how is this different from stablecoins? any comparative benefits?
A one dollar stablesats cashu token is a troken that is always redeemable for one dollar worth of bitcoin.
This is accomplished by matching two people with opposite projections on bitcoin. The dollar-token holder is shorting bitcoin, and the mint's channel partner is longing bitcoin.
When bitcoin goes up, you end up with less bitcoin but always a dollar's worth. When bitcoin goes down, you end up with more bitcoin but at least a dollar's worth. The stablesats channel partner is on the other end of this open-ended trade.
https://stablesats.com/#how-it-works
Here is a graphic showing how a token is created.
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Discussion
Its significantly different than stablecoins. There are no dollars being custodied. Its all bitcoin soup to nuts.