The embattled executive has been criticized after falling silent for almost 24 hours as the crisis engulfing his blockchain's two flagship cryptocurrencies worsened.
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Terra's co-founder Do Kwon has insisted a "recovery plan" for UST will soon be announced, as the stablecoin's violent depeg from the U.S. dollar continues.
The embattled executive has been criticized after falling silent for almost 24 hours as the crisis engulfing his blockchain's two flagship cryptocurrencies worsened.
Kwon claimed he "needed razor focus to deliver" and "didn't mean to be so quiet" in a post on Tuesday — telling investors to "hang tight" and await further updates.
But eight hours later, there was still no sign of concrete proposals to stem the selloffs, and he simply tweeted: "Getting close… stay strong lunatics."
TerraUSD (known by its ticker UST) has now plummeted to an all-time low — and continues to fall further.
At the time of writing, CoinMarketCap data shows UST is worth $0.38 — substantially below its intended price of $1.
On Tuesday, the algorithmic stablecoin had plunged to $0.68 and later recovered to highs of $0.94 — but current data shows it's fallen by over 57% in the past 24 hours.
Terra (known by its ticker LUNA) is no longer in the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market cap at the time of writing.
This altcoin has now shrunk to $5.74 after plunging by 82% over the past 24 hours, with losses extending to 93% over the past week.
LUNA's fall from grace is staggering considering that the altcoin had set a new all-time high of $119.18 just a month ago.
In normal times, traders are meant to be able to exchange $1 of UST for $1 of LUNA, but this is now impossible after investors scrambled to exit their positions.
LUNA's market cap now stands at $2.83 billion — $7 billion less than the total valuation of UST in circulation.
What Now?
There seems to be no end in sight as both cryptocurrencies remain in freefall — and with things moving so quickly, it seems unlikely that any recovery plan from Do Kwon would be enough to make investors whole.
Some crypto analysts are taking solace in the fact that, while Terra's implosion has sent shockwaves through the crypto ecosystem, its impact on Bitcoin has been relatively limited.
UST was backed by Bitcoin worth billions of dollars in an attempt to stabilize the digital asset's price — with BTC sold off to defend UST's peg to the U.S. dollar if necessary.
This Bitcoin has now been liquidated — and the reserve balance held by the Luna Foundation Guard has also shriveled.
A week ago, this stood at $4 billion. Fast forward to now, and it's a paltry $113 million.
DeFi platforms have also been hit hard, with the total value locked in the Anchor platform plunging by close to $12 billion over the past 48 hours.
