New blockchains and tokens are entering the market and are making waves. In the same way, this year has seen the rise of various altcoins and meme coins. Luna is another name on the list. Luna, a cryptocurrency created by Terraform Labs, is becoming one of the strongest performers in the crypto market. The performance is exceptional, with a gain of approximately 80% in the previous week alone. According to CoinMarketCap statistics, Luna has even surpassed Shiba Inu and Avalanche’s AVAX. Consequently, becoming the 11th largest cryptocurrency by market value. The increase comes amidst a legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission over selling unregistered securities. Terraform’s Mirror Protocol, which offers digital tokens that mirrored traded securities in the United States, prompted the SEC’s investigation.
What are Terra and Luna?
Terra has developed a next-generation blockchain payment network for the growing Asian e-commerce sector. It aims to increase payment service providers’ efficiency while also increasing customer value. Terra assisted in the formation of an e-commerce alliance with 15 initial partners. Accordingly, it represents a combined Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of $25 billion and a 45 million-strong client base.
Terra works on the Cosmos blockchain technology and aims to compete with existing retail payment apps. Terra manages to sidestep the whole existing fragmented payment infrastructure as a full end-to-end payment solution. Terra’s technology has the potential to save payment service providers millions of dollars each year under this arrangement. Terra distinguishes itself from competitors by offering lower transaction costs, ranging from 0.5 to 2%, compared to the industry standard of 2.5 to 3%. Anchor, Pylon, and Mirror Protocol are part of this ecosystem.
Terra’s partners use Terra stablecoins, UST to allow the usage of Terra’s network for retail payment services. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value ties to another cryptocurrency, fiat currency, or exchange-traded commodities. The exchange-traded commodity can be precious metals or industrial metals. Terra’s stablecoins provide smooth transactions and fiat currency stability.
Meanwhile, the Terra crypto network employs its native LUNA currency as a utility and governance coin. It runs the collateralising processes that back and safeguard the Terra network’s stable coin price stability. This means that the quantity of LUNA coins is elastic, fluctuating according to Terra’s collateralization demands. Furthermore, Terra’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus procedure for validator staking employs LUNA. Luna holders, according to the whitepaper, can present and vote on their governance ideas.
Luna’s Ascension
The fast rise of decentralised money contributes to Luna’s appeal. Terra has been stealing market share from Ethereum, the leading DeFi blockchain. It is among competitors such as Avalanche and Solana, because of its quicker transaction speeds and reduced gas costs.
The sudden increase is mainly due to a decrease in token supply. Also, there are a series of adjustments in how the payment network uses its coins. The anticipation of the possibilities for decentralised apps is also driving the coin into the top 10 cryptocurrencies. A network governance proposal was recently authorised to burn around 88 million Luna from the community pool and replace it with UST. UST currently has a market capitalization of $7.7 billion, up from $2.9 billion on November 10. To promote scarcity, cryptocurrency developers frequently burn coins.
The future of Terra and Luna
Terra is striving to establish itself as the world’s premier e-commerce stablecoin payment and DeFi service provider. Terra’s unique value offer is accelerating blockchain adoption in the Korean and Asian industries. Meanwhile, its primary applications have enormous worldwide potential. Terra encourages merchants and customers to utilise its services. It offers a unique discount model, fast settlement, and cheap costs for goods transactions. The Terra Station wallet, Terra Bridge, adopts a straightforward approach to application and blockchain development. The cross-chain value transfer capability provided by Cosmos’ interoperable IBC solution also contributes to a growing blockchain ecosystem.
Investors approved community funding for a revamp of the network’s “TrackTerra” tax and reporting app this week. According to a tweet from developer Terra, this would allow Luna users to export transactions to various tax software applications.
Luna and Terra may also enjoy the emergence of cross-chain bridges like Wormhole. The wormhole will allow Terra to transfer UST to other blockchain networks that support it. Also, Terra has begun various Metaverse game collaborations, such as Summoner’s War. According to DefiLlama, Terra ranks seventh in smart-contract chains by total value locked, with roughly $12.6 billion.
If Terra keeps innovating and focusing on untapped markets, the future is very shiny.
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