Three Years After $2.3B TVL Peak, RWA Protocol StUSDT Winds Down
Real-world asset protocol stUSDT has begun winding down operations nearly three years after its total value locked (TVL) peaked at $2.3 billion. The shutdown ends rewards and opens a six-month redemption window for tokenholders. According to Cointelegraph, the team said interest accrual on stUSDT ended on Saturday, and holders of stUSDT and its wrapped version, wstUSDT, can redeem through the protocol’s official portal until May 14, 2027. Requests submitted after that deadline will be handled by customer support in monthly batches through August 2027. The team did not state a reason for the shutdown, but said the underlying assets remain fully backed. Holders whose tokens are on exchanges or DeFi platforms must first transfer them to personal wallets to redeem. Cointelegraph contacted stUSDT for more information but received no response before publication. JustLend DAO said it would phase out supply and borrowing functions for its wstUSDT market as part of the transition.stUSDT launched on Tron in July 2023, allowing users to deposit USDT and earn yields from investments in real-world assets, including short-term government bonds. The protocol later expanded to Ethereum. DefiLlama data shows stUSDT’s TVL reached about $2.3 billion in November 2023 before falling substantially in subsequent years. On Sunday, TVL stood at about $8.6 million, down from roughly $60 million a year earlier. Despite its name, stUSDT is not affiliated with stablecoin issuer Tether. Tether denied any affiliation with the protocol in September 2023, describing it as an independent project. The winding-down process includes the end of rewards, the redemption deadline for holders, and the later customer-support process for requests submitted after the deadline. Users holding tokens through exchanges or decentralized finance platforms need to move them to personal wallets before they can use the redemption portal.