JustLend DAO, the Tron-based lending protocol behind the $JST token, completed the fifth round of its buyback-and-burn program on October 16, permanently removing 170,723,144 $JST from circulation — tokens worth approximately $23.53 million at the time. The DAO confirmed the transfer to a designated burn address in an official announcement published on October 17, noting that the round closes the first phase of a program the community approved in October 2025.

The initiative functions as a deflationary mechanism, channeling the protocol's own operating income into repurchasing and destroying $JST. Rather than minting new tokens for incentives, JustLend DAO uses realized revenue to reduce outstanding supply, and each burn is executed on-chain rather than recorded through an off-chain ledger. Revenue-funded buyback-and-burn programs are an established tokenomics model across decentralized finance, offering protocols a way to shrink supply in step with the income they actually generate.

How the Fifth Burn Was Funded

The announcement named two funding sources for the round: $9,280,216 drawn from third-quarter net income and $10,340,249 allocated from historical revenue. Combined, the 170,723,144 $JST removed represented 1.72% of total supply and was valued at $23,531,749 at the time of the burn. The DAO also published the transaction hash for the transfer, allowing holders to verify the removal directly on a Tron blockchain explorer.

Cumulative Supply Reduction Reaches 19%

Across all five quarterly rounds, the DAO has now burned a cumulative 1,881,973,007 $JST, equal to 19.01% of the token's supply as of October 16. The governing proposal, approved by the community, directs all of JustLend DAO's net income — plus any USDD multichain ecosystem revenue above $10 million — toward repurchasing and burning $JST. USDD is the decentralized stablecoin of the Tron ecosystem. That structure ensures each burn is backed by realized income rather than a one-off allocation.

The vote that launched the program took place on October 21, 2025, meaning five rounds have now been completed on a quarterly schedule over roughly one year.

What Changes Next

With the fifth round complete, the initiative moves into a new phase. The DAO said updated mechanics and future arrangements will be announced shortly, with financial disclosures continuing on a regular basis. It has not yet published the size or frequency of the next round, leaving the exact deflationary path from here open.

Burned $JST is removed permanently and cannot re-enter circulation, since sent to a burn address are held in a wallet with no accessible private key. Because the buyback is funded from operating income, the scale of future burns will depend on how much revenue JustLend DAO generates each quarter — making the DAO's regular financial disclosures the key signal to watch as the program's next phase takes shape.

The schedule sits within broader activity across Tron's DeFi ecosystem, where JustLend operates as one of the network's core lending venues.

Source: BlockchainReporter