Spectra Finance (SPECTRA) — Web3 Project Audit Report

Executive Summary

As of April 6, 2026, Spectra Finance (formerly APWine) operates as a permissionless interest rate derivatives protocol with a Total Value Locked (TVL) of approximately $43.5 million [1]. Following a major governance vote (SIP3) in late 2024, the protocol migrated its legacy $APW token to $SPECTRA at a 1:20 ratio and shifted its primary governance and liquidity focus to the Base network [2] [3].

While the protocol demonstrates strong product-market fit, robust audit coverage, and active development, it carries medium risk for token investors. The primary concerns are extremely thin token liquidity (24-hour volume of ~$4,117 against a $2.74M market cap) [4], a lack of transparent, updated insider allocation data for the new SPECTRA token [5], and a minor historical smart contract exploit in 2024 [6].

---

1. General Description

What is this project?
Spectra is a decentralized, EVM-centric protocol for interest rate derivatives [7]. It acts as a "yield layer" across on-chain finance, integrating with lending markets, liquid staking, and stablecoin issuers [8].

What problem does it solve?
Spectra solves the problem of yield volatility in DeFi by separating the right to a principal asset from its future yield via "yield tokenization" [7]. It mints Principal Tokens (PT) and Yield Tokens (YT) on top of ERC-4626 interest-bearing tokens [7]. This allows users to lock in fixed rates, trade future yield, or receive upfront yield [7].

For what audience?
The platform targets DeFi users seeking predictable fixed savings, speculators wanting leveraged yield exposure (via YT), and liquidity providers (LPs) looking to earn swap fees [8] [7]. It also targets developers and DAOs looking to integrate permissionless yield markets [7].

---

2. Team

Team Identity and Professionalism
The protocol is developed by Perspective SAS, a company headquartered in Paris, France [7] [9]. The team is public and identifiable, which significantly reduces anonymity risks.

• Founders: Gaspard Peduzzi (CEO) and Antoine Mouran [9] [10] [11].
• LinkedIn: Professional profiles exist for the founders and the development entity (Perspective) [12] [13] [14].

Socials and Activity

• The official X (Twitter) account (@spectra_finance) is verified, active, and has over 31,100 followers [15].
• The team actively responds to community questions, as evidenced by founder Gaspard Peduzzi's detailed responses to user queries on the governance forum regarding the SIP3 token migration [3].

---

3. Concept/Documentation

Uniqueness
Spectra differentiates itself by being entirely permissionless. Anyone can deploy Principal Token and Curve NG pools via its Factory contracts without requiring DAO approval [7] [16]. It natively utilizes the ERC-4626 standard for interest-bearing tokens [7].

Competitor Analysis

Feature	Spectra	Pendle Finance	Element Protocol	88mph
Core Mechanism	PT/YT split via ERC-4626 [7]	PT/YT split [17]	Fixed yield via PTs [18]	Fixed yield via 30-day EMA [19] [20]
Pool Design	Curve NG integration [21] [16]	Custom AMM	Custom AMM	Custom AMM
Permissionless	Yes (Factory deployment) [7] [16]	Governed/Gauges	Governed	Governed

Demand Analysis
There is verifiable demand for the product. As of April 2026, the protocol holds ~$43.5M in TVL, with a 30-day DEX volume of $26.53M and annualized protocol fees of ~$89,389 [1].

Roadmap and Technical Details

• Roadmap: While a traditional roadmap page is absent, the project successfully executed its SIP3 milestones (migrating to Base, implementing ve(3,3) tokenomics) [3]. Recent updates include a major AMM efficiency upgrade [15].
• Technical Details: Operates on EVM networks (Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Ethereum) [22]. It utilizes a Registry and Factory contract system for permissionless deployments [23] [16].
• Fees/Revenue: The protocol collects swap fees from IBT/PT pools, distributing 60% to veSPECTRA voters [24]. The Yield Token (YT) fee is set at 3% [15].
• Partnerships: Verified integrations include Aerodrome (liquidity) [25] [4], Curve Finance (scrvUSD pools) [15] [26], and Silo Finance [15].

---

4. Coin/Tokenomics

Tokenomics Overview
The $SPECTRA token replaced $APW on December 17, 2024, following the SIP3 governance vote [22].

• Max Supply: Capped at 876,751,272 tokens [22].
• Circulating Supply: ~472.68M tokens [4].
• Utility: Governance voting, veSPECTRA locking for revenue sharing, and gauge incentives (ve(3,3) model) [22] [3].

Distribution and Unlocks (Risk Warning)

• Distribution: The official documentation does not provide a clear, updated breakdown of the SPECTRA token allocation for the team and investors. Third-party trackers (like DeFiLlama) show legacy APW data indicating 60.4% allocated to "Insiders" [5]. If this ratio carried over to SPECTRA, it heavily violates the ideal <10% team/investor threshold and represents a centralization risk.
• Unlocks: Emissions follow a decaying schedule (1754940 * 0.989^(27+i)), stabilizing at an annual rate of 1.8% of the total supply after the 105th week [22].

Market Data

• Market Cap: ~$2.74M [4].
• Trading Volume: Extremely low at ~$4,117 in the last 24 hours, primarily traded on Aerodrome (Base) [4].
• Known Investors: Legacy APWine funding rounds included Delphi Ventures and Greenfield Capital ($2.6M seed extension in 2022) [27] [28].

---

5. Code

Open Source and Development
The main software is open-source. The core contracts are available on GitHub under perspectivefi/spectra-core [29]. Contract addresses are verified on block explorers like BaseScan and Arbiscan [30] [31].

Security Audits and Bug Bounty
Spectra has undergone multiple professional audits, with all identified issues reportedly fixed [32].

Auditor	Date	Scope	Findings	Status
Code4rena	Mar-Apr 2024	spectra-core	0 High, 2 Medium, 11 Low [32]	Fixed [32]
Pashov Audit Group	Mar 2024	spectra-core	0 High, 3 Medium, 15 Low [32]	Fixed [32]
Sherlock	Sep 2025	metavaults-V1	0 High, 2 Medium, 9 Low [32]	Fixed [32]

• Bug Bounty: An active bug bounty program exists on Immunefi, offering up to $40,000 for critical vulnerabilities [21] [33].

---

6. Risks

• Market/Liquidity Risks (High): The 24-hour trading volume for $SPECTRA is critically low (~$4,117) [4]. This lack of liquidity means large holders cannot exit without severely crashing the token price, and the token is highly susceptible to volatility.
• Technical Risks (Medium): While heavily audited [32], DeFi protocols carry inherent smart contract risks. Notably, a third-party security blog reported that Spectra Finance suffered a $73,000 exploit in July 2024 due to an input validation vulnerability [6].
• Tokenomics/Centralization Risks (Medium-High): The lack of transparent, updated documentation regarding the exact percentage of SPECTRA held by the team and early investors is a red flag. Legacy data suggests high insider concentration [5].
• Financial Risks (Low-Medium): The protocol itself generates real revenue (~$71k annualized) [1], which mitigates the risk of it being a pure emission-based Ponzi.

---

7. Community

• Twitter/X: The primary communication channel, boasting ~31,100 followers with regular updates on protocol integrations and technical upgrades [15].
• Discord: Used for community discussions and technical support, particularly highlighted during the APW to SPECTRA migration process [2].
• Governance Forum: Active participation in DAO proposals (e.g., SIP3), showing a healthy, engaged core community [3].

---

8. Final Assessment

Risk Level: MEDIUM

Key Strengths:

• Strong Product-Market Fit: $43.5M in TVL and real fee generation prove the utility of the protocol [1].
• Permissionless Architecture: The ability for anyone to deploy ERC-4626 yield markets without gatekeeping is a significant technical achievement [7].
• Security Posture: Multiple audits from reputable firms (Code4rena, Sherlock, Pashov) and an active Immunefi bug bounty [21] [32].
• Public Team: Developed by a known, registered entity (Perspective SAS) with public founders [9] [13].

Key Issues and Warnings:

• Severe Liquidity Crisis: The $SPECTRA token has almost negligible daily trading volume (~$4k) [4], making it a highly illiquid asset.
• Allocation Opacity: The project fails the <10% team/investor distribution check, as current documentation obscures the exact insider allocation, and legacy data points to >60% insider control [5].
• Historical Exploit: Users should be aware of the July 2024 input validation exploit ($73k lost) [6], though subsequent audits and bug bounties have aimed to harden the protocol.

References

1. Spectra TVL, Fees, Revenue & Volume. https://defillama.com/protocol/spectra
2. [SPECTRA] Migration Guide for APW and veAPW holders. https://paragraph.com/@spectraprotocol/spectra-migration-guide-for-apw-and-veapw-holders
3. SIP 3: Token migration and tokenomics upgrade. https://gov.spectra.finance/t/sip-3-token-migration-and-tokenomics-upgrade/490
4. SPECTRA/USD Live Price Chart, Market Cap & News Today. https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/spectra-finance
5. Spectra Token Unlocks & Vesting Schedule. https://defillama.com/unlocks/spectra
6. Spectra Finance Hack Analysis. https://blog.solidityscan.com/spectra-finance-hack-analysis-2366cf9f5afc/
7. Spectra Overview | Spectra. https://docs.spectra.finance/
8. Spectra — Open Interest Rate Derivatives Protocol. https://www.spectra.finance/
9. Spectra (prev. APWine Finance) - IQ.wiki. https://iq.wiki/wiki/apwine-finance
10. Spectra | Alliance. https://alliance.xyz/companies/spectra
11. Gaspard Peduzzi's Post. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gaspardpeduzzi_gaspard-peduzzi-was-here-last-year-and-is-activity-7062504257085693952-7wdH
12. Gaspard Peduzzi – Zürich, Zürich, Schweiz. https://ch.linkedin.com/in/gaspardpeduzzi
13. Perspective. https://www.perspective.fi/
14. Antoine Mouran - BFM Crypto, le Club. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antoine-mouran_bfm-crypto-le-club-apwine-protocole-fran%C3%A7ais-activity-7048076064257961984-rnEG?trk=public_profile_like_view
15. Spectra (@spectra_finance) / Posts / X. https://x.com/spectra_finance
16. Factory. https://dev.spectra.finance/technical-reference/contract-functions/factory
17. YT | Pendle Documentation. https://docs.pendle.finance/pendle-v2/ProtocolMechanics/YieldTokenization/YT
18. Element Protocol Documentation Portal. https://docs-delv.gitbook.io/element-protocol-developer-docs
19. Fixed yield rate - 88mph Docs v4. https://docs.88mph.app/getting-started/fixed-apy
20. Fixed yield rate - 88mph Docs v3. https://docs.v3.88mph.app/getting-started/fixed-apy
21. Audit Comp | Spectra Finance Bug Bounties. https://immunefi.com/audit-competition/audit-comp-spectra-finance/scope/
22. Spectra Overview. https://docs.spectra.finance/tokenomics/spectra
23. Registry. https://dev.spectra.finance/technical-reference/contract-functions/registry
24. Fees. https://docs.spectra.finance/tokenomics/fees
25. Aerodrome Finance. https://aerodrome.finance/
26. scrvUSD (May 13 2025) - Fixed Rate. https://app.spectra.finance/fixed-rate/eth:0x44015b17ba889ac3c08757ddd89552b5d03b73c6
27. Spectra - Valuation, Funding & Investors. https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/482092-48
28. APWine raises $2.6 million as it builds a modular interest .... https://tech.eu/2022/11/10/apwine-raises-2-6-million-as-it-builds-a-modular-interest-market-in-defi/
29. perspectivefi/spectra-core. https://github.com/perspectivefi/spectra-core
30. • Spectra: SPECTRA Token | Address: 0x64fcc3a0...ebd5d4e51 | Arbitrum One
      *. https://arbiscan.io/address/0x64fcc3a02eeeba05ef701b7eed066c6ebd5d4e51
31. • ERC-20 Token | Address: 0x64fcc3a0...ebd5d4e51 | BaseScan
      *. https://basescan.org/token/0x64fcc3a02eeeba05ef701b7eed066c6ebd5d4e51
32. Audits. https://docs.spectra.finance/security/audits
33. Audit Comp | Spectra Finance Bug Bounties. https://immunefi.com/audit-competition/audit-comp-spectra-finance/resources/