Decentralized Social Network's DeSo Token Rallies Amid Stablecoin Plans

Decentralized Social Network DeSo’s native token (DESO) railled Thursday as traders digested an expansion of the project’s content strategy and its plans to partially integrate Circle’s widespread USDC stablecoin.

DESO was trading around $17.82 at press time on a 25.6% daily jump, with strong spikes immediately preceding and following the platform’s stablecoin announcement at 1:04 p.m. ET Thursday, per CoinGecko. The token has a current market capitalization of $165 million, or one-tenth its peak total value last October.

The self-described decentralized alternative to social media’s giants says it will let developers create “social apps” that can’t be knocked offline. That ecosystem will presumably need payments rails – leading to the onboarding of a derivative of USDC, a top-three stablecoin.

DeSo's blockchain won't host a native form of USDC, as is the case for big name networks such as Ethereum and Solana. Instead, it will issue "DesoDollars" to users who bridge their Ethereum-based stablecoins into the ecosystem, said founder Nader Al-Naji. He said DeSo plans to give other chains' USDC the same treatment.

"It’s not our goal to be tied to a single chain," he said.

DeSo also this week expanded its content strategy to include long-form writing like blog posts, adding Wordpress and Medium to the list of internet media behemoths it seeks to disrupt.

UPDATE (Oct. 6 19:00 UTC): Adds details from Dylan Lee.