Terraform Labs’ Luna digital token is now the 12th biggest cryptocurrency in the world.
Luna’s price has risen 60% in the past seven days, according to pricing from CoinGecko, making it officially the 12th largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $25 billion U.S.
The surge comes amid changes in how the Luna digital coin is used for blockchain payments and optimism about the potential for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
The price spike also comes as Singapore-based Terraform is embroiled in a dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over whether the company is selling unregistered securities.
The Terra protocol deploys algorithmic, fiat-pegged stablecoins -- tokens that aim to link their value to an asset like the U.S. dollar -- to underpin a decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. That ecosystem includes apps such as Anchor, Pylon and Mirror Protocol.
Luna may also be getting a boost as so-called cross-chain bridges such as Wormhole have begun gaining traction and are allowing Terraform Labs to export UST to other blockchain networks where it’s supported.
In addition, Terraform has started some partnerships for Metaverse games, with names such as “Summoner’s War.” Terraform ranks fifth in smart-contract chains by total value locked, with around $12.6 billion U.S.
