[rsync]

"The other side of the bet just went bust."

I don't think it's accurate to say it "went bust". In fact, Credit Suisse had a (oft ignored) provision in the prospectus of the ETN that very clearly stated that they would liquidate and terminate the product if it exhibited certain behaviors.

Credit Suisse built the product "safely" in a way that did not expose them to losses. The "investors", however, who were almost certainly using the ETN incorrectly, were exposed to heavy losses:

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-06/xiv-trader-loses-4...

"incorrectly", in this context, would be anything other than very, very short (less than one day) holding to hedge other risks.