Cryptocurrency prices have not started the week well. Bitcoin price retreated to $37,361 while the total market cap of all digital currencies dropped by 1.50% to $1.42. Some of the worst performers were tokens like Blur, FTX Token, Celestia (TIA), Mina, and ApeCoin.
The main outlier were tokens associated with Terra, which imploded in May 2022, costing investors over $40 billion in value. Terra Classic (LUNC) price has surged by more than 43% in the past 24 hours. This rally happened in a high-volume environment as the 24-hour amount surged to over $575 million.
Terra LUNA rose by 19% in the same period as the total volume rose to over $537 million. This rally happened as the TerraClassicUSD (USTC) token surged by 312% to $0.067. The volume of USTC was over $1.1 billion, according to data compiled by CoinGecko. Further, Anchor Protocol (ANC) token soared by 131% to $0.033.
Despite the collapse of Terra and its ecosystem in 2022, its remnant tokens are still big players in the crypto industry. USTC has a market cap of over $619 million even though the algorithmic coin de-pegged in 2022. It remains sharply lower than its peg price of $1.
Terra Luna Classic has a market cap of over $711 million while Terra LUNA is valued at over $503 million.
Terra Luna, USTC, Anchor Protocol
It is unclear why these tokens are surging. A likely reason is that they are being pumped after a court in Montenegro allowed the extradition of Do Kwon, the company’s founder. Kwon was captured in Montenegro as he attempted to escape to Dubai. He has been in a Montenegro court since then.
Do Kwon faces eight charges in the US, including wire fraud, securities and commodities fraud. They have also accused him of civil crimes from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Do Kwon and his co-conspirators are also charged in South Korea where they have charged him for violating securities laws. Therefore, Do Kwon faces decades in prison in both the US and South Korea.
Prosecutors allege that Do Kwon intentionally ran a multi-billion scam, which saw him siphon billions of dollars from investors.
The other reason why LUNC and USTC are soaring is that community members voted a proposal for deploying the terrad client V2.3.1.
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