⚠ Where It Nearly Died

Credit is the most profitable thread of the operating system and by far the most dangerous, because it is precisely where Stone nearly destroyed itself in 2021. A flawed expansion of its receivables-based lending, colliding with rising rates and a registry-system change that broke the collateral plumbing, drove huge losses and a collapse in the share price. That history is the standing warning: extending credit to small businesses in a volatile emerging economy converts the merchant relationship into genuine balance-sheet risk, and the same act that produces the richest revenue produces the possibility of ruin.

Stone rebuilt the credit book slowly and more conservatively, with tighter underwriting and better collateral control, and it has grown again — but delinquency has been creeping up as the book expands, a reminder that the risk never leaves. Working-capital credit can be a powerful, defensible profit engine or a wealth-destroying trap, and which one it is depends on underwriting discipline holding through a cycle it has not yet been fully tested against. A moderate-to-serious, recurring risk — the cost of risk ran 21.9% in early 2026, and delinquency is the number to watch¹.