Zest, a lending protocol, has told users to pull their aeUSDC out of Stacks Market V1 by October 23. The deadline is hard: after that date, the market’s migration path won’t carry aeUSDC over to V2. The move comes as Allbridge prepares to shut down its aeUSDC bridge to Stacks on November 3.
The two dates frame a tight window for anyone still holding the asset. Withdrawals from V1 are available now, but the bridge that connects aeUSDC to the wider ecosystem is going offline in early November. Once that happens, moving aeUSDC onto Stacks won’t be possible through Allbridge.
The migration that leaves aeUSDC behind
Zest’s migration from Stacks Market V1 to V2 is a single-transaction process. That’s the good news. The catch is that aeUSDC is not included in it. Users who want to keep using aeUSDC on Zest won’t be able to do so through the automatic move to V2.
So the October 23 deadline isn’t about the migration failing. It’s about aeUSDC being excluded from it. Anyone who misses the cutoff will have to find another route, and after November 3, Allbridge’s bridge won’t be one of them.
What holders can do before the cutoff
Right now, the only reliable step is to exit aeUSDC from Stacks Market V1 before October 23. That means withdrawing the asset from the V1 market. The migration to V2 will handle other positions in one transaction, but aeUSDC holders need to act separately.
After withdrawing, users will need to decide where to take the asset. Allbridge’s bridge to Stacks stops on November 3, so any plan that depends on that bridge has a hard stop. There’s no announced replacement bridge in the facts provided.
For now, the clock is running on two separate deadlines: October 23 for the Zest exit, November 3 for the Allbridge shutdown. Both are fixed.
Why the dates matter for Stacks users
Stacks Market V1 and V2 are part of Zest’s lending operations. The migration is designed to move users to the newer market with minimal friction. But aeUSDC sits outside that design. The asset’s presence on Stacks has relied on Allbridge’s bridge, and that link is being severed.
Users who hold aeUSDC in V1 aren’t just facing a protocol upgrade. They’re facing the loss of the infrastructure that brought the asset to Stacks in the first place. The October 23 deadline gives them less than a month to get out. The November 3 bridge shutdown gives them a little more than a week after that to move funds elsewhere, if they haven’t already.
There’s no indication from Zest or Allbridge that either deadline will move. The facts are straightforward: exit V1 by October 23, and expect Allbridge’s aeUSDC bridge to Stacks to be gone after November 3.
What happens after November 3
Once Allbridge discontinues the aeUSDC bridge to Stacks, aeUSDC won’t be able to enter the Stacks ecosystem through that route. For Zest users, the practical effect is that aeUSDC becomes a dead end on V1 after October 23. The V2 migration won’t accept it, and the bridge won’t support it.
Anyone still holding aeUSDC in Stacks Market V1 after the October deadline will need to find another way out. Whether that involves swapping, selling, or using a different bridge isn’t specified. The only certain thing is that the current path closes on October 23, and the bridge closes on November 3.
Zest users should treat the October 23 date as the last call for aeUSDC on V1. After that, the migration to V2 proceeds without it.
