Key points to remember:
- Columbus-5 upgrade laid the groundwork for Terra to work seamlessly with other blockchains
- More than 160 projects are preparing to launch in the coming months, according to Terra co-founder
- Integration of IBC and Wormhole will make Terra interoperable with Binance Smart Chain, Cosmos, Ethereum and Solana
The Columbus-5 upgrade, which launched on September 30, is the most significant mainnet update to the Terra ecosystem to date. It has successfully laid the groundwork for the upcoming launch of the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) and Wormhole interoperability solution, which will significantly expand Terra’s functionality.
IBC and Wormhole should 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. Sixty projects envision the six- to eight-week launch window, according to Kwon, while more than a hundred are gearing up for launch in early 2022.
IBC enables digital token transfers between the Cosmos blockchain and IBC compatible chains. The integration of IBC will introduce countless decentralized applications (DApps) from the Cosmos ecosystem and simultaneously allow Terra’s native stablecoin TerrUSD (UST) to work between blockchains.
While the integration of IBC introduces interoperability with Cosmos, Wormhole will enable cross-chain operations between the native assets of Terra and Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum and Solana. This will allow “UST to be ported seamlessly to some of the biggest channels by TVL and users across the industry,” Kwon explained.
UST is a DeFi stablecoin designed to maintain a stable value against the US dollar. UST is the first scalable, productive and interoperable decentralized stablecoin. Kwon believes the recent regulatory review of centralized stablecoins, such as USD Coin and Tether, will make investors more likely to try algorithmic solutions. UST is in a privileged position to take advantage of this trend. With a valuation of $ 2.73 billion, UST is currently the 5th largest stablecoin in the market.
LUNA hit its ATH of almost $ 50 shortly after Columbus-5 launched on October 4. Since then, the price of LUNA has fallen by more than 25%. LUNA has grown more than 55-fold since January 1 and is currently trading as the 12th largest crypto at a valuation of $ 14.4 billion. Judging by the YTD metrics, LUNA is among the top performing digital assets of 2021.
David is a crypto enthusiast and a personal finance expert. He has created numerous publications for different platforms. He loves to explore new things, and that’s how he discovered blockchain in the first place.
