What happened
Terra (LUNC 2.24%), the native token of the blockchain that also supports the TerraUSD (USTC 2.78%) stablecoin, was popular among investors on Tuesday. As of late afternoon that day, Terra had enjoyed a rise of just under 8% across the past 24 hours to hit a new all-time high of $106.48 per coin.
Crypto-heads were cheered by the fact that the developer of the two cryptos was continuing to add to its big Bitcoin (BTC 0.72%) reserve.
So what
Do Kwon, CEO of Terraform Labs (the entity behind the Terra ecosystem) and its related entity the Luna Foundation Guard, announced plans earlier this month for the Foundation to collect $3 billion in Bitcoin to help support TerraUSD. And that's only the start -- ultimately, the aim is to amass $10 billion in the bellwether cryptocurrency.
Image source: Getty Images.
In a tweet posted March 14, Kwon wrote: "$UST [TerraUSD] with $10B+ in $BTC reserves will open a new monetary era of the Bitcoin standard."
He feels that this will make TerraUSD a choice cryptocurrency as "P2P [peer-to-peer] electronic cash that is easier to spend and more attractive to hold."
The Foundation is clearly putting its money where its big mouth is. Over the weekend, it was reported that around $1.1 billion worth of Bitcoin had been purchased in recent days, and on Monday word filtered down about another buy worth approximately $135 million. All told, the latter apparently gives the foundation a big stash of 27,785 Bitcoin. At current market prices, that's worth over $1.3 billion.
Now what
In the crypto world, often there is much talk about this or that coin, or the latest blockchain, with little of substance to back up grand pronouncements. Terra and its stablecoin sibling are clear exceptions, and those billions of dollars in Bitcoin reserves prove that their developers are serious in their aims.
Whether this shakes out as TerraUSD being a top stablecoin and Terra its successful relative remains to be seen, but clearly some investors are believers in both right now.
