Around a quarter of all Gemini Dollars (GUSD) was just burned. The stablecoin has had a rocky time since its inception.

Around 1,035,020 GUSD was just burned at Gemini. Given that it’s circulating supply is just 4.1M, that’s about a quarter of all GUSD in circulation entirely.

The burn was picked up by Whale Alert (@whale_alert) recently, which many were shocked to see. It is apparently the first time a large GUSD move of any kind has been picked up by Whale Alert.

Poor Performance

Many were quick to point out that that GUSD has been doing poorly since its introduction to the market. Intended as a stablecoin, Gemini Dollars has not been frequently used — despite the backing from the Winklevoss twins’ exchange.

GUSD was announced in September 2018 and prided itself on being one of the few stablecoins to gain complete regulatory clearance. The stablecoin was signed off by the New York Department of Financial Services. Since then, however, it has fallen into disuse and relative obscurity.

Having a trading volume of around $150M in January 2019, it has since plummeted to $3.8M at the time of writing. The number of GUSD circulating is also low compared to other stablecoins. USD Coin (USDC), for comparison, has a market capitalization of $467M at the time of writing — with a circulating supply of 464,165,424. Similarly to Gemini Dollars, USD Coin is a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Is GUSD a Failed Stablecoin?

The latest burn by GUSD may indicate serious problems with the stablecoin.

One transaction cashing out a quarter of the entire supply is worrying — but what should be more concerning for Gemini is its declining trading volume. Despite often being considered a top-tier exchange, the platform only boasts $8.6M in trading volume total — with 78 percent of this volume being on its BTC/USD pair.