Key takeaways:
- Columbus-5 upgrade has laid the foundation for Terra to work seamlessly with other blockchains
- According to Terra co-founder, more than 160 projects are preparing to launch in the upcoming months
- The integration of IBC and Wormhole will make Terra interoperable with Binance Smart Chain, Cosmos, Ethereum, and Solana
Columbus-5 upgrade that launched on September 30 is the most significant mainnet update to the Terra ecosystem to date. It successfully laid the foundation for the upcoming launch of inter-blockchain communication (IBC) protocol and Wormhole interoperability solution, which will significantly expand Terra’s functionality.
IBC and Wormhole are slated to go live this week
Do Kwon, co-founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, the South Korean company behind Terra, told AsiaMarkets that 160 new projects are preparing to launch now that Columbus-5 is finally here. According to Kwon, sixty projects are eyeing the six to eight-week launch window, while more than a hundred are preparing for the early 2022 launch.
IBC allows digital tokens transfers between Cosmos blockchain and IBC-compatible chains. IBC integration will introduce countless decentralized applications (DApps) from the Cosmos ecosystem and simultaneously allow Terra’s native stablecoin TerrUSD (UST) to operate between blockchains.
While the integration of IBC introduces interoperability with Cosmos, Wormhole will enable cross-chain operations between native Terra assets and Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, and Solana. This will allow “UST to be seamlessly ported to some of the largest chains by TVL and users in the entire industry,” Kwon explained.
UST is a DeFi stablecoin designed to maintain stable value to the US Dollar. UST is the first decentralized stablecoin that is scalable, yield-bearing, and interoperable. Kwon believes that recent regulatory scrutiny against centralized stablecoins, such as USD Coin and Tether, will make investors more likely to try out algorithmic solutions. UST is in a prime spot to take advantage of this trend. With a valuation of $2.73 billion, UST is currently the 5th biggest stablecoin in the market.
LUNA reached its ATH of nearly $50 shortly after the launch of Columbus-5 on October 4. Since then, the price of LUNA has retraced by more than 25%. LUNA has increased by more than 55x since January 1 and is currently trading as the 12th largest crypto on a $14.4 billion valuation. Judging by YTD metrics, LUNA is among the best-performing digital assets of 2021.
