Terra Goes Live With New Blockchain and LUNA Airdrop

The blockchain went dwell with an airdrop of latest LUNA tokens earlier this morning. 

Terra Makes an attempt Revival 

The brand new Terra blockchain is dwell. 

Terraform Labs took to Twitter at present to substantiate that Terra had began producing blocks on the newly-named “Phoenix-1” mainnet. It launched at 06:00 UTC, accompanied by a token airdrop for earlier LUNA and UST holders. 

1/ Block 1 of the model new Terra blockchain (with a chain_id of “Phoenix-1”) has formally been produced at 06:00 AM UTC on Might twenty eighth, 2022!

Congratulations to the #LUNAtic group on this expeditious feat of collaboration 🎉

— Terra 🌍 Powered by LUNA 🌕 (@terra_money) May 28, 2022

The brand new blockchain launch is an try to salvage what stays of the Terra group within the wake of the blockchain’s gorgeous collapse earlier this month. Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin UST initially depegged from the greenback on Might 8, sending its related token LUNA right into a demise spiral. Inside days, UST was buying and selling at just a few cents on the greenback, and LUNA fell to just about zero. The implosion erased about $40 billion of worth and wreaked havoc throughout the trade as fears of stablecoins escalated and different main property suffered a downturn. 

Terraform Labs’ outspoken co-founder and CEO Do Kwon proposed forking Terra on Might 16, claiming that “the Terra ecosystem and its group are price preserving.” He laid out a plan to revive the community with out together with an algorithmic stablecoin, suggesting a distribution of a brand new token that will purpose to make Terra traders entire. The plan was initially met with widespread hesitation from the group; nevertheless, its prospects improved dramatically after greater than a dozen main validators signaled their assist the following day.

Alongside the blockchain launch, an airdrop for a brand new LUNA token went dwell this morning. In line with the distribution plan, 70% of the brand new token allocation shall be airdropped to earlier LUNA, UST, and aUST holders (aUST represented UST tokens staked in Anchor Protocol, Terra’s flagship DeFi protocol that provided traders 20% yields on their stablecoins). Terraform Labs acquired no tokens from the drop. Eligible addresses might declare the airdrop by way of the Terra web site, and it was additionally supported on a number of main exchanges. In line with Bybit, LUNA is buying and selling at round $16 at press time. With the brand new Terra blockchain and LUNA token now dwell, the unique LUNA and UST have been renamed LUNA Traditional and UST Traditional, whereas the unique community is now known as Terra Traditional. 

The brand new blockchain launch is an audacious transfer for Kwon, who’s now dealing with mounting authorized issues. A number of traders are reportedly organizing to file costs towards Kwon for fraud, and he additionally faces doable felony publicity: in keeping with native stories, South Korean authorities are investigating Kwon for presumably operating a Ponzi scheme, and he was additionally allegedly handed a $78 million high-quality by South Korea’s Nationwide Tax Service for tax evasion. Kwon has been uncharacteristically cagey in his on-line communications since Terra’s collapse, however has claimed that Terraform Labs has no tax liabilities in South Korea.

Disclosure: On the time of writing, the writer of this piece owned LUNA, LUNC, ETH, and several other different cryptocurrencies.