TUSD under attack following Prime Trust insolvency

Prime Trust’s insolvency has led traders to short TUSD despite claims it had “no exposure”

article-image

HFA_Illustrations/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Traders are rushing to short stablecoin TrueUSD.

The mounting short interest comes after cryptocurrency custodian Prime Trust could no longer fulfill withdrawal requests — and after BitGo yanked its bid to purchase Prime Trust. 

US-based Prime Trust — known for fiat to digital asset on- and off-ramps — had before that been struggling for cash and had recently been ordered by a Nevada financial regulator to half operations under a cease-and-desist order.

TUSD representatives have said the stablecoin is unaffected by the situation, claiming it had “no exposure” to Prime Trust and maintained “multiple USD rails for minting and redemption.”

Protos reported earlier this week that TUSD had paused routine attestations of the stablecoin, and no shortage of traders have continued to place short bets against it since. 

On Aave, traders are paying up to 50% APY to short the asset, with one user placing a $4 million short on the stablecoin.

Loading Tweet..

The TUSD Curve Pool shows similar signs — with its currency reserves reaching 61%

A Twitter user who goes by etheraltog, noted that users attempting to redeem TUSD are getting it re-minted to their wallets.

Loading Tweet..

TUSD slightly depegged from the dollar but regained its $1 peg through midday Friday.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Marina Bay Sands Singapore

October 7, 2026

DAS Asia is a a single-day summit at Marina Bay Sands Singapore featuring conversations between the builders, investors, and global leaders are shaping the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in Asia & North America.

Hilton Park Lane, London

November 10-11, 2026

DAS London is a two-day summit at the Hilton Park Lane in London featuring conversations between the builders, allocators, and policy makers who are shaping the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the UK, Europe, and North America.

recent research

Onchain Gacha Cover Image.png

Research

Onchain gacha platforms sold $284.3 million of digital card packs in July 2026, and Collector Crypt accounted for more than half of that activity. However, it buys back 92.9% of what it sells, which leaves it with a third of the category's revenue on more than half of its volume, and a quarter of its activity arrives through partner apps whose users it does not own. Courtyard runs the opposite model, a consumer app selling smaller packs to thousands of retail buyers who resell the cards to each other, and it took 59.7% of category revenue while growing through a month the category spent contracting. This report compares the five largest platforms on gross activity, buyback intensity, revenue after buybacks, consumer composition, marketplace liquidity, and distribution ownership, and finds Courtyard the strongest performer as of July 2026, with the qualification that none of the five discloses inventory costs or resale proceeds, so no platform in the category can yet be shown to be profitable.

Newsletter

The Breakdown

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Blockworks Research

Unlock crypto's most powerful research platform.

Our research packs a punch and gives you actionable takeaways for each topic.

SubscribeGet in touch

Blockworks Inc.

133 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011

Blockworks Network

PodcastsNewslettersEventsRoundtablesAnalytics