★ Sudden admin-rescue/ACL change without discussion
Usual (USD0 / bUSD0 / USUAL)'s assessment for RD-F-123 — scored yellow on the v1.7.0 rubric. The evidence below is the curator's reasoning for this score.
Evidence summary #
[★ CRITICAL FACTOR] On 2025-01-09, Usual Labs executed an on-chain admin update using the `FLOOR_PRICE_UPDATER_ROLE` permissioned role in the bUSD0/USD0++ contract, introducing an $0.87 floor price for unconditional early exits. This was done WITHOUT a prior DAO Snapshot vote or public governance forum discussion. The change was executed on-chain via admin role authority, with no timelock delay (no on-chain timelock exists per profile §6 and data cache governance.timelock_address: null). The team notified Gauntlet and Morpho Labs via Telegram on the day of implementation. The Usual blog published 'A new dawn for USD0++: Road to Parity' on 2025-01-23 acknowledged communication gaps and proposed a future veto-based governance model for subsequent changes. This is a governance-process bypass: unilateral admin execution at a $1.87B TVL stablecoin without prior DAO vote, using an on-chain permissioned role with no governance delay. The change was publicly disclosed post-hoc (not concealed).
Sources #
- URLA New Dawn for USD0++ — Usual Blog (2025-01-23)Usual Blog — 'A new dawn for USD0++: Road to Parity'; acknowledges communication gaps, proposes veto governance for future changesretrieved 2026-05-17
- Usual Labs USD0++ Depeg — Coinspeaker (2025-01-10)Coinspeaker — 'Usual Labs USD0++ Falls to $0.92 as Ecosystem Questions New Redemption Model'; describes unilateral implementation without DAO voteretrieved 2026-05-17
- Usual Money Protocol Update — The Block (2025-01-09)The Block — Usual Money protocol update sparks community concern; describes lack of prior announcement for floor price introductionretrieved 2026-05-17
- bUSD0 Tech Docs — FLOOR_PRICE_UPDATER_ROLEUsual tech docs — bUSD0 contract; FLOOR_PRICE_UPDATER_ROLE description: 'Only callable by the FLOOR_PRICE_UPDATER_ROLE'retrieved 2026-05-17
Methodology #
Determine whether any admin-rescue function or ACL change was committed to the repo or executed on-chain without corresponding public discussion in issues, PRs, or governance forum.
See the full factor methodology and distribution across all protocols →