Ethereum’s deep liquidity lures USDD for its largest chain expansion yet

USDD is now live on Ethereum, marking a pivotal expansion beyond its Tron origins in a bid to achieve true multi-chain dominance and deeper integration within DeFi’s core infrastructure.

According to an announcement on September 8, the Justin Sun-backed decentralized stablecoin, USDD, has been natively deployed on the Ethereum mainnet. The expansion, which the USDD team said followed a full audit by security firm CertiK, includes the launch of a Peg Stability Module (PSM).

This module allows for direct, on-chain minting and swapping of USDD against established stablecoins like USDC and USDT, moving beyond simple cross-chain bridging to embed the asset directly into Ethereum’s liquidity layer. Per the statement, a subsequent airdrop campaign offering tiered yield is set to begin on September 9.

A foray into DeFi’s heartland

USDD’s expansion to Ethereum can be seen as a strategy to capture a share of the most valuable liquidity and user base in crypto. The announcement cites the network’s status as the “largest Layer 1 ecosystem,” home to the deepest concentration of developers, protocols, and capital in DeFi.

For USDD, which has seen its primary activity confined to the Tron network, this expansion is non-negotiable for its relevance. Native deployment, as opposed to a bridged version, is critical because it minimizes counterparty risks.

Justin Sun, the Tron founder and USDD backer, welcomed the development on social media, emphasizing that the expansion offers a truly decentralized choice for stablecoins while highlighting the protocol’s growing reach and multi-chain ambition.

A key component of this long-term strategy is the protocol’s planned launch of sUSDD. This is not merely a reward token but is designed as an interest-bearing version of USDD, functioning as a decentralized savings instrument. The vision for sUSDD is to create a native yield mechanism within the USDD ecosystem on Ethereum, allowing users to passively accrue interest on their holdings directly on-chain.

Airdrop campaign

To acquire Ethereum-native USDD and become eligible for the airdrop, users must deposit USDT or USDC directly into the official PSM contract. Simply holding the resulting USDD in a non-custodial Ethereum wallet qualifies them for rewards.

According to the announcement, the campaign leverages Merkl, a specialized platform for precision distribution, to manage a tiered reward system. Annual percentage yield will start at a peak of 12% for total locked values under $50 million and will adjust down to 6% as liquidity grows, a mechanism designed to fairly distribute rewards based on early adoption. The USDD team said these rewards accrue continuously and can be claimed directly from the Merkl dashboard as often as every eight hours.