Stablecoin Depeg Timeline

All of the following happened, and for different reasons: some because the mechanism couldn't hold, some because reserve custody failed, and one that wasn't a depeg at all but an ordered wind-down.

• May 2022 · Depegged and never recovered

  UST: an algorithmic stablecoin depegged and never recovered, going to essentially zero along with its paired token within days. Before it happened, the Earn products built around it paid among the highest rates in the market.

• May 2022 · Depegged and recovered

  USDT: in the chain-reaction panic after the UST collapse, the secondary-market price sat briefly below a dollar before returning to peg.

• February 2023 · No depeg, product wound down

  BUSD: the New York Department of Financial Services directed the issuer to stop new issuance, redemption stayed open, and the product entered an orderly wind-down. Strictly this isn't a depeg; the price stayed on a dollar throughout, and holders' problem was having to convert it into something else before a deadline. It's on this timeline because it represents another real kind of ending.

• March 2023 · Depegged and recovered

  USDC: a bank holding part of the reserves was taken over, the market worried the money couldn't be retrieved, the price briefly fell to around 0.87 dollars, and it returned to peg within days once the deposit arrangements were settled.

• March 2023 · Depegged and recovered

  DAI: because its collateral included a high proportion of USDC, it drifted off peg alongside USDC and returned in step once USDC recovered.

Compiled from public reporting; the details are as set out by the issuers and regulators. Prices are approximate secondary-market levels at the time and differed between venues. This page's data is written into the page itself, connects to no API, and carries no live prices.

How to use this timeline, and how we chose the events

The criteria for inclusion

Only events with public reporting where the dates and parties line up, and only ones that affected ordinary holders. Small drifts off peg happen to stablecoins almost daily (a few basis points is routine), and those aren't included; including them would dull your sense of the real risk.

Why it's grouped by outcome

Because the price falling below a dollar tells you nothing about what comes next. From the same depeg, some returned to a dollar within days with no permanent loss to holders; others never came back. A third kind of ending isn't even a depeg: the price stayed on a dollar throughout, but the issuer was told to stop minting and you had to convert out before the window closed. You can't tell in advance which one you're in, so the preparation belongs in your position sizing, not in "what to do during a depeg".

What each of the three causes means

Mechanism design: anything holding its peg by algorithm rather than reserves accelerates its own collapse under extreme conditions. Reserves and custody: the reserves are real but where they're held ran into trouble; these usually have a path back. Regulator and issuer: not a price problem at all, but the coin possibly no longer being offered, so you have to convert out before a deadline.

Where the data comes from

Public reporting and announcements by issuers and regulators, with the compilation date at the top of the page. No API, no live prices, no forecasts. To verify any entry, go to the relevant party's official statement — what's listed here is the outline of each event, not a complete file.

What to do after reading it

One plain thing: don't hold only one stablecoin. The three causes show you can't avoid all risk by picking "the safest one". Diversifying doesn't raise your return, but it determines what share of you is affected when one of them has a problem.

The event-by-event write-up is in how each event unfolded; the differences between the three mainstream stablecoins are in USDT, USDC or FDUSD.