Crypto Week at a Glance: The volatility of crypto and the de-pegging of a stablecoin

The story of the week though belongs to TerraUSD (UST) and Terra (LUNA). Both were amongst the top 10 cryptocurrencies at the start of the week. UST’s de-pegging led to a capitulation in LUNA as it dropped more than 99 per cent in value and fell outside the top 200 list.

The cataclysmic set of events started as Terra’s LUNA and its algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD suffered a major crash on May 10 and UST lost its $1 peg. The system, designed to algorithmically maintain its peg to the US Dollar, eventually failed to do so and caused a systematic devaluing of UST. To compensate for this, LUNA tokens began to be minted at an unusually faster rate increasing its supply exponentially. UST is trading below $0.2 today.

Terra founder Do Kwon has released a short-term roadmap to try and revive the ecosystem.

Meanwhile, portfolios of most crypto investors who entered the ecosystem post 2021 are in the red. They would need to ride this phase out over the next 2-3 months before they can witness a recovery in crypto assets. The news from the world of crypto, though, continue to hold promise. We enlist some below.

Australia’s first ETFs go live
After an initial delay, Australia’s first three cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), hosted on the CBOE exchange, have gone live. This would bring Bitcoin and Ethereum products to the stock market. An ETF is a product that can give investors exposure to assets that they may not be able to invest in directly. ETFs operate by tracking the price of an underlying asset as a share to be traded on stock markets.

Among the three funds, Cosmos Purpose Bitcoin Access ETF (CBTC) is from Cosmos Asset Management and tracks the Purpose Bitcoin ETF (BTCC-B.TO) on the Toronto stock exchange. The other two were launched by Australian ETFS Management (AUS) Ltd. And Swiss 21Shares AG spot-trade Bitcoin (EBTC) and Ether (EETH).

Sony 3D NFTs to enhance spatial reality display features
Sony, the Japanese electronics major, is working with Theta Labs, creators of the Theta blockchain to create a decentralized video streaming network or video delivery network with its own native crypto asset, theta network (THETA).

Sony will soon issue 10 ‘Tiki Guy’ NFTs and its two-dimensional versions as well. The NFTs will be in sync with the Sony Spatial Reality Display (SRD), a tablet that uses augmented reality and 3D enhancements. SRD will incorporate NFTs and metaverse concepts into the device’s offerings.

NASA calls developers to work on Martian metaverse
US space agency NASA is in the process of creating a Martian metaverse environment to aid in training. The agency had recently posted a challenge to attract developers. Interested developers could aid NASA in building virtual reality (XR) ‘assets and scenarios’ for use by the agency in research on extravehicular activities on the surface of Mars.

The project aims at populating an existent metaverse called MarsXR. This metaverse has already mapped 400 sq km of Martian terrain with realistic day/night cycles. The developers should work on their submission challenges using the Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5. The Martian simulation is expected to help NASA cut costs by using a virtual reality module known as Apache to train upcoming astronauts in various experiences.

RCD football team to accept crypto
Reial Club Deportivo (RCD) Espanyol, will accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for the purchase of tickets, merchandise and food and beverages. With this, RCD becomes the first team in La Liga (Spain’s football league) to officially accept crypto for transactions. RCD pitches itself as ‘pioneers in a field that is not the future but already present’ by this move.

Top Gainers This Week:
(only one gainer over the week)

1. Maker (MKR): 8 per cent

Top Losers This Week:
1. TerraUSD (UST): -80 per cent

2. Fantom (FTM)): -57 per cent

3. Lido DAO (LDO): -52 per cent

(Note: Analysis includes top 100 cryptocurrencies only. Source: Coinmarketcap)