Orca Crypto
DeFi term

Depeg

When a stablecoin loses its intended price.

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Updated 2026-08-303 min readDefinition
Definition

When a stablecoin loses its intended price.

A depeg is a stablecoin trading meaningfully away from its target. Small deviations happen constantly and mean little. Large ones signal doubt about the backing or a liquidity crunch.

The dangerous cases are reflexive: fear causes selling, selling widens the gap, the widening gap causes more fear.

In practice

TerraUSD depegged in May 2022 and went to near zero within days, taking roughly 40 billion dollars of value with it.

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