USN Stablecoin Overview and Historical Background
USN was a stablecoin within the NEAR Protocol ecosystem, launched in April 2022 by the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) Decentral Bank. Its core objective was to maintain a 1:1 peg with the US dollar, aiming to provide a price-stable digital asset option for various transactions, savings, and DeFi activities on the NEAR platform.
Initially, USN adopted a partially algorithmic stablecoin model. However, after the collapse of the Terra/UST stablecoin project in May 2022, market trust in algorithmic stablecoins significantly declined. To address this challenge and enhance USN's stability, Decentral Bank quickly adjusted its mechanism, allowing USN to be minted only through USDT deposits, supported by a reserve fund containing assets like NEAR and USDT.
Project Termination and Current Value Status
Despite the mechanism adjustments, USN's price still dropped to nearly $0.98 in early July 2022, experiencing a de-peg. Subsequently, due to a significant drop in NEAR token prices and a "double-minting" issue in the v1 algorithm, USN faced an undercollateralization dilemma of approximately $40 million.
Facing continuous challenges, Decentral Bank officially announced the termination of the USN project on October 24, 2022, and permanently stopped new USN minting. To protect the interests of USN holders, the NEAR Foundation provided a $40 million grant, launching the "USN Protection Program." This program allowed USN holders to exchange their tokens for USDT, with the exchange window lasting 12 months from October 2022, and concluding in October 2023.
As of the time of writing, the USN project has been completely terminated, and its official exchange program has also ended. Although some data platforms may still display residual prices for USN, they are usually accompanied by "N/A" or extremely low 24-hour trading volumes and market caps, or explicitly state "price not updated or stopped updating," with circulating supply also showing as zero. This indicates that USN has lost its functionality and practical value as a stablecoin.
Is USN Worth Long-Term Investment?
Given that the USN project was terminated in October 2022, and its official protection program ended in October 2023, USN is no longer an active cryptocurrency project. It no longer has an issuer maintaining it, nor can it be exchanged through official channels.
Therefore, from an investment perspective, USN holds no long-term investment value. Any attempt to purchase or hold USN carries extremely high risks, as its liquidity is almost zero, and there are no future development prospects. Any price predictions for USN on the market, especially those predicting its future price to be $0, are consistent with the reality of project termination.
Important Note: Distinguishing Tokens with Similar Names
Please note that there are multiple projects with similar names in the cryptocurrency space. The USN discussed in this article specifically refers to the stablecoin within the NEAR Protocol ecosystem. There may be other tokens on the market named "Noon USN" or "USNS Token (United States Nuclear Supply)," which are completely different cryptocurrency projects from the USN described in this article.
