the haven't been declared in default in a court of law, fitch is the only ratings agency thats rated them as "restricted default" and moodys and S&P rating still allows their bonds to be used as collateral. once either moodys or S&P rating changes to restricted default/default even without it being declared in court then lenders might margin call hedge funds. evergrande has like $200+ million they have to pay bondholders in january and another $2.1 billion in march or april. they don't have it and everyone was hoping for a bailout by the chinese government but thats not looking likely and institutions are scared to publicly ask for it because the house of cards will crumble.