The recent cataclysmic crash of the Terra Classic (LUNC; formerly LUNA) left several people bankrupt. South Korean officials reported 8 confirmed suicides due to this blow. Stablecoins emerged as a way for cryptocurrency investors to park their funds to escape from volatility. USTC (formerly UST) was among the largest stablecoins by market cap and the single largest stablecoin on the Cosmos blockchain. This is not the first time an algorithmic stablecoin fell below the point of recovery. So much so that the head of the IMF even suggested that stablecoins that are not backed by physical assets are similar to pyramid schemes. However, a crash as biblical as that of UST was a first for a stablecoin. While history seemed to have indicated this to be an obvious outcome, the utility of UST and the communities around LUNC-UST indicated otherwise. The Death Spiral – Here’s What Went Wrong Stablecoins are digital assets whose value is pegged to a fiat currency or other asset. USTC is one such stablecoin, pegged to the US dollar by not backed by it. LUNC maintained USTC’s price algorithmically, using a mint and burn mechanism. When USTC’s demand-to-supply ratio was high, more LUNC was burnt. Contrariwise, more LUNC was minted when USTC’s supply-to-demand ratio was high. This created an arbitrage opportunity for traders which helped maintain USTC’s price at approximately $1. However, when the selling pressure became too high for the algo...
