Hello, everyone! Over two weeks, there were a lot of events. First of all, Since Project Santa launched (Project Santa is a bot that distributes Terra foundation tokens to network stakeholders in order to subsidize block rewards), staking ratio has increased to 22.1%, with roughly 5 million additional Luna staked into the ecosystem. 21.7 million Luna translates to a 9.8% staking yield for holders, based on the 221 million tokens currently staked. Terra community has created a simple step-by-step guide for those new to Luna. You can read more in the report below. Terra has added Bugs partner to its payment provider alliance. Bugs is a South Korean music streaming service and the latest addition to the Terra Alliance, a group of ecommerce companies for which Terra provides payment services. The latest partnership will allow Bugs customers to pay for their song purchases using Terra. The company says that the arrangement is the first of its kind between a major music streaming service and a blockchain payments platform. Finally, Terra has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Hong Kong blockchain investor HashKey Capital, an affiliate of fintech company HashKey Group. As part of the deal, the two firms will work together to bring blockchain-based payment solutions to ecommerce and retail businesses throughout Asia. HashKey Capital has a great presence across Asia, especially in Hong Kong and mainland China. You can read more about these in our post.
Social encounters
On Friday, August 9, Terra community launched Project Santa, a validator-driven initiative to create a stronger Terra ecosystem by increasing block rewards. The motivation was simple — given that Terra’s payment network was still in its infancy, the community saw the need to increase block rewards to offset validator costs, continue attracting high-quality validators, and incentivize more Luna holders to stake their tokens. Under Project Santa, a total of 21.7 million Luna was promised to be distributed over the next year to subsidize block rewards, with additional Luna to be committed if there is a need.
Only 4 days in and already Project Santa is a massive success! Check out the increased staking activity here.
And here are some quick stats:
- Since Project Santa launched, staking ratio has increased to 22.1%, with roughly 5 million additional Luna staked into the ecosystem.
- 21.7 million Luna translates to a 9.8% staking yield for holders, based on the 221 million tokens currently staked.
The response from their community has been explosive, and we see more and more people delegating Luna and taking part in Terra’s ecosystem. They can’t thank their Project Santa Validators enough for proposing and pushing through this project.
To encourage more people to stake their Luna, they’ve created a simple step-by-step guide for those new to Luna. Follow the simple steps and check your rewards pile up at every block.
- Create your wallet
feat. Terra Station
Interact with the Terra blockchain by managing your wallet, swapping tokens, and delegating LUNA to validators.
DOWNLOAD
Visit Terra’s website (https://terra.money/) and download the latest version of the Terra Station.
Crypto 101: Make sure you have your seed phrase written down and stored in a safe place. If you lose this, we can’t help you.
- Pick a validator
Go to the Staking tab to see all validators ranked by voting power. The higher the voting power, the higher the chance that validator gets selected as a block producer. Click a validator to check more detailed information.
Pro Tip: Notice how Goliath charges 100% for commission? That means he won’t share rewards with you, so don’t delegate to validators like him!
- Delegate
Select a validator and click the “Delegate” button. Enter how much you want to delegate and you are all set! Some people like to go all-in with a top validator, and some like to diversify. Choose your own journey.
- Watch your rewards pile up
Once you’ve delegated, your Staking tab will update to show your portfolio. You can easily check how much in rewards you’ve stacked up. You can also withdraw your rewards at anytime.
Partial withdrawals are available once you select one of the validators you’ve delegated to.
- Undelegating and unbonding period
Select the delegator you want to undelegate from, and tap the “Undelegate” button. Once you send this transaction, your Luna will remain locked and unstaked for 21 days.
- Want to redelegate?
Redelegating from one validator to another is just as simple as delegating. Select the new validator you’d like to delegate to, and tap “Delegate”. You can easily re-allocate your stake without having to wait 21 days to unbond by changing the “Source” of Luna.
Pro Tip: If you delegate more to a validator you’ve already delegated to or choose to undelegate, your rewards will get automatically withdrawn. This won’t show up in your transaction history, but you can see your rewards reflected in your balance.
Upcoming travel
- Hong Kong: 26–8th August
Finance
Network statistic
- The total supply of Luna is about 1 billion. The current circulating supply of Luna is around 812.8 million. But around 800 million are belong to the foundation at the moment. They are not willing to sell it in the market anytime soon and many of these tokens are staked.
- The current market cap is around $15.1 million (12.8 million * $1.18)
- Chai payment app has >300k users
- Terra partners in total have >$50bn annual tx volume
- Terra started with Cosmos SDK v0.26 (we’re now at v0.36)
Roadmap
What’s next?
A key step to create a robust Terra/Luna on-chain market is finding the right algorithm, and here’s what the Terra team are exploring for the next iteration of mainnet Columbus.
Automated market makers are routinely adopted in a number of contexts, from financial to betting markets and have recently been proposed as an efficient way to set prices in the cryptocurrency space. Their role is fundamental, and finding the right protocol is key to the successful launch of any new market.
There are many challenges in finding the right algorithm, as it should be compatible with the specific characteristics of the market, such as its liquidity, and its features should minimize the scope for arbitrage opportunities and erratic price behavior. On the way to a robust Terra/Luna on-chain market, the team has reviewed several automated market-making algorithms. In this article, they are going to share some of their learning and discuss the main features behind the Logarithmic Market Scoring Rule and the Uniswap model, as these are the two most popular market-making algorithms. Below, they walk through the mechanics of each approach and discuss the potential merits and drawbacks. They also briefly discuss the applicability of these approaches to Terra’s on-chain swap mechanism.
Partnerships and team members
Terra has added another partner to its payment provider alliance.
The Singapore-based, South Korean-focused blockchain provider and stable coin issuer has agreed to work with Bugs, a South Korean music streaming service. Bugs is the latest addition to the Terra Alliance, a group of ecommerce companies for which Terra provides payment services.
Terra now has 25 partners in the grouping, including some of the largest ecommerce players in the region, and has ambitions to become the PayPal of Asia or even the next Alipay.
The latest partnership will allow Bugs customers to pay for their song purchases using Terra. The company says that the arrangement is the first of its kind between a major music streaming service and a blockchain payments platform.
Bugs, which has 5.8 million songs available for users, was founded in 2002. Formerly known as Neowiz, it was acquired by NHN Entertainment in 2015. The company is listed on the Kosdaq, South Korea’s secondary market, with NHN owning about 45% of the shares.
The arrangement between Bugs and Terra will utilize CHAI, a Korean payments solution provider that has a mobile app for completing transactions. CHAI will be the public face, while Terra will provide the backend blockchain technologies.
“The value chain for payments is convoluted,” said Daniel Shin, co-founder of Terra. “There are six or seven players, and everyone takes a cut. We streamline the process.”
The relationship with CHAI is central to Terra’s strategy, as is the Alliance the company is building. Shin wants crypto be usable and used and believes that the best way to achieve that is to have the front end be simple and intuitive and to give the consumer many ready options for spending. The power of the blockchain and the coin are kept mainly in the background.
“For crypto to be a currency, it needs to be widely accepted for exchange. I don’t think bitcoin fits that definition of a currency,” Shin argues. “We give consumers access to everything they consume, one partner in each vertical. Obviously, music is one.”
Terra, as Terraform Labs, is a Singapore company with a strong interest in Southeast Asia, but it has a clear Korean connection and a clear Korea strategy. But like many companies with strong links to the country, it has been begun to work overseas in part because of domestic regulations that have made developing local crypto all but impossible.
“I think Korea has the opportunity to lead globally, but the lawmakers have not given clarity. Everything is murky and uncertain. Giving clarity will be helpful for the sector,” Shin said.
He noted that in countries like the US, if something is not illegal, it can be done. In Korea, if it is not explicitly legal, it should not even be attempted. The government must give clear consent or nothing happens. So far, the signals have been mixed, and the areas open for business have been limited. But Shin has noticed some movement in this respect with the growing understanding on the part of the authorities that crypto is needed.
“Before, it was crypto ‘no’, blockchain ‘yes’,” he said. “Now it is more like blockchain ‘yes’, private crypto ‘yes’, public and listed crypto ‘no’.”
Terra has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Hong Kong blockchain investor HashKey Capital, an affiliate of fintech company HashKey Group.
As part of the deal, the two firms will work together to bring blockchain-based payment solutions to ecommerce and retail businesses throughout Asia, according to a statement.
“HashKey Capital has a great presence across Asia, especially in Hong Kong and mainland China, and we look forward to exploring those regions together,” said Terra co-founder Daniel Shin.
Terra has built a price-stable cryptocurrency that can be used as a method of payment on its blockchain-based payment solution. It aims for the stablecoin to become the first widely used cryptocurrency by pushing adoption through partnerships with ecommerce firms, such as South Korea’s Ticket Monster (TMON), Singapore’s Carousell, and Vietnam’s Tiki.
The company said it has recently partnered with Korean mobile payments app Chai, which is currently available on TMON, to enable online transactions with blockchain technology. It has also partnered with two other Korean firms, music-streaming giant Bugs and business-to-business fashion platform Sinsang Market.
In May, Terra raised an undisclosed sum from LuneX Ventures, the blockchain-focused investment arm of Golden Gate Ventures. It has also received funding from Kakao Ventures, the investment arm of South Korean internet giant Kakao, earlier this year.
Rumours
No updates
Social media metrics
Social media activity:
Terra community continues to grow. There is constant slight growth in Terra social media channels these weeks.
The graph above shows the dynamics of changes in the number of Terra Twitter followers. The information is taken from Coingecko.com.
