Singapore-based Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) said on Monday it spent billions of dollars' worth of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies last week in its unsuccessful attempt to uphold the peg of collapsed stablecoin TerraUSD (UST).
LFG, the association formed to defend and support the decentralised token and Terra blockchain, said its Bitcoin reserves dropped from more than 80,390 to only 313 in less than 10 days.
LFG, which was set up by Terra creator Do Kwon, had collected more than 80,000 Bitcoins that were worth over $3 billion last week.
“Consistent with its non-profit mission and focus on the health of the Terra ecosystem, beginning on May 8, when the price of $UST began to drop substantially below one dollar, the foundation began converting this reserve to $UST,” LFG said in a statement on Twitter.
“The foundation did so by directly executing on-chain swaps and transferring $BTC [Bitcoin] to a counterparty to enable them to enter trades with the foundation in large size & on short notice.”
The last week’s collapse of the UST stablecoin sparked a panic in the crypto market.
The UST stablecoin — which is usually expected to be worth $1 — dropped below $0.20. Meanwhile, the Luna token that is intended to serve as a shock absorber for UST’s algorithmic dollar-pegging mechanism, plummeted to $0.002 from $80.
Terraform Labs — the company behind blockchain technology that runs the UST and Luna coins — twice stopped processing new transactions to calm the market fluctuations. Both the UST and the associated Luna tokens were trading near zero at the time of the second halt.
Stablecoins, which are pegged to the value of traditional assets such as the US dollar, are usually popular in times of turmoil. They are key elements of the cryptocurrency market and traders park funds in these assets as they move in and out of other digital tokens.
LFG said it would disburse its remaining assets to compensate users of the stablecoin, starting with the smallest holders. However, it did not disclose the future plans.
“We are still debating through various distribution methods, updates to follow soon,” LFG said.
The world's biggest stablecoin, Tether, also briefly lost its 1:1 peg on Thursday but recovered shortly. On the same day, Bitcoin — the world’s largest cryptocurrency — dropped to $25,400, its lowest level since December 2020.
Bitcoin was trading 5.3 per cent down on Monday at $29,630.6 a coin on Monday. Ether, the second-biggest crypto, was almost 6 per cent down at $2,016.2 a coin.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
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Profile of Tarabut Gateway
Founder: Abdulla Almoayed
Based: UAE
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 35
Sector: FinTech
Raised: $13 million
Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.
More on Palestine-Israeli relations
Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)
Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Specs
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT)
Tuesday
Mairobr v Liverpool
Spartak Moscow v Sevilla
Feyenoord v Shakhtar Donetsk
Manchester City v Napoli
Monaco v Besiktas
RB Leipzig v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid v Tottenham Hotspur
Wednesday
Benfica v Manchester United
CSKA Moscow v Basel
Bayern Munich v Celtic
Anderlecht v Paris Saint-Germain
Qarabag v Atletico Madrid
Chelsea v Roma
Barcelona v Olympiakos
Juventus v Sporting Lisbon
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
