World Liberty's USD1 loses $400M in 2 weeks, still pins the dollar 📌

World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin shed more than $400 million in market capitalization over the past two weeks, driven by large redemptions on Ethereum and BNB Chain. On Monday, CoinGecko data showed USD1's market capitalization at about $4.02 billion, down from $4.43 billion on Oct. 6 — a decline of approximately $401 million, or 9.1%. World Liberty Financial's proof-of-reserves dashboard separately showed approximately $4.01 billion in reserves.

Blockchain research firm Onchain Benchmark traced the contraction to concentrated activity on two networks, finding that nearly $200 million in BNB Chain redemptions originated from a single unidentified address, though the researchers could not establish who controlled the funds or why they were redeemed. Despite the redemptions, USD1 maintained its dollar peg throughout the period examined by Onchain Benchmark, trading between $0.998 and $1.000. The researchers found no evidence of a sustained depegging event, indicating that the decline in circulating supply was not accompanied by a significant loss of the token's dollar value.

According to Onchain Benchmark, Ethereum accounted for $184.60 million in net USD1 redemptions across 63 token burns between Oct. 6 and Oct. 15. BNB Chain recorded $200.43 million across 12 burns. On Ethereum, more than 99% of tokens sent for redemption passed through a wallet labeled BitGo, USD1's current issuer and custodian, while the BNB Chain transfers from the unidentified address were made in batches of $30 million to $50 million. Transfers between Ethereum and BNB Chain totaled less than $1 million, according to the report, suggesting the missing supply wasn't simply shifted between those networks. The reductions were not offset by new issuance on Solana, where USD1 supply remained unchanged at about $1.42 billion during the nine days reviewed.

USD1's supply contraction on Ethereum was steeper than that of several other US dollar-denominated stablecoins over the same window. USD1 supply on the network fell 11.45%, compared with declines of 4.93% for USDe, 2.18% for USDC and 0.76% for circulating USDT.

"The next tests come with the change of issuer. When World Liberty's trust company opens, it will take on a token whose size depends on the decisions of a few large holders, under a charter whose legal footing is being argued in court," Onchain Benchmark said. "Whether fresh mints on Solana, or anywhere else, rebuild the total, or October marks the size USD1 carries into its new issuer, is the question the next weeks of supply data will answer."