What Is Luna Classic (LUNC) and Can It Recover?

Remember Luna? The sister token of the supposed stablecoin that crashed in early May 2022? Luna Classic (LUNC) is the version renamed after its co-founder Do Kwon and the Terra community decided on a Terra ecosystem recovery plan that created a hard fork in the Terra chain to split it into two distinct chains. 

The original chain is now called Terra Classic, with the token renamed Luna Classic (LUNC), and the new one is termed Terra 2.0, with the token called Luna (LUNA). While LUNC had initially been faltering in value since its split, its recent pump of over 200% from late November to early December 2023 has investors wondering if Luna Classic might recover.



Key Takeaways:

• Luna Classic (LUNC) is the native coin of the old Terra chain that’s been rebranded as Terra Classic after the Luna hard fork on May 28, 2022.

• LUNC utilizes a burn mechanism to reduce its inflated supply of tokens, while LUNA doesn’t have a burn mechanism.

• LUNC can be bought on Bybit as a Spot pair or as a USDT Perpetual contract.

What Is Terra Luna Classic (LUNC)?

Luna Classic (LUNC) is the native coin of the old chain that has been rebranded as Terra Classic. It was launched on May 28, 2022, following the creation of the genesis block on the new chain after the fork.

Originally known as LUNA, LUNC’s stabilizing mechanism for the Terra Classic stablecoin, TerraClassicUSD (USTC), has been disabled, with all the mint and burn functions turned off.



As of December 2023, LUNC has a circulating supply of nearly 5.8 trillion and a market cap of $1.07 billion. The price of the Luna Classic token is around $0.00018 as of Dec 11, 2023.

LUNA vs. LUNC: Why Are There Two Versions?

The original Terra blockchain was launched in January 2018 by Do Kwon and Daniel Shin, with an ICO for LUNA held in early 2019. It performed remarkably well for a few years, and subsequently became one of the world's top 10 largest cryptocurrencies (by market cap).

However, in early May 2022, the TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin lost its peg against the USD and crashed alongside its sister token Luna. It also dragged the entire cryptocurrency market down with it, causing the start of a long crypto winter.

To revive the blockchain, Do Kwon devised a recovery plan stating that the Terra chain will undergo a hard fork and divide into two chains, and the new chain won't have any stablecoin. The Terra validators approved the plan on May 25, 2022, and on May 28, Terra 2.0 was launched.

Terra 2.0’s native token is called LUNA. Meanwhile, the original Terra blockchain is rebranded as Terra Classic, and its native token renamed Luna Classic (LUNC).

LUNC and LUNA are their respective chains’ staking tokens for governance. Nonetheless, several distinctions set them apart. LUNC employs a burn mechanism to reduce its initial inflated supply of 7 trillion, which has helped decrease its supply to the current 6.82 trillion. Its token burn mechanism entails a 1.2% burn tax that’s charged to all on-chain transactions. In contrast, LUNA doesn’t feature any token-burning mechanism.

Detailed Comparison of LUNC and LUNA

The Luna Hard Fork

The collapse of the entire Terra ecosystem led Do Kwon to suggest a hard fork to revive the Terra network. A hard fork occurs when two chains split from the original chain. Both the new and old versions are viable, but they no longer interact with each other.

Renaming the hard fork Terra Classic serves as a tribute to Ethereum Classic, which was formed after the Ethereum DAO hack led Ethereum to be split in two back in 2016.

The new Terra chain, Terra 2.0, doesn’t include any algorithmic stablecoins in its ecosystem. The new LUNA tokens were airdropped to the Luna Classic holders, stakers, residual UST holders and app developers on Terra Luna Classic.

LUNC Price Prediction: Can Luna Classic Recover to $1?

For several months after its rebranding, the Terra Luna Classic price lingered at a low of $0.0001, which wasn’t unexpected, due to the bearish token and crypto market.

However, LUNC rallied briefly after its tax burn proposal was approved and went live on Sept. 21, 2022. The tax burns 1.2% of every transaction on the blockchain which will reduce the supply of LUNC and increase its demand.

Luna Classic rallied further upon Binance’s announcement on Sept. 26, 2022, to burn all trading fees on LUNC spot and margin trading pairs. The LUNC price shot up over 60% from $0.00018 to $0.0003 within just a few hours.

However, LUNC’s pump proved to be temporary, and its price steadily declined over time to a support level of around $0.0005 by August 2023. In late November, LUNC’s price experienced a rapid upward climb from $0.0000778 on Nov 26 to $0.00027 on Dec 5, declining slightly to $0.00018 by Dec 11.



The recent good news has made many crypto experts relatively bullish about Luna Classic’s future, despite its history of implosion.



According to DigitalCoinPrice’s predictions, LUNC’s price will gradually rise to approximately $0.00067 by 2025 and shoot to $0.0019 by 2039. 



Similarly, AMB CRYPTO predicts the price of Luna Classic will rise to $0.00046 by 2025 and $0.001 by 2030.

Why Is Luna Classic’s Price Increasing?

A series of events may have led up to LUNC’s recent rally. 

First, in late September 2023, the Terra Classic community voted to discontinue USTC minting and a proposal to further support Binance’s burning of USTC passed, which would further contribute to the 43 billion LUNC burned to date via Binance’s current monthly LUNC burn mechanism.

Then, in early October 2023, Mint Cash, a permissionless payment and savings platform backed by Bitcoin, outlined its plans to revitalize the Terra ecosystem through a USTC airdrop program to aid users affected by losses stemming from the LUNA/UST crash.

Lastly, on November 22, Terraform Labs announced that it had injected $15 million into two projects within the Terra ecosystem to boost liquidity for blue chip assets like Bitcoin and Ether, which would also facilitate the building of DeFi apps.



Nevertheless, despite these favorable occurrences that have contributed to the recent surge in LUNC’s price, it doesn’t seem likely at the moment that LUNC will truly recover and regain its former glory. In fact, LUNC is starting to see a price drop again, undoubtedly due to its recent proposal to reduce the number of validators on the Terra Classic chain from 135 to 100. This community-approved proposal was widely criticized due to security and growth risks with greater centralization.

Where to Buy Luna Classic

After the original Luna token crashed, many exchanges removed the coin from their listings. Bybit brought it back to support the revival plan, allowing holders to trade and swap LUNC.

On Bybit, you can buy LUNC as a USDT spot pair or a USDC spot pair. You can also buy Luna Classic as a USDT Perpetual.

The Future of Luna Classic

There’s no denying that many investors and crypto enthusiasts had their confidence shaken when the original Terra blockchain crashed in May 2022. People quickly called Do Kwon a fraudster, and were skeptical about Terra ever making a comeback.

Nevertheless, the Terra Classic blockchain is starting to show promise with the recent amalgamation of events having led to its price pump. That said, the slightest change in its community’s direction could cause a cascading effect on its prices, as demonstrated by its recent validator proposal. This highlights the reality that the Terra Classic community is still grappling with challenges and uncertainties. Hence, it’s hard to say if LUNC will once again rise from the ashes, or simply crash and burn.

While recent events have showcased the resilience of Terra Classic, the lingering impact of past challenges and the sensitivity of market sentiment suggest that caution and vigilance are still warranted. Nevertheless, it’s still a crypto worth watching for further developments.





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