Terra is an open-source blockchain ecommerce platform that offers fiat-pegged stablecoins to improve cross-border payment stability. Terra uses LUNA, its utility and staking coin, as well as a number of additional stablecoins tied to several of the world’s most popular fiat currencies, including TerraUSD (UST), TerraJPY, TerraGBP, TerraCNY. The Terra crypto ecosystem powers retail transactions with minimal fees, rapid settlement, and frictionless cross-border exchange owing to stablecoins.
What’s Terra?
Terra is an open-source blockchain ecommerce platform that offers fiat-pegged stablecoins to improve cross-border payment stability. Terra uses LUNA, its utility and staking coin, as well as a number of additional stablecoins tied to several of the world’s most popular fiat currencies, including TerraUSD (UST), TerraJPY, TerraGBP, TerraCNY. The Terra crypto ecosystem powers retail transactions with minimal fees, rapid settlement, and frictionless cross-border exchange owing to stablecoins.
Luna is a staking token for the Terra system that absorbs the price volatility of Terra stablecoins. Users stake Luna to Terra blockchain miners (also known as “validators”), who record and validate transactions on the blockchain in exchange for transaction fees. Luna’s value rises in tandem with Terra’s utilization.
The Terra Ecosystem
The Terra ecosystem also includes a development platform and blockchain-agnostic infrastructure that enables software engineers to build their own protocols and decentralized applications (dApps) on top of the Terra network.
Terra ecosystem assets can be used for numerous DeFi applications — such as on-chain swaps, oracles, lending, borrowing, staking, synthetic assets, and much more.
Terra has a thriving crypto ecosystem, with over 100 projects spanning DeFi, Web 3.0, and non-fungible coins (NFTs) However, we will concentrate on five intriguing protocols.
5 interesting protocols built on Terra:
1. Mirror Protocol (MIR)
Mirror Protocol is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that allows users to access synthetic assets, or crypto tokens that mimic the price of real-world assets like equities. Synthetic tokens provide investors access to the price of the real-world assets they represent without requiring them to possess those assets themselves. As a result, traders who would otherwise be unable to trade certain underlying assets due to geographical restrictions or a lack of money stand to benefit from their price changes. On automated market makers (AMMs) like Uniswap or Terraswap, synthetic assets can be swiftly swapped for other synthetic assets or stablecoins.
2. Anchor Protocol (ANC)
Anchor Protocol (ANC) is a Terra blockchain lending and borrowing protocol and the 29th project on Binance Launchpool. Users can lend, borrow, and earn interest with their digital assets owing to an over-collateralized architecture. Anchor is a Terra-based savings protocol that allows for quick withdrawals and pays depositors a low-volatility interest rate of 19.5 percent, which is among the highest among stablecoins. Borrowers who pledge liquid-staked PoS assets, such as bLUNA and bETH, as collateral get deposits from Anchor.
Anchor was created as one of the first protocol on Terra. It is a savings platform that gives a dividend based on block rewards from key Proof-of-stake blockchains.
3. White Whale
White Whale is an application built on Terra that provides everyone in the ecosystem with arbitrage possibilities. Arbitrage simply refers to the practice of purchasing an asset in one market and simultaneously selling it in another in order to profit from the price differential. This low-risk opportunity is critical to how UST maintains its dollar peg algorithmically.
Normally, arbitrage opportunities are only available to individuals with large holdings, bots, and technical expertise. As a result, retail can’t easily participate in this economic activity that is so integral to the Terra blockchain.
White whale allows investors to pool funds which are then used to participate in arbitrage opportunities. This solution hits two birds with one stone — it allows UST to maintain a tighter peg to the dollar and allows all participants to profit from doing so.
What happens during periods of stability? If there are no arbitrage opportunities available, White Whale leaves the arbitrage vault’s funds in Anchor’s high-yield interest savings account. This is automatically withdrawn and deployed whenever UST deviates from its peg.
4. Glow Yield
Glow is an expansive programmable yield ecosystem built on Terra, leveraging the likes of Anchor Protocol to forward accrued interest to the end user across easy access decentralized applications.
Glow protocol commercializes yield through an ecosystem of dApps by packaging yield into products that seamlessly plug and play into the routines of users daily lives.
Glow operates multiple dApps such as:
• Glow Lotto
• Glow Creators
• Glow token
• Glow SDK (coming soon)
5. Pylon Protocol
Pylon consists of a suite of savings and payments products in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) that builds on stable yield-bearing protocols such as Terra’s Anchor Protocol in order to provide services powered by user deposits. Pylon enables sustainable exchanges between long-term value providers and their consumers through customizable deposit contracts and yield redirection.
By making a simple, affordable, and retrievable deposit, users of Pylon will be able to receive “no-fee” subscription services; contribute to charity and academic research in perpetuity; support their favorite artists to earn NFT airdrops and tiered fandom perks; rent cars and condos with their principal as collateral; enter no-loss games and mystery box giveaways with prize savings accounts; and make riskless investments in startup projects with all the upsides of being an early investor.
Pylon has forthcoming applications in service payments, philanthropy, patronage, investments, rentals, and savings.
Conclusion
Following the Columbus-5 mainnet upgrade, Terra blockchain has experienced a tremendous increase in the number of dApps, protocols, and builders in the last ten months. In the foreseeable future, Terra is projected to see a surge in diverse developments.
To know more about Terra’s ecosystem
🌍 Terra Projects