Will Terra die after the Hard Fork?

over 2 years ago (Edited)

The situation with Terra is going to be a long and protracted fight for survival. Considering how bad things are, you'd think that the project would have moved on by now but they haven't.

Looking at it on the surface, I guess we could give them plaudits for sticking to their guns and trying to find a solution.

On top of that, a number of high profile individuals in the crypto space have come out to show to commiserate with the project. Quite a few have even pledged some level of support to revive the project.

I find it quite fascinating how strong the support Terra is receiving is. If anything, I think it's kind of touching, putting it lightly.

Do Kwon has spoken numerous times about how Terra is not just about UST but about the tech. Ironically, it was the tech that was attacked though.

Anyway, just as I mentioned in one of my previous publications, there are conversations about a potential hardfork. The hardfork seeks to create a new project that will coexist with the old Luna project.

According to Do Kwon, this new network will not necessarily take elements of the old Terra ecosystem. However, as reported by Cointelegraph, an airdrop to Luna, UST and Luna holders will be carried out.

Interestingly, the proposal also seeks to completely remove the Terra labs wallet. This move effectively makes it a community-run project.

The proposal is expected to go live in a couple of days and if passed, the new chain will be deployed on the 27th of May. Naturally, I expect this to be the next course of action, even though I have my doubts about the efficacy.

Is Luna dead?

Technically speaking, Luna is not dead. It will still exist as Luna classic, while the majority of the community forks over to the new chain or to other similar networks like Fantom or Polygon.

In any case, this hardfork will naturally translate to fewer developments and projects running on the chain. Pretty much turning Luna classic into Ether classic or Steem Blockchain.

In fact, the proposed hardfork that intends to kick out the Terra labs wallet address is somewhat similar to how Hive converted the premine Steem into the Hive DAO. Only in Terra's case, the wallet is simply ignored in the airdrop.

I'm looking at it the hardfork on the surface and all I can see is opportunity written all over it. This could be a chance to get into the new community-run version of Terra at a cheap price before it gets massively shilled and wash traded into top 50 crypto at least.

For the old community though, there still seems to be some fight in them. Terra classic will not go down without one or two more pushes.

The CEO of Polygon, and a couple of other blockchains have come out in support of Terra. The move is intended to be mutually beneficial to all parties involved.

The word is that a number of projects are going to seamlessly migrate to Polygon network. This move will be carried out in conjunction with a number of projects on Polygon Network.

Other than Polygon, there was also a show of support by Fantom network that opened their doors for any community-run project on Terra. This is also another move that could be mutually beneficial to either chain.

In summary

One of my observations in all these events is the fact that a lot of blockchains are fundamentally centralised. This means that they have a single and obvious point of weakness that can technically be exploited.

The design flaw in Terra that gave rise to the exploit that we call an "attack" will definitely be ironed out in the new chain. Also, turning it into a community-run project should have been done for a long time.

Do Kwon can rant all he wants about how Terra is beyond UST and the tech is all that matters. In reality, though, the market is only reacting to the centralised project's failure.

Right now, Terra is still a centralised network that plans to fork into a community-run project. It is a failed project, not because the market is grinding it out to zero but because the one thing that it offers doesn't work.

Anyway, I sincerely doubt Terra will recover from this debacle and I believe that the classic network will fade into oblivion. The new network that will be forked out is still in the oven, and when it comes to life, the community has to take steps to protect their network.

Finally, algorithm stable coins still have a future in the crypto industry. Unfortunately, UST is not going to be in the future and failure of one, while being painful, does not mean that all hope is lost.