A new version of the Luna (LUNA) cryptocurrency is trading on major exchanges worldwide and the price is once again crashing.
Last week, supporters of the Terra blockchain voted to revive Luna after its price crashed to zero earlier in May. However, advocates voted to not revive TerraUSD (UST), a so-called “stablecoin” that plunged below its intended peg to the U.S. dollar, causing panic in the global cryptocurrency market.
TerraUSD is known as an algorithmic stablecoin. It relied on code and a sister token, Luna, to maintain a $1 U.S. value. But as digital currency prices fell, investors fled the stablecoin, sending UST tumbling and taking Luna down to zero with it.
At its height, the old Luna, now called “Luna classic,” had a circulating supply of over $40 billion U.S.
The new version of Luna, which investors are calling “Terra 2.0,” is trading on exchanges including Bybit, Kucoin and Huobi. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, says it will list Luna on Tuesday of this week (May 31).
But the launch of the new Luna cryptocurrency is off to a bad start. After reaching a peak of $19.53 U.S. over the weekend, Luna dropped as low as $4.39 U.S. in early trading today (May 30), according to CoinGecko data.
Many analysts are skeptical about the chances of Terra’s revived blockchain being a success. It must compete with a host of other so-called “Layer 1” networks, which is the infrastructure that underpins larger cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH).
Terra is distributing Luna tokens through what’s called an “airdrop.” Most will go to investors who held Luna classic and UST before their collapse, to compensate investors
