> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.edel.finance/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The System Failed Us > Uncovering Wall Street’s best kept secret Illustration showing hands manipulating financial institutions like puppets, representing systemic control and extraction in traditional finance ### Systemic Capture Engine Stocks lending mints double-digit billions every year, yet wallets that supply the asset see none of the flow. **The bad news, it was engineered this way.** Layered desks insert spread, drag out settlement, and confiscate rent under opaque agreements. **The good news, onchain rails unwind that asymmetry.** ## The Scale Global equities cycled through broker balance sheets each year. Annual stocks lending spread harvested by intermediaries in 2024. Asset holders fund the trade, middlemen book the cashflow. The equities lending stack is 100× the size of all DeFi lending, and still runs on fax-era plumbing. ## Designed to Keep You Out Legacy rails tax you twice: slow, expensive settlement plus black-box pricing. The custody agreements you click through let brokers rehypothecate your assets, pocket the spread, and bury the disclosure. There's a cleaner market already running; direct, transparent, programmable. Plug in, and the rent comes home.