As LUNA's Price Drops Over 33% in 24 Hours, Stablecoin UST Slips Below $1 Parity to $0.93

As bitcoin dropped to fresh new lows on Monday, the price of terra (LUNA) slid by 33.3% during the last 24 hours. Moreover, the project’s stablecoin terrausd (UST) has lost stability, dropping to $0.932008 per token. Additionally, the Luna Foundation Guard’s bitcoin wallet and ethereum Gnosis safe address has been emptied.

**This article was updated with a new paragraph to reflect the price of terrausd (UST) dropping to $0.86 per token on Monday, May 9, 2022, at 6:10 p.m. (ET). It also mentions the Luna Foundation Guard bitcoin wallet that holds 28,205 bitcoin at the time of writing. By 8:15 p.m. (ET), terrausd (UST) hit a low of $0.704843 per unit, down 29.4% during the last 24 hours.

LUNA Price Puts Intense Pressure on Terra’s Stablecoin UST

During the past 24 hours, more than $830 million has been liquidated from the crypto economy, and the price of bitcoin (BTC) sunk to lows not seen since January 2022. Over the past seven days, BTC has shed 20.2% in value against the USD, and 11% of the value was shaved during the past 24 hours. Furthermore, numerous crypto assets have seen deeper losses as terra (LUNA) dropped by 33.3%.

The stress has caused the project’s UST peg or $1 parity to slip beneath the dollar value. At its lowest point on Monday, terrausd (UST) dipped to $0.932008 per unit according to Coingecko.com statistics. UST’s 24-hour price range on Monday has been between $0.932008 to $0.999601 per unit.

Luna Foundation Empties Bitcoin and Ethereum Wallets

In addition to the losses, UST and LUNA took on Monday, after revealing the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) would lend $1.5 billion in BTC and UST, both LFG’s public bitcoin and ethereum wallets have been drained. The LFG bitcoin wallet once held 42,530.82 BTC but sent the entire stash in a single transaction to another wallet. Additionally, LFG’s Gnosis safe address, which once held millions of dollars in USDC and USDT, has also been drained.

On May 3, the LFG Gnosis safe address held $143 million and today, it currently holds $195. At 2:36 p.m. (ET), Terra co-founder Do Kwon tweeted “Deploying more capital – steady lads.” UST’s price has seen some improvement on Monday after the deployment of capital, but has been down between 4.5 to 6.5% during the last few hours.

While other stablecoin assets like USDC and USDT have felt pressure today seeing much smaller percentage losses, the two largest stablecoins by market cap have held their pegs. Tether slipped down to $0.995691 per unit on Monday, while usd coin (USDC) dipped to $0.994630 per unit.

Binance usd (BUSD) is exchanging hands for $0.996616 and DAI has been trading for $0.995420. Most USD pegged stablecoins besides UST remained trading for at least $0.975328 to $0.99 per token. Meanwhile, toward the end of writing this article at 4:00 p.m. (ET), UST has been trying to regain the $1 parity but has yet to accomplish the goal. At press time at 4:30 p.m., the stablecoin UST has managed to jump to $0.956017 per unit.

** On May 9, 2022, at 6:10 p.m. (ET), UST’s value slipped to a low of $0.86 per token, according to market data stemming from coingecko.com and multiple reports from social media. At 4:47 p.m., the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) updated the public about its bitcoin (BTC) wallet. LFG also noted that “updates were coming.” The LFG bitcoin wallet holds 28,205.54 BTC at 6:10 p.m. on Monday, and it once held 70,736 BTC.

By 8:15 p.m., terrausd (UST) hit a low of $0.704843 per unit, down 29.4% during the last 24 hours. Moreover, the UST de-peg conversation has been one of the most topical crypto discussions on social media and forums during the course of the day.