CDP / LSD · FRAX · $0.6B TVL. Frax has reinvented itself more times than any protocol in the screen: fractional-algorithmic stablecoin, then fully-collateralized frxUSD, plus frxETH liquid staking, an AMO-driven lending arm, and now Fraxtal, its own L2. The screen's central observation is that this breadth is simultaneously its differentiation and its principal risk.
Solvency screens at BBB. Fee coverage (~1.5x) is adequate and collateralization was decisively de-risked when the protocol abandoned the algorithmic ratio for full backing — a genuinely well-executed retreat. The 7/10 risk score carries the complexity penalty: AMOs, a stablecoin, an LST, and an L2 create interlocking exposures that are hard to reason about as a single balance sheet.
Legitimacy screens at BBB. Audits are solid and the team is public and technically prolific. Delivery (7/10) reflects a roadmap that keeps widening faster than any single line matures, and governance (5/10) is heavily founder-influenced in practice.
Growth screens at CCC, the screen's harshest growth reading for a protocol of this pedigree: 4% share, -30% TVL, and momentum diffused across too many products for any one to compound.
Composite CCC. The screen's read: sound collateral, scattered strategy. A full rating would need to decompose Frax into its parts — the consolidated view obscures more than it reveals.
"A chain is as strong as its weakest link." The conservative composite takes the weakest dimension and inherits any notching cap, so a single structural weakness cannot be diluted by strength elsewhere.
