About LUNA

LUNA is the reserve currency of the Terra payment network. Smashing the norms involved in traditional, centralized systems for facilitating financial transactions – and reconstructing them in a decentralized manner on the blockchain – Terra allows for safe, secure “programmable payments,” around the globe. 

It does this by using a basket of fiat-pegged stablecoins. Terra network's smart contracts maintain equilibrium, algorithmically, with LUNA in the role of "The Equalizer." 

For example, if the network detects a Terra stablecoin, such as TerraUSD (UST), has deviated from its peg, it can correct that via market forces. So, in this example, if the price of 1 UST goes above its 1:1 USD target, the protocol will increase the supply of UST, minting and swapping until parity is restored. 

Price stability and ease of use were at front of mind when Daniel Shin and Do Kwon founded Terraform Labs and the Terra network in South Korea in January 2018. 

Shina had founded one of Korea’s largest e-commerce platforms, TMON, and was keenly aware of just how many millions on won were being devoured by transaction fees. He eventually hooked up with Kwon, the founder of Anyfi, a peer-to-peer WiFi solution using mesh network technology, a way to turn individual devices into a shared network. 

Their thesis in a time of severe market swings: because of such wicked price fluctuations, cryptos weren't being widely adopted as a means of payment; and that Bitcoin was way too volatile to perform the role, hence the need for a decentralized stablecoin, LUNA, to be the digital money of choice for consumers and merchants.

LUNA is used to provide liquidity to the platform. The network allows coin holders to participate in staking which generates rewards which in turn, allows them arbitrage trading opportunities surrounding price fluctuations and auto-adjustments. LUNA also serves as Terra’s governance token.

Terra runs on the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Cosmos blockchain which is not as widely used as Ethereum but has its advantages i.e. it’s a faster and less expensive realm in which to facilitate payments. Some $300 billion worth of payments has transacted on Terra on behalf of 2 million users.

The Mirror Protocol, built by Terraform Labs and a popular feature of the Terra blockchain, makes it possible to mint tokens that mirror the prices of stocks and other assets.

Because Terra isn’t built on Ethereum, with all of its many-splendored applications, as Benzinga has pointed out, the platform has a smaller user base and less liquidity compared to some of its competitors.

To stoke mass adoption, the platform formed an e-commerce consortium, the Terra Alliance, comprising 15 players such as TMON, Qoo10, Carousell, and Pomelo, throughout South Korea and Southeast Asia. Terra functions as the backbone for apps and products being created by the alliance.

This past September, Terra launched its first-ever non-fungible token (NFT), facilitating (at a fraction of the cost relative to Ethereum) the creation of some 800 "SpaceLoots" for use in a coming video game.