Past Crises
Major stablecoin events that shaped the market.
USDC crashes to $0.87 after Silicon Valley Bank collapse
Circle disclosed $3.3B of USDC reserves were stuck at SVB. Panic selling crashed USDC to $0.87. DAI followed to $0.89 due to USDC backing. Curve 3pool went heavily imbalanced. The peg restored after the Fed guaranteed all SVB deposits.
UST death spiral wipes out $40B — USDT briefly wobbles
Terra's algorithmic stablecoin UST lost its peg and spiraled to $0.01 over 3 days. Luna went from $80 to $0. USDT briefly hit $0.95 as contagion fears spread. The event triggered global regulatory scrutiny of all stablecoins.
FTX collapses — USDT briefly depegs to $0.97
FTX filed for bankruptcy after a bank run. SBF arrested. USDT dropped to $0.97 as traders panic-sold into USDC. Binance's BUSD saw massive inflows. Trust in centralized exchanges shattered.
COVID Black Thursday — DAI spikes above $1.10
Global markets crashed. ETH dropped 50% in hours, triggering massive MakerDAO liquidations. DAI spiked to $1.10+ due to liquidity crunch. MakerDAO was forced to add USDC as emergency collateral — a controversial decision that saved the protocol.
TUSD loses attestation partner — transparency concerns mount
TrueUSD's attestation provider stopped publishing reports. Questions about actual reserves emerged. TUSD traded at a slight discount for weeks. Market cap began declining from $3B toward under $500M.
Paxos ordered to stop minting BUSD — Binance stablecoin era ends
The SEC and NYDFS ordered Paxos to stop issuing new BUSD tokens. Binance's flagship stablecoin began its sunset. $16B market cap shrank to under $300M within a year as redemptions accelerated.