What Is Frontier? Choosing Your Risk Profile on Zodial
A plain explanation of Prime and Frontier risk profiles, and what users trade off when choosing tighter lending buffers.
Frontier is a risk profile inside Zodial. It is not a new wallet token.
Today, Frontier is available through the USDC Frontier pool. Users still deposit and withdraw regular USDC. The choice is where that USDC sits inside Zodial: the Prime pool or the Frontier pool.
Prime and Frontier
Prime uses wider buffers. It is the default profile.
Frontier uses narrower buffers. It can support higher LTVs, more borrow headroom, and higher max leverage.
That extra capital efficiency comes from accepting tighter margins. There is less room for extreme price divergence, oracle delay, liquidation slippage, or liquidity stress.
What changes
Risk profiles change the buffer used by Zodial's pairwise risk model.
| Profile | Buffer style | Typical result |
|---|---|---|
| Prime | Wider buffers | Lower LTV, more room for stress |
| Frontier | Narrower buffers | Higher LTV, less room for stress |
The wallet asset is the same. The Zodial pool is different.
Why users may choose Frontier
Frontier can be useful when a user wants more capital efficiency from the same wallet asset.
That can mean:
- more borrow capacity;
- higher max leverage;
- less idle collateral;
- tighter portfolio construction.
This is not free. The account has less room if prices move sharply or liquidity is thin when liquidations need to clear.
Bad debt in plain English
Bad debt happens when an account owes more than its collateral can cover.
In normal conditions, liquidation should close risky positions before that happens. In stressed conditions, prices can move faster than liquidation execution. Liquidity can also be too thin to unwind the account cleanly.
Prime leaves more room for that stress. Frontier leaves less room.
Which profile fits
Prime fits users who prefer stronger protocol buffers.
Frontier fits users who knowingly want more borrow capacity and accept tighter margins.
The important point is that this is a risk choice, not a token change. A user can hold regular USDC and still choose the risk profile that matches their position.