Terra LUNA’s sacrifice pushes UST to US$0.84

TerraUSD (UST) climbed to a high of US$0.84 on Thursday after Terra proposed a network upgrade to increase the blockchain’s native token LUNA, in hopes to save its algorithmic stablecoin’s peg to the greenback.  

Fast facts

• The UST is minted by locking LUNA, meaning Terra intends to concede LUNA’s value to steady the UST rollercoaster.
• In a series of tweets, Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon said the increased LUNA supply will be sold on the open market in order to raise funds and rescue the UST peg. 

• However, LUNA had dropped to almost US$3 by the time Kwon announced the recovery measure, and is trading at US$0.75 at press time, according to CoinGecko data.
• Kwon added Terra is also seeking external capital sources. 
• The UST fiasco has led to market-wide concerns in regard to the feasibility of algorithmic stablecoins in tumultuous market conditions.
• UST was trading at US$0.72 at press time.