Luna (LUNA) vs. Luna Classic (LUNC): What Is the Difference? (2024)

Krisztian Sandor is a reporter on the U.S. markets team focusing on stablecoins and institutional investment. He holds BTC and ETH.

Terra, a once-$40 billion digital asset ecosystem, crumbled in May 2022 in what may have marked the largest token collapse in crypto history.

UST, once the largest algorithmic stablecoin, and its twin token LUNA, which was supposed to stabilize UST’s price, spiraled almost to zero within a week. Prior to the collapse, both UST and LUNA were top 10 cryptocurrencies. The Terra blockchain needed to be halted twice during the crisis.

Countless investors lost their life savings in the demise. Developers who worked on Terra-related projects found their livelihoods in jeopardy, and other blockchains, such as Polygon and Kadena, were courting those devs with multimillion-dollar funds.

One part of the community decided to stay and focus on how to revive the project, with Do Kwon, the founder of Terra blockchain developer firm Terraform Labs, spearheading the attempt.

As a result, now there are two Terra blockchains operating in parallel:

  • The old (original) Terra network with the token renamed to luna classic (LUNC) and UST tokens.

  • A newly launched blockchain with a native token called luna (LUNA).

If you feel confused, you are not alone. Here’s a guide to what has changed with revival.

Why there are two versions of the luna token

In the wake of Terra’s implosion, Do Kwon came up with a proposal called Terra Ecosystem Revival Plan 2 on Terra’s developer forum.

He proposed a plan to create a new blockchain with a fork and then distribute new tokens among the community members based on how many UST and LUNA tokens they held. The majority of validators – the guardians of the network who approve transactions in the network and possess governance rights – voted to approve the proposal.

The new Terra blockchain (Terra 2) launched on May 28, 2022. In parallel, the old blockchain – often referred to as “Terra Classic” – remained live but with little to no activity and no plans for development on it.

After the launch, the new native token of the new network inherited the LUNA name.

The old blockchain continued to operate, and its token was rebranded to luna classic (LUNC).

What is luna classic (LUNC)?

Luna classic (LUNC) was originally created to be the first Terra blockchain’s native token under the name LUNA, launched in 2018.

Its role was to serve as a twin token to absorb any price deviation of the blockchain’s algorithmic stablecoin, terraUSD (UST). UST was supposed to keep its price pegged to the U.S. dollar by creating (minting) and (destroying) burning UST tokens to balance the stablecoin’s supply and demand at a $1 price peg. When UST lost its dollar peg and collapsed in May 2022, the token fell into a hyperinflationary spiral because the algorithm that was intended to back up UST created trillions of tokens, diminishing its value by almost 100%.

As a result, the token that was worth $119 in early April of 2022 fell below one cent by the end of May 2022.

What is luna (LUNA)?

May 28 marked the official launch of the new Terra blockchain. On the same day, some previous UST and LUNC holders received their new LUNA tokens in the first round of token distribution called an airdrop.

Many of the big-name cryptocurrency exchanges supported the launch and listed the new token. Trading started with wild price swings in each direction as traders speculated on the future utility of the coin.

There are some key differences between the new luna token and the old one:

  • There will be a finite supply of luna tokens, maximized at 1 billion coins in circulation.

  • Luna does not have a stablecoin pair at the time of the launch.

Are luna and luna classic risky?

Investing in either luna classic (LUNC) or luna (LUNA) is highly risky at this point. It's like purchasing a house burned down to ashes or putting money upfront for plans that only exist on paper, respectively.

The future of the old Terra blockchain – including its LUNC and UST tokens – is uncertain, with little incentive to use and build any project on top of it.

The challenge for the new blockchain is how many of the numerous protocols and development teams that were building on old Terra will trust and stick around to develop applications.

The activity and use cases on the new blockchain will ultimately determine how much luna is worth and if it will succeed.

This article was originally published on

Jun 29, 2022 at 2:55 p.m. UTC

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Luna (LUNA) vs. Luna Classic (LUNC): What Is the Difference? (7)

Krisztian Sandor is a reporter on the U.S. markets team focusing on stablecoins and institutional investment. He holds BTC and ETH.

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Luna (LUNA) vs. Luna Classic (LUNC): What Is the Difference? (8)

Krisztian Sandor is a reporter on the U.S. markets team focusing on stablecoins and institutional investment. He holds BTC and ETH.

Luna (LUNA) vs. Luna Classic (LUNC): What Is the Difference? (2024)

FAQs

Is Luna and Luna classic the same thing? ›

Despite their striking resemblance, LUNA Classic and LUNA 2.0 are not the same. The Terra network has been divided into two chains based on the new governance plan. Terra Classic with Luna Classic tokens (LUNC) will be the old chain, whereas Terra with LUNA tokens will be the new chain called LUNA 2.0.

Is Terra Classic the same as LUNC? ›

Terra Classic (LUNC) was launched by Do Kwon's Terraform Labs in 2019. The old version of the blockchain, Terra Classic, was launched as a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain built on Cosmos SDK and Tendermint. LUNC existed as a collateral token that backed a family of decentralized stablecoins of the Terra ecosystem.

What's the difference between Terra Luna and Terra Classic? ›

Essentially Terra (LUNA) is the new, reborn network. It doesn't have any stablecoins. Terra Classic (LUNC) is a continuation of the original blockchain. It has now overtaken the new Terra 2.0 coin in terms of market cap.

What will happen to Luna Classic? ›

LUNC burn will take place on Binance in December

Binance's last weekly burn destroyed 1.5 billion LUNC. The next big LUNC reduction in supply will now take place post December 1, 2022. Binance has burned 12.5 billion Luna Classic tokens so far, reducing its supply and permanently pulling them out of circulation.

Does Luna Classic have a future? ›

The price of Luna Classic will continue to rise and it may surpass $5 in 2030 if the current growth continues. However, If more investors are attracted to the project the prices of Terra Classic can skyrocket in upcoming years.

Can Luna Classic recover? ›

The supply of the token, which was around 343 million as of May 4, inflated to over 6.5 trillion by May 14. Currently, the Terra Classic blockchain has a 0.2% tax on all LUNC token transactions.
...
Will Luna recover to $1?
LUNC priceImplied LUNC market cap
$1$5.9 trillion
4 more rows
Dec 9, 2022

Will Luna Classic convert to new Luna? ›

All existing LUNA Recurring Buys will be terminated in the Crypto.com App by 26 May 2022, 12:00 UTC. All existing LUNA allocation on Crypto Earn will be automatically converted to LUNC.

What will be Luna Classic worth? ›

Luna Classic's price today is US$0.0001682, with a 24-hour trading volume of $200.61 M. LUNC is -1.32% in the last 24 hours. It is currently -4.92% from its 7-day all-time high of $0.0001769, and 19.47% from its 7-day all-time low of $0.0001408. LUNC has a circulating supply of 6,011.96 B LUNC.

Will Luna Classic recover to $1? ›

Even though LUNC pumped by more than 5% recently, price predictions are not so great. According to them, LUNC will trade between $0.000294 in 2023 and $0.001258 in 2030. Looking at the table above, we can see predictions say LUNC is unlikely to hit $1 anytime soon.

What will Luna Classic be worth in 2023? ›

Cryptocurrency experts have carefully analyzed the range of LUNA prices throughout 2022. For October 2023, their forecast is the following: the maximum trading value of Terra will be around $2.09, with a possibility of dropping to a minimum of $1.81. In October 2023, the average cost will be $1.86.

Can LUNC coin reach $1? ›

LUNC may reach $1 in 2023, but predictions are not entirely optimistic. There are a lot of facts that will affect it and change the way that currency adjusts to the market. However, new investors have much wiser options for investment. There are new cryptos that have impressive potential to grow in years to come.

Is Terra 2.0 A Luna Classic? ›

As proposed by Kwon, the Terra blockchain underwent a hard fork, with the launch of Terra 2.0 and the old LUNA tokens being renamed as terra classic (LUNC). Kwon's fork proposal passed with 65.5% majority approval.

How much will Luna 2.0 be worth? ›

LUNA 2.0 Price Prediction for 2025

“If the network manages to regain the trust of the crypto community, with developments and community-building initiatives,” it says, the coin could reach nearly $250 by 2025, making it a solid long-term investment.

Will Luna Classic burn? ›

If you'd hoped to see a $1 LUNC token in the near future, hope again. Luna Classic will take at least 54 years to burn through enough supply until a $1 price is within range. You'll see why this is the case by looking at the market cap needed for LUNC to reach $1 at present: $0.001 price – $6 billion market cap.

What will happen to my Luna classic coins? ›

LUNA has a stockpile of 1 billion tokens. If this number is exceeded, LUNA tokens will be burned until they return to the equilibrium supply level. After that, new LUNA tokens are minted through the protocol algorithm with the required amount to maintain the price of the Terra stablecoin.

What will happen to LUNC coin? ›

LUNC's 2030 predictions

Telegaon continues to remain optimistic about the future of LUNC in 2030 as well. It predicted that LUNC will be traded as high as $5.23 and as low as $1.93 in 2030, with its average price remaining at $3.11.

Is Luna Classic suspended? ›

About. In light of volatility involving Terra ecosystem assets, Coinbase has suspended trading in WLUNA on May 27, 2022.

What will Luna Classic be worth in 2024? ›

The long term sentiment, however, remains bullish and LUNC could hit $198.50 in 2024. The total circulating supply of Terra Luna Classic as of writing this article was $6008609676791.41 and the marketcap of LUNC remains at $961,920,513.

Can Luna Classic reach a cent? ›

Burning Luna Classic will drastically reduce the market cap figures you saw above. Say the community can burn 15% of all Luna Classic tokens, that then reduces the implied market required to reach 1 cent by $10 billion. Such a successful burn rate would no date draw huge investment to Luna Classic.

Is it worth buying Terra Classic? ›

It is worth buying only as a short-term speculation with a good exit strategy. Terra Classic is not a good long-term hold.

Where has my Luna Classic gone? ›

Your LUNA is still safe, but now as Terra Classic (LUNC). You won't find them in your wallet, because you need to update the network, in case your wallet didn't update it automatically. To update the network, open up settings and chose “Manage Networks”. Add new network and name it LUNC.

Can I trade my Luna Classic? ›

How do I trade, convert or sell Terra Luna Classic? You can convert or sell your LUNC with the same exchange you bought it through: Sign in to the exchange you have LUNC on. If you store your Terra Luna Classic in a digital wallet, compare crypto exchanges to convert or sell it on.

Is LUNC coin a good investment? ›

Terra Classic (LUNC) Price Predictions

Terra Classic investors have experienced returns of over 5.68% on their investment this past week due to the bullish period LUNC has experienced. After analyzing the technical indicators for LUNC, we expect a slight correction could happen over the next few days.

Is LUNC and LUNC the same? ›

LUNC is the native cryptocurrency of the old Terra network. It was launched in 2018 and was known as LUNA at the time, before taking on the LUNC tag after the Terra crash. On the other hand, LUNA is the name given to the native token of the new offshoot blockchain, which was launched on May 28, 2022.

Can I change my LUNC to Luna? ›

Buy Terra 2.0 (LUNA) for Terra Classic (LUNC)

The SimpleSwap instant crypto exchange is free from sign-up and allows customers to convert LUNC to LUNA in a clear and convenient way.

Can you transfer LUNC to Luna? ›

You can convert 1 LUNC to 0.000117 LUNA. Live LUNC to LUNA calculator is based on live data from multiple crypto exchanges. Last price update for LUNC to LUNA converter was today at 22:05 UTC .

How much is Luna Classic worth 2025? ›

Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) Price predictions
YearMinimum PriceMaximum Price
2024$0.000303$0.000379
2025$0.000455$0.00053
2026$0.000606$0.000682
2027$0.000758$0.000834
5 more rows
Jan 3, 2023

Can Luna go back to 100 dollars? ›

The only way for the LUNA price to recover to anywhere close to its former high over $100, would be to burn large amounts of the LUNA circulating supply from the 6.5 trillion today, back to somewhere near the 350 million it was before the crash.

What will Luna Classic be worth in 2030? ›

According to the Terra Luna Classic Price Prediction model above, LUNC's price in May 2030 would be $683.59.

Why is Luna Classic pumping? ›

Luna Classic, the original token of the failed Terra blockchain , appears to be making a comeback following an announcement that the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, has a plan to cut the token's supply.

Will Terra Classic rise again? ›

According to our Terra Classic price prediction, the LUNC price could soar to a maximum of $0.000199 by the end of 2022.

What is Luna Classic? ›

About Terra Luna Classic

Terra (LUNA) is a secondary token that powers the Terra blockchain. Terra aims to be the go-to decentralized stablecoin used throughout the globe for everyday purchases. As Terra 2.0 was released on May 28th, 2022, the old token got the name Terra Luna Classic (LUNC).

How many Luna Classic are there? ›

Terra Luna Classic Price Update

It has a circulating supply volume of 5,972,008,166,017 LUNC coins and a max. Supply volume of 6,872,319,160,805 LUNC alongside $1.0B 24h trading volume. The addresses and transactions of Terra Luna Classic can be explored in https://finder.terra.money/ and https://terra.stake.id/ .

Is Luna Classic good investment? ›

Given its current level of popularity, the revelation of a 4-year recovery plan, and the fact that it will continue to burn inventory regularly to reduce supply, many people now think LUNC is a wise investment. But volatility continues, and investment in LUNC will be precarious.

Will Luna 2.0 affect Luna? ›

The old Luna will be replaced by Luna 2.0, completely severing ties with the failed stablecoin. But the old Luna will not disappear completely, it will simply co-exist with the new and improved Luna 2.0. Holders of the old Luna, now renamed Classic, and UST will be given part of the 1 billion new tokens.

How many Luna coins are left? ›

How many Luna Classic coins are there? According to statistics from CoinMarketCap, LUNC's supply was capped at 6.9 trillion tokens, as of 5 October, with a circulating supply of 6.15 trillion coins in total.
...
Luna Classic tokenomics and circulating supply.
Long position overnight fee-0.0500%
Spread60.00
2 more rows
Oct 6, 2022

What does LUNC burn mean? ›

This means the number of tokens that goes to the burn wallet after every transaction was reduced, but the impact was that the number of transactions on the LUNA Classic (LUNC) increased.

What does it mean to burn LUNC? ›

“Burning” is just sending tokens to an irretrievable wallet address, meaning they are permanently out of circulation, i.e., burned. This way, the supply of LUNC would eventually decrease in an attempt to revitalize Terra's ecosystem or at least attempt to restore some customers' lost wealth.

How long will it take to burn LUNC? ›

If Binance continues to burn 11.1 billion LUNC tokens each month, it would need 554 months – or 46 years – to burn enough supply until LUNC is worth $1. Of course, that's assuming the LUNC market cap remains at $1.5 billion.

How long will it take to burn Luna Classic? ›

Terra Luna Classic community voted to reduce the LUNC tax burn rate from 1.2% to 0.2%, which could now take nearly 29 years to take 10 billion tokens out of circulation.

What will happen to Luna Classic after fork? ›

As a consequence of this fork, Terra will no longer include any UST or other algorithmic stablecoin components. The new LUNA tokens will be airdropped to LUNA Classic shareholders, remaining UST holders, and developers of the prior versions of the Terra network.

Could Terra Classic reach $1 dollar? ›

Given the current token supply of 5.966 trillion, if each token was worth $1, that would imply LUNC reaching a market capitalization of $5.966 trillion. Almost every sane person would agree that LUNC reaching a market cap this high is never going to happen.

Who owns Luna Classic? ›

While it shares the name of the cryptocurrency that lost nearly 100% of its value in May, LUNA is actually a new coin created by Terra founder Do Kwon to support the rebooted Terra blockchain .

What is the future of Terra Classic coin? ›

Terra Classic has slumped heavily after the ecosystem collapsed in May and may certainly not recover to its fullest in near future.
...
Terra Classic Price Prediction: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.
YearLUNC Price Forecast
2023$0.00027 to $0.00035
2024$0.00039 to $0.00041
2025$0.00062 to $0.00087
1 more row
Nov 23, 2022

Should I buy Luna 2 or Luna Classic? ›

The key difference between Luna and Luna 2.0 is that the latter will not rely on any altcoin/stablecoin relationship. The original Luna crypto maintained value through its relationship with TerraLabs' algorithmic stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST).

What is the new Luna coin called? ›

Luna 2.0 or Terra 2.0 is a new coin from the Terra blockchain's hardfork aimed at saving the Terra Luna ecosystem after the collapse of the UST stablecoin.

Why did Luna classic drop so much? ›

The Luna crypto crash was caused by its connection to TerraUSD (UST), the algorithmic stablecoin of the Terra network. On May 7, over $2 billion worth of UST was unstaked (taken off the Anchor Protocol), and hundreds of millions of it were quickly liquidated.

What will happen to my old Luna coins? ›

The old Luna will be replaced by Luna 2.0, completely severing ties with the failed stablecoin. But the old Luna will not disappear completely, it will simply co-exist with the new and improved Luna 2.0. Holders of the old Luna, now renamed Classic, and UST will be given part of the 1 billion new tokens.

What happens to Terra Classic? ›

Do Kwon relaunched Terra as Terra 2.0 in late May 2022, but this time, without any links to the algorithmic stablecoin. Developers launched a new Terra blockchain called Terra 2.0 as a hard fork of the original Terra blockchain, now called Terra Classic, and the original LUNA token was renamed Luna Classic (LUNC).

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