On October 17, JUST, a leading DeFi infrastructure project in the TRON ecosystem, announced that it had completed the fifth large-scale buyback and burn of its native ecosystem token, JST, as scheduled. This round burned more than 170 million JST, approximately 1.72% of the total token supply, with an estimated value of nearly $23.53 million. As with the previous four rounds, all funds came from the actual net operating revenue of JustLend DAO, a core protocol in the JUST ecosystem.
Looking at the broader timeline, with the fifth burn now complete, JST has carried out buybacks and burns for five consecutive quarters since October 2025. Each round involved funding of more than $10 million, and every one was completed on schedule, with no delays.
In terms of cumulative results, five JST buybacks and burns have so far removed more than 1.881 billion JST from circulation, bringing the cumulative deflation rate to over 19%, with more than $100 million in actual buyback funds deployed. Based on JST’s market price high of $0.142 per token on October 10, the total market value of the tokens permanently burned exceeds $267 million.
Completing five consecutive buybacks and burns worth tens of millions of dollars each within a single year, with no interruptions or reductions in amount, directly demonstrates the JUST ecosystem’s strong and sustainable profitability. It also means that this long-term value-return mechanism for the community is continuing to deliver in a verifiable and traceable way.
With the fifth buyback and burn completed, JST has reached a milestone: the remaining 70% of the existing earnings earmarked from the JustLend DAO ecosystem at the launch of the buyback-and-burn mechanism has now been fully used for buybacks and burns. This marks the full conclusion of Phase One of JST’s buyback-and-burn program, with the mechanism now set to enter a new upgrade phase.
JST’s Fifth Buyback and Burn Successfully Completed: Over 170 Million Tokens Burned, with Funds Valued at More Than $23.53 Million
According to the official announcement on the completion of JST’s fifth token buyback and burn, the fifth round has been successfully completed. This regular buyback for the third quarter of 2026 burned 170,723,144 JST (approximately 170 million), equivalent to around 1.72% of the total token supply, with an estimated value of more than $23.53 million.
In terms of the amount burned and funding deployed, this round was broadly in line with the regular quarterly levels of the previous four rounds, continuing the JST buyback-and-burn program’s steady and predictable execution schedule.
As for the funding sources, all funds for this buyback and burn came from JustLend DAO’s operating net income and consisted of two parts: $10.34 million from the final tranche of JustLend DAO’s existing earnings, and $9.28 million in new net earnings from Q3.
In terms of quarterly earnings, JustLend DAO generated $9.28 million in new net income in Q3, broadly in line with previous quarters. Quarterly net earnings have remained steady at around the $10 million level, reflecting the continued strength of the ecosystem’s revenue fundamentals.
Meanwhile, the remaining 70% of the existing earnings allocated from JustLend DAO at the start of JST’s buyback-and-burn program was fully deployed in this round. This detail not only clearly shows the composition of the funds used this time, but also means that the planned use of the early accumulated earnings has officially concluded, paving the way for a comprehensive upgrade of the JST buyback-and-burn mechanism.
Operationally, this buyback and burn continued to follow the principles of openness and transparency, with all operations completed on-chain and the burn address made public. The amount burned, transaction hashes, and other details can be verified and traced at any time through the TRONSCAN blockchain explorer. All burned JST has been sent to a publicly verifiable burn address and permanently removed from circulation, with no possibility of returning to the market.
From a market and ecosystem perspective, this latest round saw more than $20 million deployed once again, permanently removing approximately 170 million JST from circulation. This directly reduces the supply of JST. The continued use of genuine ecosystem revenue to fund burns once again demonstrates the JUST ecosystem’s stable and sustainable profitability, backed by ongoing investment of real funds.
Even more significantly, the completion of the fifth burn marks the end of the first full annual execution cycle of the JST buyback-and-burn mechanism. A year ago, it was a newly launched ecosystem value-return initiative. One year and five rounds of market validation later, it has evolved into a regular program, carried out on schedule every quarter and delivering on its commitment through genuine ecosystem revenue. This reliable and predictable commitment is gradually becoming something the community looks forward to each quarter.
Five Consecutive Buyback-and-Burn Rounds Completed in One Year: More Than $100 Million in JustLend DAO Earnings Deployed, JST Up Over 300% Year to Date
From the launch of the mechanism in October 2025 to the completion of the fifth buyback-and-burn round on October 16, 2026, the JST buyback-and-burn mechanism has now completed a full year of operation. In that year, JST completed five consecutive large-scale buybacks and burns worth tens of millions of dollars each, all carried out on schedule each quarter without delay or interruption. Across all five rounds, approximately 1.881 billion JST has been burned, the cumulative deflation rate has exceeded 19%, and more than $100 million in actual buyback funds has been deployed, primarily from genuine operating revenue generated by JustLend DAO.
As each buyback has been carried out in an orderly manner, the circulating supply of JST has continued to shrink and the deflationary effect has accumulated. The JUST ecosystem’s long-term value-return mechanism for the community has also been thoroughly validated in practice. Meanwhile, JST’s price has moved in positive tandem with the buyback-and-burn mechanism: its cumulative annual increase has exceeded 300%, its circulating market capitalization has surpassed $1 billion, and it has entered the top 70 cryptocurrencies globally by market capitalization.
Details of JST’s five buyback-and-burn rounds:
• Round 1 (October 19, 2025): Approximately 559 million JST burned, equal to 5.66% of the total supply, with approximately $17.72 million in funding;
• Round 2 (January 14, 2026): Approximately 525 million JST burned, equal to 5.30% of the total supply, with approximately $21 million in funding;
• Round 3 (April 15, 2026): Approximately 271 million JST burned, equal to 2.74% of the total supply, with approximately $21.3 million in funding;
• Round 4 (July 17, 2026): Approximately 355 million JST burned in total, equal to 3.59% of the total supply, with $34.59 million in funding. In addition to the regular quarterly buyback, this was the first round to include dedicated funds from USDJ’s historical stability fees for the burn (approximately $10.39 million);
• Round 5 (October 16, 2026): Approximately 170 million JST burned, equal to around 1.72% of the total supply, with an estimated value of approximately $23.53 million.
In terms of execution, JST completed five buyback-and-burn rounds in one year, with each round generally worth around $20 million. More than $118 million in actual funds was deployed in total, and the cumulative amount burned approached one-fifth of the total supply. This frequency, intensity, and scale of execution are rare among token buyback programs in today’s DeFi industry.
The program’s distinctiveness becomes even clearer when viewed in the context of the wider industry. Data published by Allium Labs in August shows that sampled crypto projects spent approximately $638 million on token buybacks in 2026 to date. The sample included leading protocols such as Hyperliquid, pump.fun, Chainlink, Sky, and Jupiter.
Even compared with projects outside the sample, the scale of the JUST ecosystem’s buyback and burn stands out. As of October 16, JUST had deployed close to $100 million in actual funds for JST buybacks and burns in 2026 alone. Based on the recent market price high of $0.142 per token, the JST burned this year was worth more than $190 million. It is important to distinguish between the two figures: the former is the actual amount of funding deployed, while the latter is the value of the tokens calculated at market prices. By either measure, the scale is comparable to that of the industry’s leading protocols with the most aggressive buyback programs.
A full year of consistent execution has made the value of the JST buyback-and-burn mechanism far greater than the short-term benefit of any single burn. This is not an isolated market action. Instead, it builds a robust foundation for long-term value by progressing through a chain of “funding base—execution assurance—transparent trust—deflationary results—market feedback.”
At its foundation, the JST buyback-and-burn program draws on the JUST ecosystem’s real business activity and internally generated revenue, giving it a solid basis for value. Of the five buybacks and burns completed to date, all funding came from genuine operating earnings generated by JustLend DAO, except for the dedicated burn of USDJ’s historical stability fees added in the fourth round. The total funds deployed exceed $100 million and include both earnings accumulated by the platform in its early stages and operating profits generated in each subsequent quarter. This means the program was built from the outset on sustainable cash flow from real business activity, rather than relying on short-term capital maneuvering or promotional hype. This secures the mechanism’s self-sustaining and sustainable nature at its source, forming the foundation of the entire value system.
Execution assurance comes from the consistent delivery of resilient funding and a stable execution schedule in every round, together demonstrating the sustainability of the buyback-and-burn mechanism. In terms of funding resilience, the first buyback deployed $17.72 million, with subsequent rounds consistently staying around $20 million. The fourth round, which included the dedicated USDJ burn, reached $34.59 million, a record high. As for the schedule, all five rounds were completed on time, with no delays, interruptions, or significant reductions in scale. The mechanism has evolved from a “newly launched value-return initiative” into a “regular program validated through repeated execution.” Genuine earnings and stable investment reinforce one another, forming the underlying basis for the mechanism’s sustainability. For crypto projects, the credibility built through consistent delivery is far harder to establish—and replicate—than any one-off positive catalyst.
Transparency and trust are built through an execution process that can be verified at every stage. Every JST buyback follows the same three-step standard: “rules published in advance, execution completed on schedule, and results verifiable on-chain.” All tokens are ultimately sent to a publicly verifiable burn address, and transaction records are permanently recorded on-chain and cannot be altered. In contrast with the practices of some projects in the industry, such as announcing buybacks without carrying them out or loudly publicizing them in good markets and quietly suspending them in bad ones, JST’s fully transparent execution process provides a model for token value management in the DeFi industry.
As a result of the deflationary effect, the ongoing deflation of the token supply has increased the scarcity of JST. After five cumulative buybacks and burns over the course of a year, the total supply of JST has fallen from 9.9 billion to approximately 8.02 billion, with nearly 1.881 billion tokens permanently removed from circulation—close to 19% of the total supply. For holders, this means that even without acquiring more tokens, their share of the total supply passively increases. The logic is exactly the same as a publicly listed company using its net profits to buy back and cancel shares.
Ultimately, the simultaneous rise in JST’s price and market capitalization has validated the effectiveness of the buyback-and-burn mechanism through real market feedback. According to CoinGecko data, since the official buyback-and-burn mechanism launched in October 2025, JST has bucked the broader market’s downtrend, charting a course of its own during an overall market downturn. Its price steadily climbed from around $0.03 at launch to a high of $0.142 before this buyback and burn on October 10, marking an annual increase of over 300% and reaching its highest level since 2022. Its circulating market capitalization also grew from around $300 million at launch, surpassing $1 billion this month.
In summary, the complete cycle—driven by genuine ecosystem revenue, built on a stable quarterly execution schedule, made credible by an open and transparent on-chain burn mechanism, strengthened by the deflationary effects of a shrinking supply, and ultimately validated by market performance—has taken the JST buyback-and-burn mechanism beyond the old model of one-off positive catalysts. It has truly become a core pillar supporting JST’s long-term value.
JST Buyback-and-Burn Mechanism Set for a Comprehensive Upgrade, with More Diverse Funding Sources
With the completion of five consecutive buybacks and burns, the JST buyback mechanism has also reached an important milestone: Phase One has successfully concluded, and a new upgrade phase is about to begin.
Looking back to the early days of the program, funding for the JST buyback and burn was originally planned to come from two business lines: JustLend DAO and USDD. Under the established rules, USDD’s incremental revenue would be added to the buyback pool once its multi-chain ecosystem revenue reached $10 million. That threshold has not yet been met. As a result, Phase One was funded primarily by JustLend DAO’s previously accumulated earnings and new net earnings generated each quarter. Of the more than $59 million in existing earnings allocated at launch, the funds were deployed in stages under the plan to “burn 30% upfront and burn the remaining 70% in installments.” After five consecutive rounds, all of these existing earnings have now been burned. The initial target has been successfully achieved, and the mechanism has smoothly transitioned from launch to regular operation.
The JUST ecosystem had already outlined its plans for the next upgrade in the JST 2026 Q1 financial report published in April this year: once the plan to burn the existing earnings allocated for this phase had been fully implemented, the JST deflation mechanism would officially move into a new phase. At that point, JUST would systematically upgrade the existing mechanism, broaden the sources of buyback funding, and add revenue from businesses such as GasFree to provide more substantial and diversified support for JST buybacks.
More importantly, this upgrade path is not just a plan—it is already being put into action. The fourth buyback and burn was the first to include USDJ’s historical stability fees as a source of buyback funding. The JST Q2 financial report published in July also noted that JUST would continue to use ecosystem revenue for JST buybacks and burns, taking into account the performance of GasFree and other ecosystem businesses.
Together, these developments point to a clear trend: the new JST buyback-and-burn mechanism will further expand its funding sources, with more business lines, including GasFree, expected to join over time, making the overall funding structure more diversified.
Now that JST’s fifth buyback and burn has been successfully completed, the official announcement has made clear that the mechanism is about to undergo a comprehensive upgrade. For details of the upgrade, including funding sources, execution schedule, and ecosystem coordination, follow the official JUST X account, @JUST DAO, for the latest updates.
The completion of Phase One of JST’s buyback-and-burn program is not the end, but the starting point for the next phase. Over the past year, the mechanism has gone from a plan on paper to five completed rounds, following a path of continuous delivery and validation: from the orderly deployment of existing earnings from JustLend DAO to the cumulative burning of approximately 1.881 billion JST and a cumulative deflation rate exceeding 19%. Every step has helped pave the way for the mechanism’s long-term, stable operation. As the mechanism prepares to enter a new upgrade phase, JST’s long-term deflationary effects and ability to return value may also usher in a new cycle that is more sustainable and predictable.