South Korea’s Luna Love Affair Starts Over
In a story that feels like a crypto fairy tale, speculators in Seoul are back in the Luna camp after the digital coin fell from the heavens just a few weeks ago.
Why Luna is a Wildcard
“Luna was once a major coin of top-ten market capitalisation, so they will do whatever it takes to revive it,” one hopeful investor quipped on Naver. The mystery “they” might be anyone from fellow traders to a big unnamed backer.
After Luna dropped a staggering 99.99 % from almost $100 to barely a cent, people have been scrambling to buy at the lowest possible price—just 0.33 won (about $0.0004) each, per a weekend spree on an international exchange.
Regulators Roll the Red‑Button
- Financial Services Commission (FSC) warns investors on Tuesday.
- Bithumb and Upbit are pulling the plug on Luna trading on May 27 and May 20, respectively.
- Coinone stops deposits ahead of a possible delisting on May 25.
These moves come as the number of Luna buyers in Korea’s main exchanges shot up by 50 % in just a couple of days—climbing to 280,000 holders, most of them domestic, by May 15. The surge has had little to no impact on the price, which keeps hovering between 0.1 and 0.4 cents.
What Triggered the Collapse?
On May 10, TerraUSD lost its 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar. Initially, it was supposed to be cycle‑controlled between the stablecoin and its sibling Luna: swap one TUSD for $1 worth of Luna and cancel both, keeping the supply in balance.
But the market decided otherwise, and the entire system began to unravel. Retailholders flooded social media with grievances, demanding compensation from the co‑founder Do Kwon.
Will There Be a Redemption?
Do Kwon has hinted at a new strategy—backing TerraUSD with reserves in the future. Whether that plan will work remains to be seen. In the meantime, the government feels powerless because crypto trading remains outside its direct regulatory reach.
In a nutshell
- Speculators are betting that Luna will bounce back.
- Regulators are capping the frenzy with trading pauses.
- The original TerraUSD–Luna mechanism was broken by market dynamics.
- The only thing certain? The crypto world keeps writing its own drama.
Keep your eyes on the shelves— Luna’s next chapter could be the most exciting (or the most chaotic) story in the crypto universe.
