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Real-world asset protocol stUSDT has begun winding down, ending interest accrual on Saturday and opening a six-month redemption window for holders, Cointelegraph reported. The Tron-based yield token reached roughly $2.3 billion in total value locked in November 2023 but held about $8.6 million as of Sunday. The team did not give a reason for the closure and said all underlying assets remain fully backed.
Key facts
- Interest accrual on stUSDT and wstUSDT stopped on November 14, 2026, and redemptions run through the official portal until May 14, 2027.
- Requests filed after that deadline will be handled through customer support in monthly batches through August 2027, the team said.
- TVL peaked at about $2.3 billion in November 2023 and stood at about $8.6 million on Sunday, down from roughly $60 million a year earlier.
- JustLend DAO said it would phase out supply and borrowing functions for its wstUSDT market as part of the transition.
- According to Crypto Briefing, TVL fell 80% in a single day when rewards stopped, and the protocol’s rebase design meant balances grew in token count rather than per-token price.
How holders exit
Redemption is not automatic for everyone. Cointelegraph reported that tokens held on exchanges or DeFi platforms must be moved to personal wallets first. Crypto Briefing added that wrapped wstUSDT needs to be unwrapped and any staked positions unstaked before redemption can be completed.
Also read: Tether froze 1.45M USDT in THORChain vaults, then lifted it
Crypto Briefing also reported that redemptions inside the window carry no additional fees, though network transaction fees still apply, and put remaining TVL somewhere between $8.6 million and $9.5 million in mid-November, a decline of more than 99% from the peak. Cointelegraph cited a single figure of about $8.6 million.
The two outlets also framed the yield mechanism differently: Crypto Briefing described the rebase token as behaving like a savings account where interest arrives as extra coins rather than a higher unit price, while Cointelegraph focused on the underlying holdings of short-term government bonds and other real-world assets. Neither report disclosed a reason for the shutdown, and Cointelegraph said stUSDT did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
What the protocol was
stUSDT launched in July 2023 on Tron, letting users deposit USDT and earn yields tied to real-world assets such as short-term government bonds, then expanded to Ethereum. Despite the name, it was not affiliated with Tether: the stablecoin issuer denied any connection in September 2023, saying the project was independent.
Why it matters
The closure removes one of the larger early vehicles for tokenized government debt, a category that drew institutional attention as a bridge between DeFi yields and conventional fixed income. Holders spread across lending markets and liquidity pools face housekeeping before the May 2027 deadline, and secondary-market exits could grow thinner as withdrawals proceed. The drop from a multi-billion-dollar peak to single-digit millions illustrates how quickly deposits can leave once rewards stop.
What to watch
The main data points are whether redemptions clear smoothly through the portal, how fast the remaining TVL drains, and whether third-party venues such as JustLend and Curve adjust their support for the tokens. The May 14, 2027 deadline is the hard cutoff for self-service claims.
Reported by Cointelegraph.
Sources: Cointelegraph, Crypto Briefing