Is Mountain Protocol Safe?
Risk Grade: C- (54/100)
Mountain Protocol is rated as elevated risk — multiple novel mechanisms and notable interaction risks.
D+ (historical rating): strong compliance masked critical single-entity and centralized-oracle dependency risks that ultimately materialized
Mountain Protocol issued USDM, a yield-bearing stablecoin backed 1:1 by short-term US Treasury bills, operating from September 2023 until August 2025 when it was acquired by Anchorage Digital and wound down. USDM was the first regulated permissionless yield-bearing stablecoin: holders automatically accrued T-Bill yield (~5% APY at peak) via daily rebasing without needing to stake or lock tokens. The protocol was regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (Class M license), required KYC only for primary users (minting/redemption), and held reserves in bankruptcy-remote segregated accounts with monthly third-party attestations. At its peak in early 2024, USDM reached ~$155M in circulating supply and was integrated into Curve, Morpho, and Balancer as yield-bearing collateral. Despite strong regulatory compliance and a clean security record (zero exploits, two OpenZeppelin audits), USDM's fundamental risk was complete dependence on Mountain Protocol as a single regulated entity — a risk that materialized when Anchorage Digital's acquisition triggered the orderly wind-down. The protocol is no longer active.
TVL
—
Mechanisms
5
Interactions
4
Value Grade
B
Key Risks for Mountain Protocol Users
Protocol is fully wound down — USDM is no longer operational as of August 2025; this rating reflects historical risk profile for research and backtest purposes
Single regulated entity dependency: Mountain Protocol's corporate existence WAS the stablecoin — acquisition or regulatory action directly terminated the protocol
Manual centralized oracle controlled all user balances via daily reward multiplier updates — a compromised ORACLE_ROLE key could have drained all holdings
Regulation S restriction meant U.S. persons could only access USDM via secondary markets with no primary redemption rights
Top Risk Factors
- •Protocol fully wound down (Aug 2025) following Anchorage Digital acquisition — USDM no longer operational, all holdings required to redeem via secondary markets
- •Single regulated entity dependency: Mountain Protocol IS the stablecoin — BMA license revocation or entity insolvency would collapse the peg with no on-chain fallback
- •Centralized manual oracle (ORACLE_ROLE) controlled daily reward multiplier — single address could manipulate all USDM balances globally if compromised
Risk Score Breakdown
Mountain Protocol's highest risk area is Interaction Severity (20/20). Here's how each dimension contributes to the overall 54/100 score:
Read the Full Mountain Protocol Risk Report
This protocol has 2 collapse scenarios. 2 critical and 2 high-severity interaction risks identified. See the full mechanism classification, interaction matrix, and deep-dive recommendations.
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