Terra Sees Backing From Real Vision Group Founders, LUNA in Range of $55

The cryptocurrency market has cooled off on Wednesday as the fresh gains from Monday and Tuesday have dissipated. Most crypto tokens are either recording minor gains or posting slight corrections. Notably, this is the first time the market has attained a sense of calm this year.

Terra's native coin LUNA, which bled heavily last month, is now back above $52 after a brief slide towards the close of yesterday's trading session. The token had posted an intra-day high of $54 early on Tuesday but has been unable to reclaim this level since then.

Here is a roundup of headlines around Terra in the first week of February:

Real Vision's Raoul Pal bets on Terra to compete with Ethereum

Real Vision co-founder and CEO Raoul Pal has picked Terra as one of the two altcoins he considers ready to compete with Ethereum, the largest DeFi ecosystem. The other altcoin he plumped for is Polkadot (DOT).

In an interview with Altcoin Daily, Pal explained that a reasonable number of investors he considers important in the industry are pretty bullish on Terra, thus his prediction. This includes Real Vision's founding partner and GMI analyst Remi Tetot. Tetot, who took the nickname ‘El Lunatico,' has been a vocal Terra supporter.

“I have said it many times, I am a very strong believer in Terra ecosystem,” he wrote in a recent Twitter post.

Pal keenly noted that Ethereum is still king and is thus betting on its long-term recovery past the current market correction.

The former Goldman Sachs hedge fund manager justified Ethereum's status noting that it is the most decentralized layer-1 platform to build on. Mid last month, the investment strategist had also said he expects 2022 to be a bullish year for DeFi. He also projected ecosystems such as Terra to offer competition to Ethereum.

Terra's founder proposes a $38 million community-funded sponsorship plan of an unnamed sports franchise

Terra founder Do Kwon has announced a proposal to sponsor an unidentified sports league franchise in the USA. The sponsorship would run to a tune of $38.15 million. Kwon explained yesterday that his proposal would involve a renowned sporting team in one of the NFL, NBA, MLB, or NHL.

He, however, didn't reveal the identity of the partnering franchise since the agreement is yet to be finalized. The proposed funding would leverage the community pool and be in the form of Terra's UST stablecoin. The community pool shall deliver the agreed-upon amount once the deal is executed.

The five-year agreement would see this sporting franchise plaster branding to promote Terra on its native TV and home venue. Over the said period, Terra will part with $7.5 million annually and a further $650,000 to cover costs incurred during the rebranding process.

If the community accepts Kwon's proposal, the funds will be sent to a multi-signature wallet managed by a new entity, Terra Community Trust (TCT). A ‘leading and well-reputed trading firm' will facilitate the funding process – delivery of funds to the TCT and eventually the sponsored entity.

Wonderland's association with former Quadriga exec spews controversy

Last Thursday, an exposé of one of Wonderland's project executives, Sifu, left Terra's LUNA ailing. The drama ensued when a Twitter user, Zach, revealed that Sifu, unmasked as Michael Patryn (previously involved with the botched Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX), was managing Wonderland's treasury.

QuadrigaCX popularly failed in 2019 and was labeled a Ponzi scheme as it lost investors nearly $200 million. Moreover, Patryn has a history of criminal activity, including bank fraud, theft, and computer fraud. Wonderland co-founder Danielle Sestagalli's handling of the situation was far from ideal, causing LUNA to plunge.

So, how is LUNA tied up in all this?

LUNA's price is determined by the TVL on its UST stablecoin. The relation is that UST can be staked to allow Abracadabra users to borrow Magic Internet Money (MIM), another stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.

MIM is minted on the cross-blockchain lending platform Abracadabra – also founded by Sestagalli. Terra's ecosystem is also used to connect to the lending platform. Last month, we reported that MakerDAO founder Rune Christensen labeled the Terra and Abracadabra.Money protocols as ponzi schemes.

Terra (LUNA) market performance

LUNA saw modest gains earlier this week that pushed its price above $50. The coin is now trading at $52.25 as of writing but remains down 17.6% in the last week as per data from CoinMarketCap.

LUNA/USD 7-day trading chart.

Though Terra's price is almost 50% off its December record high, the coin appears to be regaining strength as the broader market recovers. The total value locked in Terra's DeFi ecosystem has increased by 2.47% in the last 24 hours to $13.74 billion. This figure is, however, over 25% below the TVL at the start of the year.

To learn more about this token visit our Investing in Terra guide.