The Terra/LUNA Implosion: Billions Lost, Trust Broken, Lessons Learned

Terra/LUNA was a promising stablecoin platform
It collapsed, wiping $40 billion from its market cap
It sent ripples through the ecosystem which are still felt today

In May 2022, two and a half years ago, Terra/LUNA was one of the most promising cryptocurrency projects in the space. But its algorithmic stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST), had a fatal flaw. Pair that with a market freakout, and the whole thing imploded. Billions were lost, trust broken, and the crypto space still feels the sting.

Today, we’re looking back at what Terra/LUNA was, how it collapsed, and the fallout that followed.

What was Terra/LUNA?

Terra (LUNA) was a blockchain platform that sought to create a stable digital economy using its algorithmic stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST), which was designed to hold a 1:1 peg to the US dollar.

The platform used a unique mechanism where UST’s price stability was maintained through the minting and burning of LUNA, its native token, in response to market fluctuations.

If UST dipped below $1, users could burn it and create LUNA. This reduced UST supply, pushing its price back to $1. If UST climbed above $1, users could burn LUNA, increasing UST supply, and bringing the price back down.

It’s like a very precise see-saw which doesn’t allow either side to fall too far down.

Why did the Terra/LUNA Ecosystem Collapse?

Around May 2022, Terra/LUNA was incredibly popular. At its peak, the coin reached the #4 position on the list of the biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, with a market cap of more than $40 billion.

At the same time, DeFi (decentralized finance) projects were rising in popularity, with yield farming being particularly interesting to the community. Users would stake their tokens on a project, or network, and earn yield for their contribution.

One of these projects was Anchor Protocol, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform on the Terra blockchain, which offered high-interest rates (up to 20%) for UST deposits. The 20% rate was widely considered unsustainable (banks rarely offer more than 3% these days), but also attracted significant investments.

When investors started pulling out big money in early May 2022, UST started to lose its peg. It was a domino effect: the more UST strayed from $1, the bigger the fear. The bigger the fear, the bigger the withdrawal. The bigger the withdrawal, the more the depegging. It was a vicious cycle that caused UST’s value to drop to $0.10.

Because of the algorithmic nature of the project, LUNA’s supply increased from roughly 350 million tokens, to more than 6.5 trillion, causing its value to crash from $80 to $0.0001 – in mere days.

As a result, the entire market capitalization of the system disappeared, and most exchanges delisted the tokens, citing extreme volatility.

The Aftermath of the Crash

The Terra/LUNA collapse had a far-reaching impact on the entire cryptocurrency market, both in the short and long term. Bitcoin, for example, fell from around $40,000 to nearly $20,000 in the weeks following the collapse. Other altcoins also saw double-digit percentage losses, leading to a broad-based sell-off across the entire market.

The crash shattered investor confidence in algorithmic stablecoins and highlighted vulnerabilities in the crypto ecosystem. At the same time, it attracted even more regulator scrutiny, meaning more red tape, and more hurdles.

To make matters worse, many large crypto companies were heavily exposed to UST and LUNA, and this crash took them down as well. Three Arrows Capital, Celsius, Voyager, and others, were forced to declare bankruptcy and shut their businesses down.

Do Kwon, the face of the project, faced legal trouble as investigations into fraud and market manipulation began. He went into hiding, and was arrested in Montenegro on March 23, 2023.

He was detained at the Podgorica Airport while attempting to board a flight using false documents. Two weeks ago, Kwon pleaded not guilty to U.S. criminal fraud charges including securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

His trial is scheduled to start in early 2026, according to a Bloomberg report.

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