Stablecoins luna and terraUSD add fuel to cryptocurrency fire
CBSN
The bloodbath in cryptocurrencies continued Thursday when the price of two benchmark "stablecoins" sank below $1, adding fire to a rout that has seen the price of bitcoin fall to its lowest level in more than a year.
Two of the most sturdy tokens in the cryptocurrency world fell below their benchmark this week and that fueled a digital currency selloff Thursday, leading to price drops in bitcoin, ether and solana. Bitcoin fell as low as $26,513 Thursday, down 8% from Wednesday. Ripple has fallen 19% to $0.38 and ether is down 14% to $1,981. Those declines began soon after the prices of terraUSD and luna dropped below $1.
TerraUSD and luna are known in crypto circles as stablecoins, which means their value is tied to a commodity or a currency. In this case, terra and luna have been pegged to the U.S. dollar, meaning every luna is supposed to be worth $1. Some investors have grown to depend on stablecoins like luna because it shields their money from the wild swings typical of many cryptocurrencies.
