On May 13, Luna, the sister token of controversial stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), plunged to $0 marking a collapse of the cryptocurrency that was worth more than US$100 ($139).
Image: CoinGecko
The sell-off comes after the US$18 billion algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD lost its peg to the USD, wiping out the price of its support coin Luna which has now lost almost 99% of its value, according to a report by Forbes.
Further complications also emerged as the Terra blockchain which underpins UST and Luna stopped processing transactions twice in less than 24 hours, according to a report by CNBC.
As a result, Binance has temporarily delisted UST and Luna on May 13.
See also: Bitcoin resumes advance, rekindles US$100,000 milestone optimism
“The Luna/UST situation has hit market confidence quite badly,” says Vijay Ayyar, vice president of corporate development and international at crypto exchange Luno. “Overall most cryptocurrencies are down [more than] 50%.”
“Combining this with global inflation and growth fears, [this] does not bode well in general for crypto,” he adds.
Terra Founder Do Kwon however is attempting to raise US$1.5 billion from new and old investors alike to provide more collateral to UST, in hopes of rebuilding the token's liquidity, according to a Bloomberg report.
See also: Bitcoin retreats from US$100,000 in worst spell since Trump’s win
Luna is trading at US$0.000230 on May 15.
Meanwhile, global Google searches for ‘buy crypto’ rise by 102% amid the major crypto market crash.
Analysis of Google Trends data reveals that worldwide searches for ‘buy crypto’ exploded by 102% on May 12, after the cryptocurrency market crashed to its lowest point since 2020.
This comes from a new finding by Safe Trade Binary Options revealed that online interest for ‘buy crypto’ exploded by more than twice the average search volume over the past 24 hours.
In other news, Nigeria has recently released new rules for digital assets, offering more clarity on trading in cryptocurrencies in Africa’s most populous nation, according to a Bloomberg report.
These rules may help boost trading by giving more clarity on the sector in a country that already ranks as among the biggest markets for digital assets.
Nigeria currently accounts for the largest volume of cryptocurrency transactions outside the US, according to Paxful, a Bitcoin marketplace.
Photo: Bloomberg
