Space Recap | Focusing on the Second Half of the DeFi Race: How Does JST’s Buyback and Burn Implement Long-Termism?
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Space Recap | Focusing on the Second Half of the DeFi Race: How Does JST’s Buyback and Burn Implement Long-Termism?
JST’s deflationary flywheel is driven by real protocol revenue, enabling it to chart an independent market trajectory amid adverse conditions.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsDeFi was once the central narrative of the crypto market, but as high APYs and liquidity-driven windfalls recede, the market is gradually returning to rationality. Today’s users no longer buy solely into stories—they’re beginning to ask more fundamental questions: Why should we continue using DeFi in today’s environment? What mechanisms can truly withstand industry cycles?
To address these questions, this episode’s Space hosted an in-depth discussion. Focusing on shifts in DeFi’s narrative frameworks and value anchors—and on TRON’s JST token buyback-and-burn mechanism—the guests systematically unpacked DeFi’s evolution from “APY-driven” to “real-yield-driven,” and explored what kinds of DeFi projects can survive bull and bear markets alike amid growing investor attention toward AI and RWA. Below is a highlights recap of this conversation.
When the tide recedes, the core opportunity in DeFi’s new cycle lies in deepening “real demand”
In today’s rapidly rotating crypto narratives, is DeFi still the main theme for the next cycle—or will its position be supplanted? On this question, multiple guests agreed that DeFi remains an indispensable pillar of the crypto market—but its narrative framework and value anchors have undergone a fundamental shift.
Peter from Crypto Circle began by deconstructing the current market structure. He argued that market value layers are becoming increasingly distinct: the AI sector carries immense imagination fueled by technological innovation; memecoins embody community sentiment; and RWAs carry policy expectations and narratives around incremental capital inflows. These three sectors hold natural advantages in attracting short-term traffic and speculative capital—because they’re “easier to tell stories about.”
Yet Peter sharply noted that attention concentration does not equate to value accumulation. Especially during market consolidation or correction phases, capital swiftly shifts from speculation to risk-aversion—seeking sectors backed by “verifiable data.” He emphasized that DeFi’s essence is financial infrastructure—not a trend-driven product reliant on narratives or anticipated catalysts. So long as on-chain assets and transaction demand persist, DeFi’s value will naturally amplify with market recovery—that’s its underlying cyclical resilience. Mr. Mis echoed this view, stating that without DeFi serving as the foundational liquidity pool and financial Lego set, emerging sectors simply couldn’t absorb massive capital inflows. Thus, even after emotional waves subside, capital flows will ultimately return to DeFi—the core hub.
While affirming DeFi’s “foundational” status, guests also highlighted its evolving role. Unlike its undisputed dominance during “DeFi Summer,” DeFi—having weathered multiple cycles—is now maturing into infrastructure as essential and unglamorous as electricity or water. HiSeven observed that for DeFi to genuinely lead value creation in the next phase, market evaluation criteria must change: previously, users prioritized high APYs and short-term liquidity incentives’ wealth effects. In the next cycle, real users, real protocol revenue, and long-term operational sustainability will become paramount.
HiSeven added three concrete dimensions for evaluating future projects: real protocol revenue and distribution capability; sustained user retention and repeat usage; and self-sustaining mechanisms that remain functional even in cold markets. He asserted that the core opportunity in DeFi’s next stage isn’t about telling ever-more-exotic stories—but rather scaling up, deepening, and solidifying those pre-existing yet underpriced real-world demands.
A new narrative for DeFi’s second half: How JST’s buyback-and-burn mechanism carved out independent price action
Summarizing all guest perspectives, DeFi’s next-stage trajectory is now clear: The era of extensive growth fueled by high leverage and inflated APYs is ending. A new phase is dawning—one driven by real demand, anchored to protocol revenue, and rebuilding trust through data transparency.
Against this backdrop, TRON’s DeFi ecosystem demonstrated a substantive leap—from “traffic thinking” to “value thinking”—through its hard-cash JST buyback-and-burn program.
JST is the governance token of JUST Protocol within the TRON ecosystem. Its buyback-and-burn mechanism is a community-proposed, institutionally embedded framework tightly coupled to protocol revenue. On October 21, 2025, the community formally approved a proposal mandating full allocation of JustLend DAO’s existing earnings, future net income, and any portion exceeding $10 million from USDD’s multi-chain ecosystem revenue toward JST buybacks and burns. At its core, this establishes a self-reinforcing loop: “more revenue → more buybacks → more burns → stronger deflation.”
Once the mechanism was established, execution became the true test. Over the six months since October 2025, JST has efficiently executed three large-scale buyback-and-burn rounds—each with accelerating pace and increasing capital commitment:
- Round One (late October 2025): ~$17.72M deployed, burning ~559 million JST—5.66% of total supply.
- Round Two (January 15, 2026): Significantly increased intensity—~$21M deployed, burning ~525 million JST—5.30% of total supply.
- Round Three (April 15, 2026): ~$21.3M deployed, burning ~271 million JST—2.74% of total supply.
In total across all three rounds, over $60 million has been deployed, permanently burning ~1.356 billion JST—13.7% of total token supply. At JST’s recent market price of ~$0.08, the destroyed tokens’ total value exceeds $100 million.
The most direct impact of this hard-cash, continuous buyback-and-burn program is visible in JST’s price trajectory. Prior to launch, JST traded near $0.032. By December 2025, it surged to ~$0.045—a roughly 40% gain over the period. By end-March 2026, its six-month cumulative gain approached 100%. It continued rising thereafter, peaking above $0.085—representing over a 160% increase from pre-mechanism levels. Remarkably, this occurred even as Bitcoin fell over 37% during the same period—JST charted independent price action.
The true significance of this mechanism lies in deeply anchoring token value to protocol fundamentals. As Web3 Caicaizi put it, all three JST burn rounds used only genuine protocol net income—zero external subsidies. This signals the emergence of a virtuous flywheel: “real demand → revenue generation → redistribution to token holders.” It also sets a long-term, verifiable value anchor for the entire sector.
Ultimately, DeFi is moving past its wild-west growth phase and returning to finance’s core principles. Whether through deepening real-world demand—or implementing deflationary mechanisms like JST’s, grounded in actual protocol revenue—market focus is shifting substantively toward “sustainability.” In future cycles, only those DeFi projects that reliably capture value, establish healthy yield-distribution mechanisms, and speak plainly through transparent data—not hype or inflated expectations—will possess the fundamentals for enduring growth.
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