JustLend DAO Major Deflation: 525 million JST tokens burned in the second round, worth over 21 million USD

January 15, 2026, the core decentralized lending protocol JustLend DAO in the TRON ecosystem completed its second JST buyback and burn, transferring a one-time total of 525 million JST to a black hole address. Based on the market price at that time, the destroyed value was approximately $21 million.

After this burn, the total JST burned by JustLend DAO reached 1.085 billion, accounting for over 10% of the total token supply, reaching 10.96%.

01 Event Highlights

This buyback and burn represent the second large-scale implementation of JustLend DAO's deflationary strategy. According to official disclosures, the $20.53 million used for the buyback came from the protocol’s net income of about $10.19 million generated in Q4 2025, along with approximately $10.34 million carried over from previous earnings.

This means that the funds driving this deflationary action are entirely derived from the protocol’s genuine income and profit accumulation, not external issuance, demonstrating its self-sustaining business model and commitment to value feedback.

This move directly removed over 525 million JST from circulation permanently. According to real-time data from the Gate platform, the JST price showed strong momentum over the past 24 hours following this news.

02 Immediate Market Response

Following the announcement of the second large-scale burn, JST’s market price responded immediately. According to the latest data from Gate on January 16, 2026, JST’s current price is $0.04156, up 3.74% in the past 24 hours.

At the same time, its 24-hour high reached $0.04209. Compared to the previous trading day’s (January 14) closing price of $0.040746, the market responded positively in the short term.

Currently, JST’s circulating supply is 9.9 billion tokens, with the 525 million tokens burned this time accounting for about 5.3% of the circulating supply, representing a significant deflationary operation.

03 Analysis of the Deflation Mechanism

The buyback and burn by JustLend DAO is not a one-time event but a systematic long-term deflationary mechanism. The core funding for this mechanism comes from two main sources: all net income generated by the JustLend DAO protocol, and a portion of profits from the USDD multi-chain ecosystem once revenue exceeds $10 million.

According to previously approved governance proposals, the plan is clear: the first burn used 30% of the existing revenue at that time, while the remaining 70% of income is scheduled to be gradually burned over four quarters before Q4 2026, with 17.5% burned each quarter.

Additionally, the protocol commits to ongoing quarterly buybacks and burns using newly generated net income, with regular transparent reports to the community. This design turns deflation into an inherent process embedded within the protocol’s growth engine.

04 Long-term Impact and Value Reassessment

Burning a total of 1.085 billion tokens (10.96% of the total supply) is just the beginning. As the JustLend DAO and USDD ecosystems continue to develop, it is expected that each quarter will see new income allocated for buybacks and burns of JST.

This creates a clear and sustainable deflationary model for JST. In theory, as long as the protocol remains profitable, JST’s circulating supply will continue to decrease. With demand remaining stable or increasing, its scarcity will strengthen over time.

This mechanism also directly enhances JST’s ability to capture value as a governance token. Token holders can benefit from ecosystem growth through protocol profit-based buybacks without active management, increasing JST’s appeal as a capital asset (rather than purely a functional token).

05 Future Outlook and Market Observation

From a broader market perspective, JustLend DAO’s transparent on-chain profit buyback and burn set a verifiable example for the value support of DeFi governance tokens.

It aims to answer a key question: besides governance voting rights, how can native DeFi protocol tokens benefit from the real value created by the protocol? Profit buybacks and burns are a proven approach validated by traditional financial markets and gradually rooted in the crypto world.

For investors and community members, future focus will be on the sustainability and growth of the protocol’s income, as this will directly determine whether the “fuel” for the deflationary mechanism is sufficient. Additionally, transparency in quarterly burn execution is an important aspect for evaluating the project’s long-term commitment.

Future Outlook

As of January 16, JST’s trading price on Gate is $0.04156, with a market cap of approximately $411 million. Compared to the all-time high of $0.1932 set in April 2021, the current price still has a significant gap.

However, price charts only reflect past market sentiment. JustLend DAO is actively creating a new fundamental narrative for JST through its quarterly, institutionalized buyback and burn program—a narrative that directly links the protocol’s success with token deflation.

The ultimate answer to this experiment will be revealed through future quarterly on-chain burn transactions and protocol income reports.