UPD and sUPD
The two tokens in the Universal Private Dollar ecosystem — how they work, how the peg is maintained, and how yield is generated.
Tech Preview
UPP is live on Sepolia with a test token at preview.upd.io. UPD and sUPD token contracts are under active development.
UPD — Universal Private Dollar
UPD is a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. Unlike USDC or USDT, there is no issuer with an admin key or blacklist. You mint UPD yourself by depositing collateral into a smart contract — no company stands in between.
| Property | UPD | USDC / USDT |
|---|---|---|
| Who holds your collateral | A smart contract | A bank |
| Who can freeze your balance | Nobody | The issuer |
| Who mints | You, directly | The issuer, after KYB |
| Reserves verifiable | On-chain, any time | Periodic third-party attestations |
How the Peg Works
The peg is maintained through overcollateralized stETH positions managed by Stabilizers — participants who mint UPD by locking stETH collateral above the minimum ratio.
If a Stabilizer's collateral ratio falls below the safety threshold, their position can be liquidated. This ensures every UPD in circulation is always backed by at least $1 of verifiable on-chain collateral.
For details on how Stabilizers work and how to become one, see Stabilizers.
What "Private" Means
UPD is a standard ERC-20. Plain transfers are publicly visible on-chain — just like any other token. "Private" refers to how UPD is issued: without a central counterparty, without custodied reserves, and without a gatekeeper who can freeze your balance.
For transaction-level privacy, shield UPD into the Universal Private Pool. See Using Private Transfers.
sUPD — Staked UPD
sUPD is a yield-bearing wrapper for UPD. When you stake UPD, you receive sUPD tokens that appreciate in value as stETH yield accumulates. Target yield is ~8–10% APY, sourced from Lido staking rewards on the underlying collateral.
| Action | What You Do | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| Stake | Deposit UPD → receive sUPD | Your sUPD share grows as yield accrues |
| Unstake | Return sUPD → receive UPD + yield | You get back more UPD than you deposited |
Why Hold sUPD?
- You keep dollar-denominated exposure (no price risk vs. UPD)
- Yield is paid in UPD, derived from stETH rewards
- sUPD is a standard ERC-4626 vault — compatible with any DeFi protocol that accepts yield-bearing tokens
Yield Source
The stETH collateral locked by Stabilizers earns Lido staking rewards (~4–5% APY base). A portion of this yield flows to sUPD holders, with the remainder retained as protocol-level buffer. The exact split is governed by protocol parameters.
Integrating UPD or sUPD programmatically?
The SDK reference for minting, burning, staking, and querying UPD/sUPD lives at permissionless-technologies.com/docs/upd — including contract ABIs, TypeScript client, and React hooks.