JUST Ecology breaks through against the trend: a total investment of 60 million USD to destroy 1.35 billion JST, the buyback and destruction mechanism is about to diversify and upgrade

Since the successful completion of the third round of large-scale buyback and destruction of its native token JST on April 15, the core DeFi infrastructure of the TRON ecosystem, JUST, has seen a continuous strong market performance, becoming one of the most watched assets in the recent cryptocurrency market.

According to data from the Binance trading platform, after JST's price reached a low of $0.057 on April 16, it began a steady upward trend, climbing to around $0.085 by April 23. Over the course of seven trading days, the cumulative increase was as high as approximately 49%, significantly outperforming most tokens in the cryptocurrency market during the same period. With this strong momentum against the trend, JST successfully stood out, attracting widespread attention and discussion from global investors.

The impressive performance of JST is not coincidental. In the current harsh environment of overall downward fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market and frequent security incidents in the DeFi lending sector, the JUST ecosystem has achieved a breakthrough against the trend through a series of positive developments, embodying long-termism with practical actions, and can be regarded as the best example of long-termism in the DeFi field.

In fact, the market resilience of JST has been evident for some time. As early as March this year, amidst the overall sluggish environment of the cryptocurrency market, JST experienced multiple significant single-day increases against the trend, demonstrating strong anti-drawdown characteristics, which had already attracted widespread market attention. Entering April, the JUST ecosystem continued to release positive signals: on April 15, JST completed the third round of large-scale buybacks as scheduled, with a single round investment exceeding $21 million, further strengthening market confidence; shortly after, on April 27, JUST officially released the "JST Q1 2026 Financial Report," clarifying the future funding expansion plan for JST buybacks and destruction, injecting stronger momentum for JST's long-term deflation.

According to the financial report, after the completion of the first phase of the 1.0 version of JST's existing funds, the new buyback and destruction rules will officially launch, entering a new 2.0 upgrade phase. At that time, the sources of buyback and destruction funds will achieve significant expansion based on the existing foundation. Specifically, in addition to the confirmed income from JustLend DAO's sTRX staking, SBM income, and over $10 million in net income generated by USDD, income from JustLend DAO's GasFree business, historical income from USDJ, and others will also be gradually included in the buyback and destruction funding system as planned.

This plan means that JUST will comprehensively upgrade JST's diversified buyback mechanism, further broadening the sources of funds for buybacks and destruction. This move not only effectively transforms the development achievements of the JUST ecosystem, allowing the profits generated by various business lines within the ecosystem to reasonably feed back to the JST token level, but also represents a firm return to global ecosystem builders—by continuously strengthening the value support for JST's deflation, it enhances the confidence and participation of builders, ultimately opening up broader space for JST's long-term value growth.

JST's buyback and destruction have shown significant results: a total of $60 million invested in three rounds has destroyed over 1.35 billion JST, with the deflation effect driving a substantial increase in token price.

Since the launch of the buyback and destruction plan in October 2025, JST has efficiently completed three rounds of large-scale buybacks in just six months, with a total destruction of 1.356 billion JST, accounting for approximately 13.70% of the total token supply, and the total investment has exceeded $60 million. Based on the recent market price of about $0.085, the total value of the JST tokens destroyed in the three rounds has surpassed $115 million, demonstrating that JST's buyback and destruction have delivered an impressive report on ecological development.

According to previous rules, the sources of funds for JST's buyback and destruction mainly rely on the two core pillar businesses of the JUST ecosystem: first, the existing income and new net income from the DeFi lending center JustLend DAO; second, the net income of over $10 million from the stablecoin USDD multi-chain ecosystem. Currently, USDD income has not yet reached the activation conditions, and all funds for the executed third round of JST buyback and destruction have come entirely from JustLend DAO.

From the details of each round of buyback and destruction, the investment scale has shown a steady upward trend, and all operations have been strictly executed on-chain by the decentralized governance organization Grants DAO. Users can conveniently check detailed data through channels such as the Transparency section on the JustLend DAO official website and the Grants DAO official site, as follows:

• First round of buyback and destruction (October 2025): Approximately 559 million JST were destroyed in this round, accounting for 5.66% of the total supply, with an investment of about $17.72 million, initially activating the deflation effect of JST.

• Second round of buyback and destruction (January 2026): Approximately 525 million JST were destroyed in this round, accounting for 5.30% of the total supply, with the investment increasing to about $21 million, far exceeding expectations.

• Third round of buyback and destruction (April 15, 2026): Approximately 271 million JST were destroyed in this round, accounting for 2.74% of the total supply, with an investment of about $21.3 million, and the investment scale is still slightly increasing.

Compared to some projects in the market that only invest tens of thousands of dollars in symbolic buybacks and destructions for marketing purposes, JST's buyback and destruction are deeply rooted in real business and profit models, highlighting three distinct advantages: first, the scale of funds is large—over $60 million invested cumulatively in three rounds, with each round reaching tens of millions, representing real "hard cash" investment, rejecting conceptual hype; second, the execution cycle is stable—strictly implemented on a quarterly basis without delays or interruptions, demonstrating a high level of execution and responsibility; third, the destruction scale is strong—each round destroys hundreds of millions of tokens, with a cumulative destruction of over 1.35 billion tokens, significantly reducing the token supply, truly pushing deflation from paper to reality. The continuously expanding destruction scale and strong capital reserves not only demonstrate the solid foundation of the JUST ecosystem but also strengthen the long-term value of JST.

From a value logic perspective, each round of buyback and destruction essentially represents a substantial reduction in the supply of JST tokens. As the rounds of destruction progress steadily, the total supply of JST tokens continues to shrink, the deflation effect deepens, and the scarcity of the tokens becomes increasingly prominent. This enhancement of scarcity will directly transmit to the market trading level, driving its price and overall market value to rise steadily.

The effectiveness of this value logic has been fully validated by JST's market performance. According to CoinGecko data, since the completion of the first round of buyback and destruction in October 2025, JST has risen from a low of about $0.03, and as of April 29, the price of JST was $0.084, with a market value of approximately $720 million, ranking 83rd among global cryptocurrencies, with a cumulative increase of over 170% in six months. The price and market value have achieved a qualitative leap compared to before the buyback and destruction plan was launched, validating the value of the deflation logic with tangible gains.

Notably, JST's rise does not rely on the overall market trend; rather, it has shown strong resilience and growth against the trend. In the first quarter of 2026, the global cryptocurrency market experienced a significant decline, with most token prices generally retreating, while JST broke through against the trend, accelerating from an initial low of $0.04 to reach $0.086 on April 12, marking a new high since 2022.

It is important to emphasize that the impressive performance of JST's price is not a fleeting moment of short-term capital speculation, but rather a rational recognition and firm endorsement of its deflationary value logic by the market. Through normalized, large-scale token destruction, effectively reducing supply and enhancing scarcity, this sustainable and verifiable value empowerment model has gained dual recognition from capital and the market, laying a solid foundation for JST's long-term value growth, allowing it to maintain an upward development momentum amid industry cycle fluctuations.

JST's buyback and destruction efforts are intensifying: the buyback mechanism is about to diversify and upgrade, with a comprehensive expansion of funding sources.

After successfully completing three rounds of large-scale buybacks and destruction, JST's buyback and destruction have entered a normalization process. In the future, JST's buyback and destruction will further intensify, fully upgrading from phase 1.0 to the new phase 2.0. Specifically, after the completion of the existing income execution in phase 1.0, it will fully upgrade to the new phase 2.0, at which point the JUST ecosystem will continue to deepen its buyback and destruction layout, diversifying the existing mechanism and broadening funding sources to inject stronger and more diverse funding power into JST buybacks, thereby building a more robust and sustainable deflationary growth flywheel, solidifying the foundation for deflation and enhancing JST's long-term holding value.

Looking back at the past buyback and destruction process, JustLend DAO has been the absolute main force behind JST's buyback and destruction. The over $60 million invested in the three rounds of buybacks has all come from JustLend DAO's existing income and new net income, providing solid support for the smooth advancement of buybacks and destruction.

As the core financial infrastructure of the TRON ecosystem, JustLend DAO has built a comprehensive DeFi product matrix covering SBM lending, sTRX liquid staking, Energy Rental, GasFree smart wallets, and more. With mature product mechanisms, a large user base, and a diverse and high-growth core business matrix, JustLend DAO has achieved sustained stable profits, not only solidifying its own development but also continuously supplying funding "ammunition" for JST buybacks and destruction.

Currently, the funding for JST's buyback and destruction mainly relies on JustLend DAO's two core business lines: SBM lending and sTRX liquid staking, with stable and strong funding supply. Specifically, according to the latest data from JustLend DAO's financial page on April 16, the platform's cumulative net income has exceeded $83.64 million, of which $80.75 million has been withdrawn, including $79.52 million contributed by sTRX and approximately $3.22 million contributed by SBM; of the withdrawn income, as much as $80.7 million has been used for JST buybacks and destruction, including $60.02 million that has already been actually destroyed, with a remaining $20.68 million in existing income to be gradually invested in the buyback and destruction work over the next two quarters.

Based on this calculation, in the next two quarters, JustLend DAO's existing income alone can provide a guaranteed buyback fund of $10.34 million per quarter; combined with JustLend DAO's new net income each quarter, the actual investment scale for future buybacks and destruction will only increase. This funding guarantee has also been further confirmed in the official financial report—according to the "JST Q1 2026 Financial Report" released on April 27, it is estimated that in the second quarter of 2026, approximately $21.3 million is expected to be invested in JST buybacks and destruction, with funds mainly coming from sTRX income, SBM income, existing income, and surplus reserves, with specific amounts flexibly executed based on actual operating conditions.

Meanwhile, the financial report also clearly disclosed the future strategic upgrade direction of the JST buyback and destruction mechanism: it will comprehensively promote the diversification iteration of the mechanism, achieving systematic expansion of the sources of buyback and destruction funds. According to the official plan, after the execution of the existing funds in phase 1.0 is completed, new rules will be officially implemented, entering the new phase of JST buyback and destruction 2.0:

• Phase 1 (1.0 existing execution phase): During this phase, JST will continue to follow the current rules to normalize the buyback and destruction work, steadily implementing the established deflation plan.

• Phase 2 (2.0 mechanism upgrade phase): After the execution of the existing funds in phase 1.0 is completed, the new buyback and destruction rules will officially launch, and JST buybacks and destruction will fully enter the new phase 2.0, with sources of buyback and destruction funds becoming more diverse and resilient.

In the new phase 2.0, the sources of funding for JST buybacks and destruction will further broaden and expand, establishing a multi-dimensional and multi-layered funding support system: in addition to the existing JustLend DAO sTRX staking income, SBM business income, and the portion of USDD ecosystem income exceeding $10 million, new channels will include income from JustLend DAO's GasFree business, historical income from the stablecoin USDJ, and others.

According to the latest official data, the total value of assets held by the JST treasury address still exceeds $100 million, including 159 million sTRX, 990 million jUSDT, and 300 million JST, of which 300 million JST is a one-time allocation of special funds from JUST DAO, intended to support subsequent community governance and long-term ecological activities, including 200 million JST for community governance proposals and 100 million JST for long-term ecological activities. The solid treasury reserves provide ample support for the continued advancement of ecological construction.

Overall, the completed JST buybacks and destruction are just the beginning of ecological value feedback and are still in the initial phase of exertion. As the new rules for diversified funding sources gradually take effect in the future, the JST buyback mechanism will upgrade from currently relying solely on JustLend DAO's sTRX and SBM business surpluses to integrating the operational results of multiple core business lines of JustLend DAO and various resource reserves of the JUST ecosystem into a comprehensive deflationary engine. This transformation will further strengthen JST's deflationary flywheel, laying a more solid foundation for its long-term value enhancement.

The development of the JUST ecosystem continues to feed back into JST, and the long-term value space is expected to continue to open up.

In the context of increasingly fierce competition in the cryptocurrency market and intensified cyclical fluctuations in the industry, the JUST ecosystem has consistently adhered to long-termism, grounded in real business, upholding the core concept of "real cash creates real deflation." Through sustainable value empowerment, it promotes the JST token's leap from a "single value anchor" to the "central value of the ecosystem," ensuring that the dividends of ecological development genuinely feed back to every JST holder, injecting strong momentum for long-term value growth and effectively rewarding the trust and support of global ecosystem builders.

Looking back at the value evolution of JST, its value positioning and anchor points have achieved a leap in quality. In the early stages of development, JST served merely as the native governance token of the JUST ecosystem, with core application scenarios limited to basic rights functions such as ecological proposal voting and community governance voting, resulting in a relatively single value dimension. Since the launch of the large-scale buyback and destruction mechanism, JST's value logic has undergone a fundamental reconstruction, deeply binding the token's value to the development of the JUST ecosystem, resonating in sync, allowing the real operational profits of the ecosystem to directly feed back and empower JST's intrinsic value, completely breaking free from the limitations of a purely governance token.

In terms of application scenarios and ecological coverage, with the continuous expansion and deepening of the JUST ecosystem, a three-dimensional DeFi ecological matrix has formed, centered around JustLend DAO, covering the SBM lending market, sTRX liquid staking, energy rental, GasFree smart services, while integrating various products such as the stablecoin USDD and the cross-chain ecosystem JustCrypto. Relying on a complete business ecosystem and a large user base, JST has also completed an identity upgrade, transforming from a single governance vehicle to a core value hub that spans multiple businesses and scenarios, bearing the value accumulation and circulation functions of the entire JUST ecosystem.

In the future, as the sources of funding for JST buybacks and destruction continue to expand and the mechanism diversifies and upgrades, the JST deflationary value support system will gradually extend from initially relying solely on JustLend DAO's sTRX staking and SBM lending to the collaborative empowerment of multiple core business lines within the JUST ecosystem, ultimately constructing a value system of "multi-point support and collaborative growth." This not only significantly enhances JST's ability to withstand market fluctuations but also further amplifies long-term growth space, laying a solid foundation for the steady rise of token value and the continuous operation of the deflationary flywheel.

This structural transformation has been highly recognized by industry professionals. Well-known KOL RichCoin pointed out that JST is entering a new stage, with the core change not being a simple appreciation, but a deep structural shift—from a token reliant on a single income to a value carrier driven by multiple ecosystems. This transformation is essentially a concentrated embodiment of ecological value: as the profits from various business segments of JUST continue to be released, JST will gradually become a direct value reflection of ecological growth, with every increase in ecological profits translating into solid support for JST's long-term value.

The rise in JST's value is supported by the solid business layout and strong revenue-generating capability of the JUST ecosystem. As a one-stop DeFi solution within the TRON ecosystem, the asset scale managed by the JUST ecosystem has long ranked first in the TRON ecosystem. According to the latest official data as of April 29, the JUST ecosystem's TVL is approximately $11.4 billion, accounting for 42% of the total locked value in the TRON network ($27 billion), solidifying its leading position in the ecosystem and providing a solid foundation for JST's value feedback.

Among them, the core businesses of JustLend DAO are all showing strong growth: according to DeFiLlama data, JustLend DAO's SBM lending market TVL is approximately $3.57 billion, consistently ranking among the top three in the global lending sector; the number of TRX staked by users in the Staked TRX liquid staking business has now exceeded 9.55 billion, valued at over $3 billion, with the staking amount continuing to grow rapidly; GasFree supports users in paying gas fees with transfer tokens, effectively solving the pain point of needing to hold native underlying tokens to transfer, reducing transaction costs to about 40% of traditional methods, with a cumulative transaction volume of up to $81.1 billion and 4.63 million transactions, saving users approximately $9.64 million.

As an important potential funding source for buybacks and destruction, the stablecoin USDD has also entered a fast growth track. In the first quarter of 2026, USDD income reached $6.3 million, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 66.6%, with cumulative income exceeding $13.9 million; according to the rules, USDD ecosystem income must first complete the subsidy repayment to the TRON DAO, and the profit portion exceeding $10 million will be included in the JST buyback and destruction reserves.

As the various businesses within the JUST ecosystem steadily advance and mature, JustLend DAO's SBM lending business and sTRX liquid staking business continue to be profitable, and the addition of new businesses such as GasFree, the value release of the USDD multi-chain ecosystem, and the historical revenue accumulation of USDJ will provide a larger scale and more stable real business funds to continuously inject into JST's buyback and destruction pool. This continuous "blood-generating" capability provides JST with sustainable deflationary momentum.

With the strong revenue-generating capability of the ecosystem and solid fundamentals continuously empowering it, JST's "ecological profits → token destruction → value feedback" deflationary flywheel will turn faster and faster: the growth of ecological business profits drives an increase in buyback and destruction funds, large-scale buybacks and destruction continuously reduce the supply of JST tokens and enhance token scarcity, thereby driving up JST prices and increasing value; the increase in JST value will attract more users to participate in ecological construction and hold JST tokens, further driving the expansion of ecological businesses and profit growth, forming a virtuous cycle.

Looking ahead, as the new mechanisms for diversified buybacks and destruction gradually take effect, the deflationary effect will continue to deepen. Supported by solid ecological fundamentals, strong self-revenue-generating capabilities, and a sustainable operating deflationary mechanism, JST is expected to break free from short-term fluctuations in the turbulent cryptocurrency market cycle, paving a solid and long-term upward path for value. Its long-term value growth space is expected to continue to open up, bringing richer long-term returns to global ecosystem builders and injecting new strong momentum into the high-quality development of the DeFi industry.