A Terrable End
Terra lays its LUNA and UST tokens to rest, halting its blockchain somewhat fittingly on Friday the 13th.
“Block 7607789”, called the crypto coroner on Thursday evening, as Terra halted its blockchain to mark the end of a gruesome four-day capitulation that saw investors lose up to 99.9% of their earnings. At the time of halting, LUNA was at $0.008, while the UST “stable” coin was at $0.19 after falling as low as $0.04.
Validators tried to restart the blockchain’s heart earlier in the day, but efforts to stem the tide were too late. Terra’s crisis management clearly failed – its Bitcoin reserves came up short, while its decision to mint trillions of LUNA to absorb the shock of UST’s de-pegging was an act of martyrdom for its native token.
Terra says it’s not ready for the casket just yet, though. Whenever (if ever) devs relaunch the blockchain, rumors suggest UST will be fully collateralized and LUNA will have new mechanisms behind it to prevent this cascading effect from ever playing out again. It’s a big if, but hold off on your Fs in the chat for now.