Cumulative destruction of 10.96%, price increase of 38%: JST takes a sustainable deflationary path with real protocol earnings

Facing the sustainability challenge of the DeFi value model, JST is providing a clear and powerful answer through a series of real buyback and burn actions.

Market data is the most intuitive proof: since the first buyback and burn was launched on October 21, 2025, JST's price has followed a steady upward curve, especially after the completion of the second large-scale burn on January 15, 2026, which further enhanced price momentum. As of January 22, 2026, the price of JST rose to a high of $0.0458, an accumulated increase of 38.2% since the mechanism was launched, with a seven-day cumulative increase of 13.55% and a 24-hour trading volume climbing to $43 million. This sustained and significant price performance is a direct response to the fundamental reshaping of JST's underlying value logic, as JST has transformed from a governance token into a scarce asset driven by the protocol's real revenue.

Supporting this value reshaping are two solid buyback and burn actions within the JUST ecosystem. The first buyback and burn involved 560 million JST, accounting for 5.66% of the total supply. The second buyback and burn involved 525 million JST, accounting for 5.3% of the total token supply. To date, the cumulative amount of JST burned has accounted for 10.96% of the initial supply, with the deflationary process clearly accelerating.

The core driving force behind all this comes from the precise "economic gears" constructed by JustLend DAO Proposal No. 37. This mechanism transforms the net income generated by the core protocols within the JUST ecosystem into a market force for the continuous buyback of JST, directly linking the token's value to the financial health of the ecosystem. This is akin to a publicly listed company systematically using its quarterly profits to buy back and retire its own shares, directly converting operational results into enhanced shareholder value. The steady rise of the JST price curve is a positive recognition from the market of this mechanism's design and the "value generation-feedback" positive cycle it represents. It indicates that a token economic model based on real income, transparent execution, and sustainability is accelerating its operation within the JST ecosystem.

JST Deflationary Milestone: From Proposal to the Practice of Sustainable Deflation

The fourth quarter of 2025 was a critical period for the fundamental transformation of JST's ecological value base. The core engine of this transformation was JustLend DAO Proposal No. 37, which was passed with a high vote on October 21. This proposal established a groundbreaking value feedback mechanism: the net income generated by the JustLend DAO protocol and the excess income from the USDD multi-chain ecosystem would be continuously used to buy back JST from the open market and permanently destroy it. This marked a shift in JST's value narrative from a utility token focused on governance functions to a new era of "value tokens" supported by real cash flow.

Subsequently, JustLend DAO launched the first round of buyback and burn procedures as planned, successfully permanently removing 559,890,753 JST from circulation , which is approximately 5.66% of the total supply. The remaining 70% of the stock revenue was deposited into JustLend DAO's SBM USDT market for interest accumulation. This "seed capital" and its future earnings are planned to be used for destruction in batches over the next four quarters, demonstrating the project's pursuit of a long-term, sustainable development path.

By January 15, 2026, the JUST ecosystem successfully completed the second large-scale buyback and burn, permanently removing 525 million JST (worth approximately $2,100) from circulation, accounting for 5.3% of the total supply. The funds for this burn came from two parts: one part was the net income of $10.19 million generated from the protocol's operations in the fourth quarter, and the other part was $10.34 million in carryover income.

Thus, within less than a quarter, the cumulative amount of JST burned has surpassed 10.96% of its total supply. This figure not only represents a milestone but also clearly outlines the trajectory of its deflationary process deepening, sending a clear signal to the market that its scarcity narrative has entered a stage of substantial realization.

On the price front, the market has responded positively to the reshaping of JST's value logic. Since the completion of the first burn, JST's price has entered a steady upward channel. According to CoinMarketCap data, a week after the burn was completed, its price rose by approximately 4.62%; a month later, the increase expanded to 13.04%. The price continued to climb and reached a peak of approximately $0.0458 on January 22, 2026, an increase of over 38.2% since the first burn. This not only reflects the market's deep recognition of its "buyback and burn" mechanism but also indicates that investors are reassessing the value of JST as it fundamentally transforms from a single governance function to a "scarce asset" supported by cash flow and certain deflationary expectations.

From establishing the economic model through governance proposals, to initiating the burn cycle using reserve funds, and then completing the second large-scale practice relying on protocol-generated income, JST achieved a complete value leap from theory to practice, from initiation to self-reinforcement in the fourth quarter of 2025, building a credible and solid execution foundation for its long-term scarcity narrative.

Performance-Driven: Real Revenue Builds the Value Foundation of JST

The two large-scale buyback and burn actions completed by JST in the fourth quarter of 2025 were fundamentally driven by the solid performance growth and strategic execution of the JustLend DAO protocol. The protocol not only has the ability to generate immediate income but also has established a robust financial system with self-sustaining capabilities and strategic reserves.

Specifically, the performance of JustLend DAO in the fourth quarter of 2025 can be summarized as "a solid foundation with breakthrough innovations," with its core contribution being the construction of a diverse and healthy income structure.

On one hand, JustLend DAO, as the core lending market of the ecosystem, has its total locked value firmly above $7 billion, consistently ranking among the top lending protocols globally, which provides a stable and predictable income base.

On the other hand, the protocol has successfully broadened the boundaries of value capture through product innovation. Among these, the design of the sTRX service is particularly ingenious, as it innovatively resolves the inherent contradiction between staking and asset liquidity. This service allows users to convert staked TRX into tradable sTRX tokens, enabling users to continuously receive TRX native staking rewards while using sTRX as a liquid asset to seamlessly participate in JustLend DAO's lending market or provide liquidity in various financial scenarios such as SUN.io.

This mechanism essentially revolutionizes user capital efficiency, activating "idle" equity assets into "productive" circulating capital. As of January 22, 2026, the amount of staked TRX has exceeded 9.3 billion, with an annualized staking yield stabilizing around 6.96%. This not only locks in a large core asset for the protocol and builds a deep moat but also brings in a continuously growing cash flow through related service fees.

Another key innovation, the "energy leasing" service, aims to lower the on-chain operation threshold for ordinary users and directly stimulate ecosystem activity through market strategies. In September 2025, this service underwent a critical strategic fee adjustment, significantly reducing the base service fee from 15% to a more competitive 8%. This "price-for-volume" strategy quickly ignited market demand, making more small to medium-sized, high-frequency on-chain interactions economically viable. The fee optimization directly led to a significant increase in transaction frequency and overall leasing scale, ultimately contributing considerable incremental revenue to the protocol based on a larger business volume.

These two innovations work together to form an enhanced loop: sTRX attracts and solidifies core assets, increasing the total value of the ecosystem, while energy leasing lowers interaction costs, stimulating ecosystem activity and trading volume. The two complement each other, not only opening new revenue channels but also fundamentally enhancing the overall vitality and attractiveness of the JustLend DAO ecosystem, injecting strong growth resilience into its financial base.

In summary, the contributions of JustLend DAO in the fourth quarter of 2025 go far beyond the growth of financial numbers; through solid operations, it has completed two crucial proofs: first, the protocol has the ability to continuously generate real and diverse income; second, this income can and has been directly and transparently transformed into the deflationary momentum of JST according to established rules. The first buyback and burn was the "start key" of the mechanism, while the second buyback and burn serves as proof of its "sustainability," providing the most fundamental performance basis for upgrading "buyback and burn" from a one-time event to a long-term expected value cycle.

Ecological Synergy: Broadening the Value Capture Boundaries of JST

The funding sources for the JST "buyback and burn" mechanism demonstrate its open design vision. In addition to the protocol revenue from JustLend DAO, the incremental income from the USDD multi-chain ecosystem constitutes another key and significant value channel. According to the mechanism design, when the USDD ecosystem income covers mining subsidies and the excess profit reaches a threshold of $10 million, it will trigger the buyback and burn of JST. This allows the JST buyback and burn mechanism to break through the limitations of a single protocol and become deeply tied to the growth and profitability of the core stablecoin ecosystem of TRON.

As the core decentralized stablecoin of the TRON ecosystem, USDD's multi-chain expansion strategy has achieved significant results. By successfully deploying on mainstream public chains such as Ethereum and BNB Chain, USDD has effectively broadened its application boundaries and user coverage. The total locked value (TVL) and total supply of the USDD protocol continue to rise; as of January 22, 2026, its TVL has surpassed $1.3 billion, achieving over 100% growth in less than two months, and the total supply has also surpassed $1.1 billion. This growth rate and market depth intuitively reflect the rapid acceptance and asset attractiveness of this stablecoin within the multi-chain ecosystem.

The rapid expansion momentum of USDD directly enhances the potential scale of its contribution to the JST buyback and burn plan. As the USDD ecosystem continues to thrive, this external value channel will provide a more considerable and predictable funding source for JST's deflation in subsequent quarters, further strengthening JST's value support.

The value closed-loop design within the JUST ecosystem constructs a multi-party interactive synergy loop. JustLend DAO, as the core engine generating protocol revenue, directly provides the foundational power for JST's buyback and burn, while the USDD multi-chain ecosystem serves as a key channel for external value input, with its expansion bringing in excess income that provides additional, growing fuel for JST's deflation. Meanwhile, the increasing scarcity and appreciation expectations of JST due to continuous burns will feedback and enhance the asset attractiveness and capital cohesion of the entire TRON DeFi ecosystem, bringing more users and assets to JustLend DAO and solidifying and expanding the application scenarios of USDD.

In this loop, JST plays a crucial role as a "value hub," efficiently coupling and transforming the two major growth dynamics of internal protocol operations and external ecosystem expansion, ensuring that the overall prosperity of the ecosystem can be continuously and verifiably transformed into JST's own certain deflation and long-term value accumulation.

It is particularly noteworthy that to ensure the credibility of the core value mechanism of "buyback and burn," JustLend DAO officially launched a dedicated "Transparency" section in the fourth quarter. This section serves as an authoritative information hub, publicly disclosing key on-chain data such as the specific amounts involved in each buyback and burn, the number of tokens destroyed, and the execution dates in real-time and structured formats. The institutionalization of transparency fundamentally eliminates trust issues that may arise from information asymmetry, providing a credible source for the community and external observers to assess the protocol's execution capability.

From a governance perspective, the quarterly destruction mechanism is quietly conducting a "power concentration" on JST. As the total circulation continues to irreversibly decrease, the governance weight represented by each JST that has not been destroyed will passively increase. This means that long-term holders not only enjoy the potential value gains brought by deflation, but their voting weight on key matters such as the future development direction of JustLend DAO will also be enhanced, deeply binding the most loyal community members to the long-term success of the protocol, forming an extremely solid interest alliance.

In summary, JST is completing a profound paradigm shift through the dual construction of "multi-protocol value input" and "endogenous deflationary scarcity." It has evolved from a functional governance tool into a composite asset with clear cash flow support, dynamically increasing scarcity over time, and deeply embedded in a vast ecosystem.

Its buyback and burn mechanism is not only a price support tool but also a sophisticated, transparent infrastructure capable of achieving cross-ecosystem value aggregation and redistribution. This mechanism lays out a clear and predictable long-term value track for JST, making each periodic burn event a reaffirmation and reinforcement of its underlying value logic, marking the entry of a sustainable and verifiable DeFi value generation model into a new stage of mature operation.