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Pharos

Stablecoin Cemetery

Failed or discontinued stablecoins, by cause of death and year.

Recorded deaths

114

2018–2026 · each with cause, date, obituary and source

114 interred · first recorded death 2018

Latest recorded death · USDKG · Oct 5, 2026

Skip the cemetery map
Stablecoin Cemetery plot map114 graves in five sections by cause of death, from Abandoned at the front to Regulatory under the sea wall. Year blocks run from the newest (2026) at the gate back to the oldest (2018) under the lighthouse. Stone shape is the cause of death; plinth steps count orders of magnitude of peak market cap; weathering is years since death. The Autopsy Register below lists every grave.

Each stone is one coin. Sections show why; rows show when; bigger monuments mean bigger recorded peaks. Select a cause sign to look closer.

Shape = cause of death

  • Abandoned
  • Counterparty Failure
  • Liquidity Drain
  • Algorithmic Failure
  • Regulatory

Stone shape is cause of death, not what holders recovered. Sections run from Abandoned at the front to Regulatory under the sea wall.Columns run from Abandoned on the left to Regulatory on the right.

Plinth steps = peak market cap

< $10M
$10M
$100M
$1B
$10B+
  • Peak not recorded = hatched face, outlined plinth, neutral height

Each step is ×10. At $10B and above the architecture carries the class: TerraUSD's snapped column is the tallest monument, Binance USD's sealed mausoleum the largest. Peak market cap is not what holders lost.

Year blocks, weathering and other marks

Position and marks

  • Year blocks = year of death, newest at the gate, oldest under the lighthousenewest at the top, each row's count under its year
  • Weathering = years since death
  • Fresh soil = died within 90 days of the latest recorded death
  • Bronze plaque = Pharos holds a frozen data page
  • Footstone glyph = peg other than USD

Cypress height is deaths that year. Hover a stone to read it; select it to pin its record. Keyboard: Tab into the map, then the arrow keys move from stone to stone; Enter pins, Esc closes.Tap a stone to open its record. Keyboard: the arrow keys move from stone to stone; Enter opens, Esc closes.

Key facts

12 months to Oct 2026
37
21 of these were coins Pharos tracked live (2 in the prior 12 months). Curated records: 16 vs 19.
Held by two coins
71.0%
BUSD and UST: $42.2B of $59.4B combined peak (104 of 114 recorded).
Median peak
$49.5M
Half of the recorded deaths peaked below this. 5 peaked at $1B or more.
Tracked before death
25
Monitored live, then frozen. Archived pages stay online. Show the 25 tracked-archive records in the register

Latest record added Oct 19, 2026 · Latest recorded death Oct 5, 2026 · Dataset schema 1.1 · checksum 16bcc87e

Causes of death

How stablecoins die

Each record carries one primary cause. Most deaths are small; most of the recorded peak market cap sits in a few large failures.

Abandonment is the most common cause

44 of 114 records (39%) ended with the issuer or protocol no longer maintaining the coin. Their median recorded peak market cap was $30.5M. Show these records in the register

Share of deaths · 114 records

Share of recorded peak market cap · $59.4B (104 of 114 recorded)

  • Abandoned

    44 records, 39% of deaths · 8% of recorded peak

    Definition

    The issuer or protocol stopped maintaining the coin: a sunset, migration, acquisition, or loss of demand.

    Median peak $30.5M · largest FEI $2.3B · 4 not recorded

    Show 44 in the register

  • Counterparty Failure

    26 records, 23% of deaths · 5% of recorded peak

    Definition

    A party the coin depended on failed: a custodian, bridge, issuer entity, fund manager, or key holder.

    Median peak $142.0M · largest USR $586.6M · 5 not recorded

    Show 26 in the register

  • Liquidity Drain

    21 records, 18% of deaths · 9% of recorded peak

    Definition

    Exits outpaced the liquid backing, and the price fell below peg and stayed there.

    Median peak $26.0M · largest MIM $3.6B

    Show 21 in the register

  • Algorithmic Failure

    18 records, 16% of deaths · 38% of recorded peak

    Definition

    The stabilizing mechanism broke: a reflexive mint, burn, or seigniorage design could not absorb selling.

    Median peak $91.1M · largest UST $18.8B · 1 not recorded

    Show 18 in the registerHow algorithmic designs fail

  • Regulatory

    5 records, 4% of deaths · 40% of recorded peak

    Definition

    A regulator or licensing regime ended issuance, whether or not the coin was solvent.

    Median peak $81.0M · largest BUSD $23.5B

    Show 5 in the register

Autopsy register

Every documented death

Search, filter, and sort all records. Open a row for the obituary, contracts, and source. Selecting a grave in the cemetery opens its row here.

Showing 25 of 114

114 documented stablecoin deaths, sorted by death date, newest first.
Autopsy
USDKGUSDKG
Regulatory
Oct 5, 2026$50.3M
cdxUSDCod3x USD
Abandoned
Aug 27, 2026$7.0M
XTUSDXTUSD
Liquidity Drain
Jul 18, 2026$171.8M
Abandoned
Jul 10, 2026$16.3M
Liquidity Drain
Jul 2026$3.6B
Abandoned
Jul 2026$815.5K
Abandoned
Jun 30, 2026not recorded
Counterparty Failure
Jun 20, 2026not recorded
Counterparty Failure
Jun 20, 2026not recorded
Abandoned
Jun 17, 2026$50.1M
sUSDsUSD
Algorithmic Failure
Jun 2026$328.8M
Abandoned
May 14, 2026$106.4M
GYENGYEN
Abandoned
May 2026$216.0M
USDHHubble USDH
Abandoned
May 2026$14.0M
EUROeEUROe
Abandoned
May 2026$3.4M
FUSDThe Fedz FUSD
Abandoned
May 2026$1.7M
Counterparty Failure
May 2026not recorded
Counterparty Failure
May 2026not recorded
Abandoned
Apr 2026$22.4M
BUCKBuck
Abandoned
Apr 2026$2.8M
Counterparty Failure
Apr 2026$2.7M
Counterparty Failure
Mar 2026$586.6M
EURAAngle EURA
Abandoned
Mar 2026$200.0M
USDAAngle USDA
Abandoned
Mar 2026not recorded
Counterparty Failure
Feb 2026$206.0M

GYD Gyroscope GYD · Counterparty Failure · Feb 2026

Gyro stopped spinning

Gyroscope's cross-chain GYD contract was exploited at the end of January 2026. The team told users not to interact with GYD, paused Gyro liquidity pools containing the token, and later offered a settlement to recover enough ETH to make users whole. The recovery never materialized publicly: Ethereum transfers stopped on January 31, Etherscan now reports 0 circulating GYD and $0 circulating market cap, CoinGecko no longer resolves the token through its API, and the remaining Balancer pools are one-sided GYD with zero volume.

Source: Gyroscope (opens in a new tab)

CNHT Tether CNH · Abandoned · Feb 2026

Low demand, long goodbye

Tether's offshore yuan experiment never became more than a footnote beside USD₮. On February 20, 2026, Tether stopped all new CNH₮ issuance and put the token on a one-year redemption clock, citing low interest, limited sustained demand, and the operational burden of keeping it alive. CNH₮ was supposed to give crypto a yuan rail; instead it spent most of its life as a thinly used side product. Holders can still redeem until February 20, 2027, but the decision itself was the death certificate.

Source: Tether (opens in a new tab)

MUST Mustang Finance · Counterparty Failure · Jan 2026

Wiped out alongside Saga Dollar in the IBC exploit

Mustang Finance was a stablecoin on the SagaEVM chainlet. On January 21, 2026, an attacker abused IBC mechanics to drain Saga Dollar (sister stablecoin); the same exploit wiped out Mustang and Colt. Mustang's residual ~$77M reported circulating is legacy debt with no live redemption path.

Source: CoinTelegraph (opens in a new tab)

PUSD Palm USD · Liquidity Drain · Jan 2026

$2.8B promised. $81K left

Palm USD promised to bridge Islamic finance and crypto with a Shariah-compliant, un-freezeable stablecoin backed by Gulf currencies. Despite announcing a $2.8B purchase agreement, actual circulating supply briefly touched $26M before collapsing to $81K. The billions sit perpetually 'unreleased.'

Source: The Block (opens in a new tab)

D Saga Dollar · Counterparty Failure · Jan 2026

IBC minted, IBC drained

Saga Dollar was the native stablecoin of the SagaEVM chainlet, a Cosmos SDK-based L1 app-chain. On January 21, 2026, an attacker deployed malicious contracts that abused IBC mechanisms to mint tokens out of thin air, draining nearly $7M in USDC, yUSD, ETH, and tBTC to Ethereum mainnet. The chain was halted at block 6,593,800. Saga Dollar depegged to $0.75, and the sibling stablecoins Mustang and Colt were also wiped out. The exploit did not involve a consensus breach, just a creative reading of IBC semantics.

Source: CoinTelegraph (opens in a new tab)

syUSD Synnax Stablecoin · Counterparty Failure · Jan 2026

Flash-loaned into irrelevance

Synnax launched as the first SEI-backed stablecoin on the Sei network, allowing users to mint syUSD against SEI collateral. On January 9, 2026, an attacker exploited the protocol via a flash loan, borrowing approximately 1.96 million WSEI (~$240K) from the Synnax contract without repayment. The protocol migrated to a new contract but never recovered; trading volume dropped to $15/day and supply continued bleeding from its $3.9M peak. DefiLlama marks it dead from January 15, 2026.

Source: TechFlow (BlockSec Alert) (opens in a new tab)

USDL Lift Dollar · Abandoned · Dec 2025

Yield-bearing prototype, sunset for USDG

Paxos International launched Lift Dollar in 2024 as a yield-bearing stablecoin regulated by ADGM (Abu Dhabi), distributing daily yield via rebase from T-bill reserves. It peaked at $128.7M on Ethereum before Paxos decided to consolidate around USDG and the Global Dollar Network. Minting ceased October 8, 2025; rebasing stopped December 8, 2025; remaining balances were auto-converted to USDG. A clean, regulated wind-down: no depeg, no drama, just strategic prioritization.

Source: Paxos Newsroom (opens in a new tab)

USPD US Permissionless Dollar · Counterparty Failure · Dec 2025

Proxy had one too many hands

Over-collateralized stETH-backed CDP exploited via a CPIMP (Clandestine Proxy In the Middle of Proxy) attack on December 4, 2025, allowing the attacker to mint ~98M fraudulent USPD tokens and drain ~237 stETH. Legitimate supply never exceeded $500K; V2 was announced but never launched.

Source: Cryptonomist (opens in a new tab)

DEUSD Elixir deUSD · Counterparty Failure · Nov 2025

97% gone overnight

Lost 97% of value overnight when counterparty Stream Finance disclosed a $93M loss, wiping out 65% of deUSD's collateral.

Source: BeInCrypto (opens in a new tab)

xUSD Stream Finance xUSD · Counterparty Failure · Nov 2025

$93M loss broke three coins

Yield-bearing stablecoin that collapsed when an external fund manager disclosed a $93M loss. xUSD plunged 77% from $1 to $0.26, freezing ~$160M in user deposits. The collapse exposed $285M in interconnected DeFi debt and caused cascading contagion that also toppled deUSD and Stables Labs USDX.

Source: Yahoo Finance (opens in a new tab)

YU YU · Counterparty Failure · Nov 2025

Survived once. Not twice

Yala's BTC-backed stablecoin survived its first death in September 2025 when a security breach minted 120 million unauthorized YU tokens, draining $7.6M. The team injected $5.5M and clawed back the peg. Two months later, runaway borrowing drained all liquidity pools and YU collapsed again to $0.44. This time, nobody came to resuscitate.

Source: Unchained (opens in a new tab)

USDX Stables Labs USDX · Counterparty Failure · Nov 2025

Founder drained the pool

Synthetic USD backed by delta-neutral positions across exchanges. A Balancer V2 security flaw drained $1M, then contagion from Stream Finance's $93M loss accelerated a full collapse. USDX crashed 64% to $0.35 as founder Flex Yang's wallet was linked to addresses draining liquidity. Now trades at $0.01 to $0.04 with Discord shut down.

Source: The Block (opens in a new tab)

LVLUSD Level USD · Abandoned · Oct 2025

Team acqui-hired away

The Level team was acqui-hired by another DeFi protocol and announced the sunsetting of lvlUSD. Users could unstake and redeem with cooldown periods reduced to 2 seconds.

Source: Level Docs (opens in a new tab)

csUSDL Coinshift csUSDL · Counterparty Failure · Oct 2025

Coinshift shifted away

A yield-bearing wrapper around Paxos's USDL via Morpho Blue, killed by Paxos's decision to wind down USDL. Coinshift stopped accepting new deposits and raised borrow rates to close positions.

Source: Morpho Forum (opens in a new tab)

PINTO Pinto · Algorithmic Failure · Oct 2025

Same algorithm, same end

Beanstalk's first fork tried to give the credit-based stablecoin model a clean shot on Base, free from the governance exploit that killed the original. Without collateral backing and with insufficient demand for protocol debt, the price slid relentlessly from $1 to $0.11, proving the flaw was in the design, not the implementation.

Source: CoinGecko (opens in a new tab)

USDM Mountain Protocol USDM · Abandoned · Aug 2025

Acquired into oblivion

Mountain Protocol USDM was a regulated, yield-bearing stablecoin backed by U.S. Treasuries, earning an S&P stability assessment and peaking at $154.6M across Ethereum and Optimism. Anchorage Digital acquired Mountain Protocol in May 2025 and immediately began a three-phase wind-down: minting ceased May 12, yield dropped to zero June 11, and primary market redemption closed August 22. Remaining USDM was deposited into a Uniswap USDC pool for secondary market exit. The team and tech were absorbed; the stablecoin was not.

Source: Mountain Protocol Docs (opens in a new tab)

USDJ JUST USDJ · Abandoned · Aug 2025

Replaced by decree

TRON's legacy decentralized stablecoin was deliberately sunset as the ecosystem shifted to USDD. CDP functions ended August 2025, and 95% of supply was redeemed at a fixed rate of 1 USDJ = 1.5532 TRX.

Source: Cryptonomist (opens in a new tab)

FLOAT Float Protocol · Abandoned · Jul 2025

The golden ratio experiment

Float Protocol launched in 2021 with an ambitious vision: a floating-rate stablecoin backed by ETH, with a target price initialized at $1.618 (the golden ratio). Supply expanded and contracted via Dutch auctions using ETH and the BANK governance token. The protocol peaked at ~$5M market cap but never gained meaningful adoption. By 2025, the anonymous team had vanished, the website went dark, GitHub fell dormant, and supply froze at ~$654K. The contracts remain on Ethereum, an immutable monument to the idea that stability doesn't require a peg.

Source: Onchain Atlas (opens in a new tab)

IST Inter Stable Token · Abandoned · Jun 26, 2025

Inter Protocol sunset by governance

In April 2025 a governance proposal to sunset Inter Protocol cited declining market appetite for decentralized stablecoins, rising operational complexity and costs, and a refocus on Agoric's Orchestration work and the BLD token. Agoric's on-chain signaling Proposal 93 passed on May 1, 2025, starting a planned 60-day wind-down: no new vault openings or IST minting, a liquidation fee set to zero so vault users could repay IST and reclaim collateral, and weekly liquidation-ratio increases to close any remaining vaults. The sunset process completed on June 26, 2025. Pharos keeps IST as a frozen archive because the former vault and PSM dollar stablecoin no longer operates as an active mintable protocol asset.

Source: Agoric community sunset proposal (opens in a new tab)

JPYC JPY Coin v1 · Regulatory · Jun 1, 2025

A prepaid yen rail yielded to Japan's new stablecoin regime

JPYC Inc. permanently ended new issuance and exchange support for its prepaid JPYC series on June 1, 2025 as Japan's revised Payment Services Act took effect. Existing balances remain usable for the issuer's prepaid-payment services and transfers, but cannot be redeemed for cash and no longer have a primary issuance path. The separately tracked funds-transfer-token JPYC is the successor product; Pharos freezes v1 as its historical legacy series.

Source: JPYC Prepaid issuance and exchange termination notice (opens in a new tab)

USDL Liquid Loans USDL · Liquidity Drain · Jun 2025

PulseChain sank

A Liquity V1 fork on PulseChain where users minted USDL against PLS collateral at 110% minimum ratio. As PulseChain's ecosystem collapsed with PLS price down over 90%, USDL supply followed, from $33M peak to $3.4M. The immutable contracts still technically work, but with PulseChain abandoned by mainstream DeFi, nobody is using them.

Source: DefiLlama (opens in a new tab)

DYAD DYAD v2 · Liquidity Drain · Jun 2025

Kerosene burned out

DYAD's novel Kerosene-token model for overcollateralized CDPs failed to sustain interest. Supply declined from $20M peak to near zero despite continued GitHub activity.

Source: DefiLlama (opens in a new tab)

MOD Move Dollar · Liquidity Drain · Jun 2025

USDC came to Aptos

Thala Labs' stablecoin on Aptos declined from $19M to near zero. Despite a $25.5M exploit in Nov 2024 (funds recovered), MOD simply failed to compete as USDT/USDC expanded on Aptos.

Source: CoinGecko (opens in a new tab)

ZUSD GMO ZUSD · Liquidity Drain · Jun 2025

Zero users, zero supply

GMO Trust's NYDFS-regulated stablecoin failed to gain market share despite expansions to Solana and Bitstamp listing. Supply dwindled to essentially zero while GMO's JPY stablecoin (GYEN) continues.

Source: GMO Trust (opens in a new tab)

GRAI Gravita GRAI · Liquidity Drain · Jun 2025

Free wasn't enough

Gravita Protocol's interest-free borrowing model against LSTs failed to maintain adoption as competitors offered better terms. Supply dropped from $15M to near zero.

Source: DefiLlama (opens in a new tab)

HYUSD High Yield USD · Liquidity Drain · Jun 2025

Higher yields beckoned

An RToken built on Reserve Protocol for yield-bearing exposure on Base. The Reserve platform thrives, but this individual RToken lost adoption as users moved to higher-yield alternatives.

Source: Reserve Forum (opens in a new tab)

L-BOLD Legacy BOLD · Abandoned · Feb 2025

Immutable. Unfixable

The first casualty of Liquity's own immutability principle. Legacy BOLD launched as the flagship of Liquity V2: overcollateralized, decentralized, and permanently unchangeable. A Stability Pool vulnerability surfaced weeks after launch. The contracts couldn't be patched, so the team redeployed everything from scratch.

Source: Liquity Blog (opens in a new tab)

USD+ USD+ · Abandoned · Jan 2025

Quietly wound down

Overnight Finance quietly wound down operations, leaving USD+ without active management or yield strategies.

Source: Overnight Docs (opens in a new tab)

USDV Verified USD · Abandoned · Dec 2024

Verified, then voided

The Verified USD Foundation ceased support on December 31, 2024 and began removing all tokens from circulation. Backed by tokenized T-bills via Matrixport's STBT, the omnichain stablecoin never gained sufficient traction.

Source: USDV Docs (opens in a new tab)

DAI+ Overnight DAI+ · Liquidity Drain · Dec 2024

Overnight went dark

Overnight Finance's yield-bearing DAI wrapper declined from $15M to near zero as the broader protocol wound down. CoinGecko reports circulating supply at zero.

Source: DefiLlama (opens in a new tab)

EURT Euro Tether · Regulatory · Nov 2024

MiCA made it untenable

Peacefully retired by Tether as MiCA regulations made EU stablecoin issuance untenable. Holders given one year to redeem.

Source: CoinTelegraph (opens in a new tab)

mkUSD Prisma mkUSD · Liquidity Drain · Nov 2024

Exploited. Never recovered

After an $11.6M exploit in March 2024, Prisma Finance never recovered. Governance approved PIP-46 to decommission the protocol, reducing the debt ceiling to zero and introducing a PSM for orderly wind-down.

Source: Wavey (opens in a new tab)

ULTRA PrismaLRT ULTRA · Liquidity Drain · Nov 2024

Fell with Prisma

Prisma's LRT-backed stablecoin was decommissioned alongside mkUSD after the March 2024 exploit. A stability pool bug discovered during wind-down allowed one user to drain ~14 ETH.

Source: Wavey (opens in a new tab)

BOB zkBob BOB · Abandoned · Oct 2024

Too private to notice

zkBob's privacy-focused stablecoin was deliberately sunset as the protocol switched to USDC, USDT, and ETH. The team noted BOB "did not receive enough consumer usage to justify ongoing support."

Source: zkBob Docs (opens in a new tab)

PAR Parallel · Abandoned · Sep 2024

Mimo went quiet

Born from the ashes of TenX, Mimo Protocol launched PAR as one of the first decentralized Euro stablecoins in early 2021, peaking at $25M during DeFi summer. But the euro-pegged CDP model never found product-market fit, and the team quietly pivoted to KUMA Protocol, tokenizing Swiss government bonds instead of minting synthetic euros. By late 2024, PAR's supply had cratered 90%, the governance forum went dark, and the MIMO token flatlined at $0.003 with zero daily volume.

Source: Parallel Forum (opens in a new tab)

UXD UXD Stablecoin · Abandoned · Aug 2024

Delta-neutral theory

UXD Protocol's delta-neutral stablecoin on Solana survived the Mango Markets exploit but couldn't attract users. The team admitted the model "isn't exciting enough for DeFi users" and the DAO voted to sunset.

Source: DL News (opens in a new tab)

sEUR Synthetix sEUR · Abandoned · Jul 2024

Deprecated for V3

Synthetix deprecated all non-USD spot synths on Ethereum mainnet as part of the V3 migration. sEUR holders who didn't swap in time could only redeem via the L1 redeemer contract at a discounted rate.

Source: Synthetix Blog (opens in a new tab)

AEUR Anchored Coins AEUR · Regulatory · Jul 2024

A solvent euro was retired by its license boundary

Anchored Coins stopped issuing new AEUR after MiCAR made an EU issuer license necessary for the Swiss company to continue a EUR stablecoin business. The issuer moved reserves to Swissquote and kept a high-minimum redemption route for existing holders, but announced an orderly withdrawal from stablecoins rather than a relaunch. With issuance permanently closed and the product in a regulatory wind-down, Pharos freezes AEUR as an archived legacy asset while preserving its historical market record.

Source: Anchored Coins AEUR wind-down notice (archived) (opens in a new tab)

UNO Nostra UNO · Abandoned · Jul 2024

Last place

Nostra's grand ambition to build Starknet's first native stablecoin launched with $472K of hope in April 2024. It proceeded to lose 96% of its supply in a slow, silent hemorrhage. Initially pitched as an overcollateralized crypto stablecoin, then quietly rebranded to fiat-backed (1:1 USDC), UNO found itself answering a question nobody on Starknet was asking: why hold a wrapper when you can just hold USDC? Nostra pivoted to its NSTR governance token and scrubbed UNO from the main site.

Source: DefiLlama (opens in a new tab)

eUSD Lybra eUSD · Abandoned · Jun 2024

Yield compressed to zero

Lybra Finance V2's LST-backed yield-bearing stablecoin peaked at $128M. After mining incentives ended in June 2024 and development stalled, supply collapsed. The protocol is technically live but abandoned by its team.

Source: Lybra Finance on X (archived) (opens in a new tab)

NOTE NOTE · Liquidity Drain · Jun 2024

Canto's ghost town

Native overcollateralized stablecoin of the Canto L1 blockchain. Canto launched with 'free public infrastructure' DeFi primitives in late 2022, briefly attracting $300M TVL. As the chain's ecosystem collapsed, NOTE's supply fell 97% from $49M to $1.3M. The chain itself is essentially abandoned.

Source: DefiLlama (opens in a new tab)

peUSD Lybra peUSD · Abandoned · Jun 2024

Omnichain to no-chain

Lybra's omnichain version of eUSD, designed for cross-chain use. Died alongside eUSD V2 when the team abandoned the protocol.

Source: Lybra Finance on X (archived) (opens in a new tab)

STAR Preon STAR · Abandoned · Jun 2024

Faded without a word

Preon Finance's stablecoin quietly died as the Sphere ecosystem faded. No shutdown announcement was made; supply simply declined from $32M to near zero.

Source: DefiLlama (opens in a new tab)

PUSD JPEG'd PUSd · Liquidity Drain · Jun 2024

NFT floor pulled out

JPEG'd's stablecoin minted against NFT collateral declined alongside the broader NFT market collapse. The protocol token stopped trading and the project was effectively abandoned.

Source: JPEG'd Snapshot (opens in a new tab)

USH Hedge USD · Liquidity Drain · Jun 2024

Couldn't hedge this

Despite $3.7M in seed funding from Pantera and Solana Ventures, Hedge Protocol's stablecoin on Solana failed to gain traction in a competitive DeFi landscape. Supply dwindled from $11M to near zero.

Source: DefiLlama (opens in a new tab)

CASH Stabl.fi Cash · Abandoned · Jun 2024

Empire of dead links

Stabl.fi's CASH was the native stablecoin of an ambitious Polygon DeFi empire spanning Satin Exchange, Retro DEX, and more. When Satin's launch imploded on day one, the ecosystem was rebranded around Retro, a Thena fork that briefly hit $18.8M TVL before bleeding out. The team's last blog post in February 2024 acknowledged 'adoption has been fairly low and TVL has bled,' then went silent. The website, docs, and dreams of a cross-chain yield-bearing indexcoin now all return connection refused.

Source: DefiLlama (opens in a new tab)

DYADv1 DYAD v1 · Abandoned · Jun 2024

Too immutable to evolve

The original DYAD stablecoin launched in December 2023 as an overcollateralized CDP with an immutable contract design. When the team needed to add flash-loan protection and the XP/Kerosene incentive mechanism, v1's immutability made upgrades impossible. In June 2024 they deployed an entirely new v2 contract set, a bold-style migration that left v1 holders to manually migrate their collateral. The 600K DYAD minted on v1 was never formally redeemed; the contracts simply went silent.

Source: Code4rena Audit (opens in a new tab)

BEAN Bean · Algorithmic Failure · May 2024

Second planting failed too

The original Beanstalk was drained of $182M in a flash-loan governance attack in April 2022. Undeterred, the team relaunched on Arbitrum with a credit-based model where soil demand and adjustable interest rates (Temperature) were supposed to keep BEAN at $1. It didn't. BEAN slipped below peg in mid-2024 and never came back, proving the design flaw was in the algorithm, not the security. Even Pinto, the community fork that tried the same model on Base, met the same fate.

Source: Pinto Blog (opens in a new tab)

DUSD Fluid DigitalDollar · Counterparty Failure · Apr 22, 2024

Bankruptcy closed Fluid's dollar rail

Fluid Finance SA was dissolved by bankruptcy and renamed in liquidation effective 2024-04-22. Its DUSD and issuer websites no longer resolve, so Pharos freezes DUSD as an archived legacy asset rather than an active issuance venue.

Source: Moneyhouse Fluid Finance liquidation record (opens in a new tab)

XAI XAI Silo Finance · Abandoned · Apr 22, 2024

Deprecated after its liquidity never scaled

SiloDAO deprecated XAI after the stablecoin failed to scale DEX liquidity and repeatedly traded below its peg. Governance raised borrowing rates to force repayment, burned XAI credit lines across 17 silos, and retired the mint module so no new XAI could be created. The token nevertheless retains 5,358,653.23 XAI of residual supply, verified on Ethereum at block 25,627,256, representing legacy borrows and stranded wind-down liquidity rather than a live stablecoin system.

Source: SiloDAO governance (opens in a new tab)

RAI Rai Reflex Index · Abandoned · Feb 2024

Too pure for this world

The idealist's stablecoin: RAI rejected the dollar peg, embraced 'ungovernance,' and floated freely on pure math and ETH collateral. The team achieved their goal of removing all human governance, then did what the protocol couldn't: moved on to build HAI on Optimism.

Source: Reflexer on X (opens in a new tab)

YUSD YUSD Stablecoin · Abandoned · Dec 2023

Yielded to reality

Yeti Finance's cross-margin lending protocol on Avalanche allowed borrowing YUSD at 0% interest against diverse collateral. After declining TVL and concentration among few users, the team announced dissolution in December 2023, raising interest rates to encourage position closure and returning 90% of treasury to YETI holders.

Source: Crypto Economy (opens in a new tab)

IBEUR Iron Bank EURO · Liquidity Drain · Dec 2023

Iron Bank froze solid

Liquidity pools drained after Iron Bank's lending markets froze, leaving no clear path to repeg. Still trades at a fraction of face value.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

R Raft R · Counterparty Failure · Nov 2023

Adrift

Allowed minting R stablecoin against wstETH and rETH collateral. A smart contract exploit drained $3.3M in ETH, though the hacker lost money due to a slippage error, netting only ~$1.6M. Raft halted minting, offered a 42% recovery plan, and was abandoned.

Source: Rekt News (opens in a new tab)

USDR Real USD · Liquidity Drain · Oct 2023

Real estate illiquid

Tangible's grand experiment in real estate-backed stablecoins ended exactly how skeptics predicted: with a classic bank run on illiquid assets. USDR promised 16% yields backed by UK rental properties, but when the $6M DAI cushion was drained in a single week, holders discovered that tokenized houses cannot be liquidated at 3 AM on a Wednesday. The team candidly admitted there were 'too many attack vectors in the design.'

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

VST Vesta Stable · Abandoned · Sep 2023

Cultural differences

Vesta Finance dissolved after founders proposed to exit citing "cultural differences." Community voted 96% for dissolution; VSTA holders received pro-rata treasury redemptions in USDC and ARB.

Source: Vesta Snapshot (opens in a new tab)

TOR TOR · Counterparty Failure · Jul 2023

Multichain took it down

Hector Network's stablecoin collapsed after the Multichain bridge exploit wiped out $8M of treasury assets. The DAO voted to liquidate the remaining $16M treasury, ending a project already plagued by allegations that the team squandered $100M+ in funds.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

USDC.m Multichain USDC · Counterparty Failure · Jul 2023

CEO arrested. Bridge burned

Bridge-wrapped USDC on Fantom became worthless overnight when the Multichain bridge collapsed after the CEO was arrested by Chinese authorities. ~$180M in 'USDC' was revealed to be backed by nothing as the team lost access to MPC servers. Circle froze $63M, and Fantom's entire DeFi ecosystem was devastated.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

PAI Parrot USD · Abandoned · Jul 2023

$85M in. A dime back

Parrot Protocol raised $85M during Solana's DeFi summer, backed by Alameda Research. Two years and one FTX collapse later, the team held a governance vote to liquidate the $74M treasury and go tokenless. The vote passed 99.8%, allegedly stuffed with insider wallets, and IDO investors got back a dime on the dollar.

Source: DL News (opens in a new tab)

aUSD Acala USD · Algorithmic Failure · Jul 2023

One exploit. 1.28B minted

Acala's aUSD lost its peg after a catastrophic exploit in August 2022 minted 1.28 billion unauthorized tokens. Converted to aSEED in July 2023, ceasing to function as a stablecoin.

Source: Acala Wiki (opens in a new tab)

FIAT FIAT I · Abandoned · Jul 2023

SEC killed the parent

FIAT DAO created a clever primitive: mint a dollar-pegged stablecoin against fixed-income assets like Notional fCash and Sense Principal Tokens. But the protocol barely reached $2M before its parent entity merged with BarnBridge, right before the SEC came knocking. When BarnBridge halted all operations in July 2023, FIAT was left orphaned with $7,600 of permanently stuck tokens and a domain that no longer resolves.

Source: Blockworks (opens in a new tab)

USDP USDP Stablecoin · Liquidity Drain · Jun 2023

Paxos stole the ticker

Unit Protocol's USDP accepted everything from Yearn vaults to SushiSwap LP tokens as collateral, a collateral buffet that attracted nearly $280M. But quantity of options couldn't substitute for quality of demand, and when Paxos swooped in with its own 'USDP' ticker, the identity crisis accelerated the decline. Supply withered to under $10K.

Source: DefiLlama (opens in a new tab)

USDK USDK · Counterparty Failure · Jun 2023

Prime Trust was neither

USDK did everything right on paper: regulated US trust company, ERC-20 standard, clean audits. But its custodian Prime Trust was secretly gambling client funds on algorithmic stablecoins. When Prime Trust collapsed into receivership (revealed to be $82M short on customer fiat), USDK's 'fully backed' promise became just another line in a bankruptcy filing.

Source: OKX (opens in a new tab)

USDI Interest Protocol · Abandoned · Jun 2023

Too niche to survive

GFX Labs' fractional reserve experiment promised to be Ethereum's answer to traditional banking: mint USDi by depositing USDC, earn rebasing yield from borrowers. Launched with Chainlink oracles and a $2.5M seed round, USDi briefly touched $8.4M before the bear market crushed demand for yet another USDC wrapper. The team quietly pivoted to DAO governance consulting and DEX development, leaving USDi to wither to under $20K.

Source: DefiLlama (opens in a new tab)

MUSD mStable USD · Abandoned · Apr 2023

mStable unstable

mStable dreamed of unifying the fragmented stablecoin landscape: one meta-stablecoin to swap them all, with built-in yield. It touched $171M, but frictionless stablecoin swaps couldn't compete with DEX aggregators and simple USDC. When the co-founder walked away in early 2023, the DAO chose an honorable death: acquisition by dHedge.

Source: mStable Blog (opens in a new tab)

RSV Reserve · Abandoned · Mar 2023

Reserved for history

Reserve's prototype stablecoin was deprecated when the protocol launched its RToken system. eUSD (Electronic Dollar) replaced RSV in the LATAM-focused Reserve app.

Source: Fortune Crypto (opens in a new tab)

BUSD Binance USD · Regulatory · Feb 2023

Killed by decree

Once the third-largest stablecoin at $23.5B. The NYDFS ordered issuer Paxos to stop minting, while the SEC signaled intent to sue. Binance ceased support in Dec 2023, auto-converting remaining balances to FDUSD.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

USP USP Stablecoin · Counterparty Failure · Feb 2023

Flash loan, lights out

Platypus Finance's stablecoin was backed by LP tokens from its stableswap pools. A flash loan exploit in February 2023 drained $8.5M, collapsing USP's peg. The protocol never recovered and ceased operations.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

USDs Sperax USD · Liquidity Drain · Feb 2023

9.7B minted from thin air

Sperax promised auto-yield just from holding its stablecoin on Arbitrum, no staking required. Then a rebasing bug let someone mint 9.7 billion tokens out of thin air. The funds came back, but user trust didn't. Backed by Alameda at peak hubris, USDs survived its exploit only to bleed out slowly.

Source: Crypto News (opens in a new tab)

HUSD HUSD · Counterparty Failure · Oct 2022

Trusted the wrong custodian

A fiat-backed stablecoin tied to the Huobi ecosystem. When Justin Sun acquired Huobi and replaced it with USDD, HUSD was delisted with no redemption path. Crashed to $0.28.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

USN USN · Algorithmic Failure · Oct 2022

Double-minted. $40M short

NEAR Protocol's native algorithmic stablecoin launched in April 2022. After UST's collapse, it was hastily converted to USDT-backed, but a double-minting bug left it $40M undercollateralized. The NEAR Foundation formally shut it down in October 2022 with a $40M 'USN Protection Programme.' Remaining ~$38M sits unredeemed.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

USDS SpiceUSD · Algorithmic Failure · Sep 2022

Lost its flavor

A partially algorithmic stablecoin on Avalanche from the Spice Trade DEX ecosystem. Launched in May 2022 into the post-UST wreckage, it never gained meaningful adoption. The peg broke almost immediately, sliding to $0.07, and the anonymous team abandoned the project. $18M in ghost supply sits unredeemable on Avalanche.

Source: CoinGecko (opens in a new tab)

FEI Fei USD · Abandoned · Aug 2022

Built different. Died the same

Raised $1.3B in ETH at launch, but Tribe DAO voted to wind down citing mounting technical, financial, and regulatory risks. An $80M hack of merged Rari/Fuse lending markets sealed its fate. Holders redeemed 1:1 for DAI.

Source: Axios (opens in a new tab)

VOLT VOLT Protocol · Counterparty Failure · Aug 2022

Inflation-proof wasn't

The first CPI-pegged stablecoin promised inflation protection via yields from Rari Fuse lending markets. When the $80M Fuse exploit wiped out those markets, VOLT lost its yield engine. The Tribe DAO dissolution four months later removed the last collateral backstop; the team pivoted to Ethereum Credit Guild.

Source: Volt Protocol Blog (opens in a new tab)

FLEXUSD flexUSD · Counterparty Failure · Jun 2022

CoinFLEX went rigid

CoinFLEX's interest-bearing stablecoin promised yields up to 114% APY from its futures lending market. When Roger Ver's account blew an $84M hole in the exchange, flexUSD holders discovered 'interest-bearing' also meant 'loss-bearing.' The exchange froze all redemptions, rebranded into OPNX with Three Arrows Capital's founders, and that venture also collapsed. 166M flexUSD tokens sit unredeemable at $0.08.

Source: TechStory (opens in a new tab)

USDX Kava USDX · Liquidity Drain · Jun 2022

Kava moved on

Kava's flagship stablecoin was the crown jewel of the first cross-chain DeFi hub: mint USDX by depositing BTC, XRP, BNB, or KAVA into CDPs on Cosmos. It peaked at $176M in April 2022, then UST's implosion exposed a fatal flaw: USDX had accepted UST as collateral. The peg cracked to $0.55 and never healed. Kava Labs quietly pivoted to AI infrastructure and 'DeCloud' ambitions, leaving USDX to bleed over three years to $11M, trading at $0.44.

Source: The Block (opens in a new tab)

FUSD Fantom USD · Algorithmic Failure · Jun 2022

Chained to a falling chain

Fantom's native overcollateralized stablecoin required 300-500% FTM collateral ratios, but collapsed alongside the broader DeFi crisis in 2022. Traders exploited the gap between its market price and collateral value, devastating protocols like Scream. The peg broke to $0.50-$0.70 and never recovered, sliding to under $0.10. With the Fantom network itself migrating to Sonic, fUSD became a zombie token, still in wallets but functionally dead.

Source: The Block (opens in a new tab)

UST TerraUSD · Algorithmic Failure · May 2022

Too big to fail. Too flawed to live

The largest stablecoin collapse in history. UST's algorithmic peg relied on minting/burning LUNA, but a coordinated sell-off triggered a death spiral that vaporized $40B in combined value within days. Anchor's unsustainable 20% yield had concentrated 70% of supply in a single venue.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

KRT TerraKRW · Algorithmic Failure · May 2022

Swept away with Terra

The most-used non-USD stablecoin in the Terra ecosystem, powering real Korean e-commerce payments via the CHAI app with millions of transactions. Destroyed alongside UST and LUNA in the May 2022 death spiral. All Terra stablecoins died simultaneously, but KRT was the only alternative peg with meaningful market cap.

Source: Terra Docs (opens in a new tab)

DEI DEI · Algorithmic Failure · May 2022

Collateral damage

An algorithmic stablecoin on Fantom hit by flash loan exploits totaling $16M, then finished off by contagion from UST's collapse. A further hack in May 2023 delivered the final blow.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

USDN Neutrino USD · Algorithmic Failure · Apr 2022

Waves crashed

Succumbed to an algorithmic death spiral after WAVES price manipulation destabilized collateral backing. Rebranded to XTN, now trading at $0.02.

Source: CoinTelegraph (opens in a new tab)

BEAN Beanstalk v1 · Algorithmic Failure · Apr 2022

Beanstalk got cut down

The original Beanstalk deployment grew to $100M and $144M in liquidity before a flash-loan governance attack drained $182M. The attacker flash-loaned $1B+ to gain 79% governance power and passed a malicious proposal in a single transaction. BEAN crashed from $1 to $0.09. The protocol was 'Replanted' with new contracts four months later.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

CASH Cashio Dollar · Algorithmic Failure · Mar 2022

Infinite mint, instant death

Missing validation code on Solana allowed an attacker to mint 2 billion CASH using a fake worthless token as collateral, draining $52M. CASH crashed from $1 to $0.00005 in minutes. The unaudited contract was a sitting duck. The hacker, Shakeeb Ahmed, was later caught and sentenced by the DOJ.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

VAI Vai · Liquidity Drain · Sep 2021

Venus couldn't save it

Venus Protocol's synthetic stablecoin on BSC was minted freely during DeFi summer 2021, too freely. A $77M bad-debt crisis cratered confidence, VAI shed its peg to $0.74, and minting was paused. Supply collapsed 99% from $300M+ to under $3M.

Source: CoinTelegraph (opens in a new tab)

IRON IRON · Algorithmic Failure · Jun 2021

Crypto's first bank run

Dubbed crypto's "first large-scale bank run." IRON was partially collateralized (75% USDC, 25% TITAN token). When whales dumped TITAN at its peak, a flawed redemption mechanism sent TITAN from $65 to zero in hours, dragging IRON down with it.

Source: CoinDesk (opens in a new tab)

ESD Empty Set Dollar · Algorithmic Failure · Jan 2021

The coupon experiment

Pioneered the "seigniorage shares" model in DeFi. When ESD traded below $1, users could buy coupons (burning ESD) in hopes of future redemption at a profit. The mechanism worked during expansion but collapsed when confidence evaporated: coupons expired worthless, and ESD fell to $0.01.

Source: The Daily Economy (opens in a new tab)

DSD Dynamic Set Dollar · Algorithmic Failure · Jan 2021

Forked ESD. Same fate

A fork of ESD with faster epoch cycles (2 hours vs 8 hours), designed to stabilize more quickly. Instead, the shorter cycles amplified volatility. DSD spiked to $3 during expansion then collapsed to $0.24 in the same month, proving that faster reflexivity cuts both ways.

Source: The Daily Economy (opens in a new tab)

BAC Basis Cash · Algorithmic Failure · Jan 2021

The theory was elegant

An anonymous fork of the Basis design, BAC lost its peg within weeks of launch. Later revealed to be co-founded by Do Kwon under a pseudonym -- who learned nothing before building the even more catastrophic TerraUSD.

Source: Protos (opens in a new tab)

USNBT NuBits · Algorithmic Failure · Mar 2018

The first to try

One of the first stablecoins ever created (2014), NuBits held its peg for two years before collapsing when holders dumped it to chase Bitcoin gains. A pioneering cautionary tale about algorithmic pegs backed by volatile assets. (Excluded from timeline view due to early date.)

Source: ECB Occasional Paper (opens in a new tab)

89 more records below the first 25.

Analysis

When, and how big

Counts include every record. Peak market cap is each coin's approximate peak, summed only where recorded; it measures size at the top, not holder losses.

Timeline

Documented deaths per year, by cause

  • Algorithmic failures belong to the early record
  • Counterparty failures are a larger share of recent deaths

Bars count records by death year. The row under the axis is the median peak market cap of that year's deaths.

Abandoned
Counterparty Failure
Liquidity Drain
Algorithmic Failure
Regulatory
Pharos tracked archive
Partial year *
1––51418232231

Median peak by year is in the data table on narrow screens. * 2026 runs through Oct 5, 2026. 21 of 31 records in 2026 come from Pharos's own tracked archive. No records exist for 2019 and 2020; that is a gap in the catalog, not evidence of no failures.

Data table
Documented deaths per year by cause, 2018 to 2026, with tracked-archive records and the median recorded peak market cap.
YearTotalAbandonedCounterparty FailureLiquidity DrainAlgorithmic FailureRegulatoryTracked archiveMedian peak
20181000100not recorded
20190000000no records
20200000000no records
20215001400$318.8M
202214131900$118.3M
202318754110$37.7M
2024231316122$32.1M
202522866112$34.6M
2026 (through Oct 5, 2026)31151131121$26.0M

Size

Peak market cap by cause

  • The largest coins did not all collapse

Each dot is one death with a recorded peak, on a log scale. The vertical tick marks each cause's median. Select a dot to open its row in the register.

One death
Cause median
Top five, labelled

10 records have no recorded peak and are not plotted. Size buckets: Under $10M 16 · $10M to $100M 48 · $100M to $1B 35 · $1B or more 5.

Data table
Recorded peak market cap by cause: records with and without a recorded peak, the median and the largest.
CauseRecorded peaksNot recordedMedian peakLargest
Abandoned404$30.5MFEI $2.3B
Counterparty Failure215$142.0MUSR $586.6M
Liquidity Drain210$26.0MMIM $3.6B
Algorithmic Failure171$91.1MUST $18.8B
Regulatory50$81.0MBUSD $23.5B

Methodology

What counts as dead

Two routes into the cemetery

  • Tracked, then frozen (25): coins Pharos monitored live and froze once they had effectively ended or failed. Their detail pages stay online with archived data.
  • Curated (89): failed or discontinued stablecoins documented from public sources.

Phases are defined in Stablecoin Lifecycle Phases.

Not in the cemetery

  • Active depegs, which stay on the depeg tracker until they recover or are frozen.
  • Quarantined records, withheld after a reviewed lack of supply or market-cap coverage.
  • Delisted records, which fell outside listing scope. They keep a read-only profile with a dated reason.

Inclusion and primary cause

Inclusion
A stablecoin is included when it had a public market and public sources show it failed or was discontinued: an announcement, filing, governance record or press report, or, for a coin that faded without one, market data showing its collapse. There is no size floor; peak market cap is recorded when known.
Primary cause
Each record carries one primary cause: the root reason the coin failed or its issuance and operation ended, whether or not it lost its peg. Triggers such as runs, exploits or orders are described in the obituary.

Fields and limits

  • One primary cause per record.
  • Death dates are precise to the day for 13 records and to the month for 101.
  • Peak market cap is approximate, optional and not a loss figure: 10 of 114 not recorded, never counted as zero. BUSD holders were converted, and FEI and EURT had redemption routes.
  • Each record links one public source. Most document the failure or discontinuation directly; a coin that faded without an announcement links the best public context Pharos found.
  • The catalog is not exhaustive: nothing is recorded for 2019–2020. 21 of the 31 records in 2026 so far are coins Pharos tracked live.
  • 1 of 114 records has no mechanism link yet.

Dataset

Download and cite

Each coin ended. Its record stays.

114 records · schema 1.1 · MIT license · latest record added Oct 19, 2026 · checksum 16bcc87e

New records are appended to the daily Telegram digest. The RSS feed carries the 50 most recent deaths.

How to cite

Pharos, "Stablecoin Cemetery Dataset," schema 1.1, 114 records, latest record added Oct 19, 2026. https://pharos.watch/datasets/stablecoin-cemetery.json (MIT).

Frequently asked questions

How many stablecoins have failed or been discontinued?

Pharos documents 114 stablecoins that failed or were discontinued between 2018 and 2026: 89 curated records and 25 coins Pharos tracked live before they ended. The latest recorded death is Oct 5, 2026. The catalog is not exhaustive.

What was the largest collapse?

TerraUSD (UST) is the largest recorded collapse by peak market cap: it peaked at $18.8B and failed in May 2022. Its recorded primary cause is algorithmic failure. Regulatory and abandoned exits count as discontinued, not collapsed.

What was the largest discontinued stablecoin?

Binance USD (BUSD) is the largest discontinued stablecoin by peak market cap: it peaked at $23.5B and was ended by a regulator or licensing regime in Feb 2023. Peak market cap measures its size, not what holders lost.

Is peak market cap what holders lost?

No. Peak market cap is each coin's approximate size at its peak. Some records ended with redemption or conversion routes for holders; others ended far below peg. Pharos does not publish a loss figure, and records peak market cap for 104 of 114 records.

Are stablecoin deaths becoming more common?

Not demonstrably. Pharos recorded 37 deaths in the 12 months to Oct 2026, against 21 in the 12 months before. Curated records were flat at 16 against 19; the rest of the change comes from Pharos's own tracked archive (21 against 2).

Are algorithmic stablecoins more likely to fail?

The cemetery records deaths, not launches, so it cannot measure a failure rate. Among recorded deaths, algorithmic failures were 14 of 20 records through 2022 and 4 of 94 since.

How does a stablecoin enter the cemetery?

A stablecoin is included when it had a public market and public sources show it failed or was discontinued: an announcement, filing, governance record or press report, or, for a coin that faded without one, market data showing its collapse. There is no size floor; peak market cap is recorded when known. Records arrive two ways: 25 coins Pharos tracked live and froze after they ended, and 89 curated records documented from public sources.

Can I cite this data?

Yes. The JSON and CSV exports of all 114 records are published under the MIT license. Cite the dataset URL with the record count and the date you used; each record also has a permanent link on this page.