering that number on-chain at three in the morning, and being straightforward about what the delivery costs, is. ## 2. Honest quotes Three labelled figures appear on every quote: the mid, the spread and the protocol fee. The session badge belongs on the face of the ticket, not behind a hover, so "closed session, spreads widened" is something a trader reads while deciding rather than while reconciling. Order flow is not sold, prices are not padded, and nothing is tucked inside a curve. If an economic model only works while nobody can see its line items, it is not a model this venue will run. ## 3. Non-custodial, always At no point does Icaria hold what belongs to a user. Traders sign for themselves and keep their own keys; vault inventory is the property of LPs and lives inside contracts that cannot be rewritten; an RFQ fill hands assets from maker to taker directly. Pausing is available in an emergency, but the pause reaches quoting only, never funds and never an LP's ability to leave. ## 4. Compliance belongs at the boundary Nothing in a Stock Token contract restricts who may receive it, which leaves every listing venue to answer that question on its own account. Icaria answers it at each point of entry with attestations, keeps identity data away from the chain entirely, and explains the failure to an ineligible user before a signature is requested rather than after gas is spent. See the [Compliance model](/compliance/model.md). ## 5. The session is a first-class input An equity token on Tuesday afternoon and the same token at three on Sunday morning are not the same risk, and the protocol charges for the difference instead of looking past it. What the spread is, how large a clip may be, and whether the market quotes at all, all follow from the [trading regime](/protocol/trading-regimes.md), which reads the oracle's market-status field rather than anybody's assumption. ## 6. Every market stands alone Each listed asset gets a vault of its own, funded by its own LPs, running its own parameters and holding its own inventory. Nothing that goes wrong in one market (a dislocation, a suspension, a delisting) has a path into another. Pools are never shared and losses are never spread around. ## 7. Anyone can inspect anything Behind every fill is a Blockscout transaction one click away. Behind every parameter is a public contract anyone may read. Behind every parameter change is a timelock and a written reason. The [trade explorer](/using-icaria/trade-explorer.md) is there to turn "transparently on-chain" from an assertion into something a sceptic can go and check. ## 8. Build for the ways the chain breaks One sequencer can stop while the world's markets keep trading. Feeds can freeze. Corporate actions take price sources offline. Each of those has a planned answer already written down (halt, widen, wait out a grace period) in the [Risk](/risk/framework.md) section, because infrastructure that only holds up while everything around it holds up is not infrastructure. ## What follows from all of this * Nothing gets paid for with emissions. Liquidity is funded from spread the venue actually earned, or it is not funded. * Nothing is levered, margined or liquidated. One job, done properly. * Nobody intervenes in a price. Parameters move through the timelock, and quotes come out of the formula. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.useicaria.xyz/introduction/design-principles.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.