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Luna Classic (LUNC) is the native coin of the old Terra chain that has been rebranded as Terra Classic, and LUNC retains all the properties of the original LUNA coin.

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Remember Luna? The sister token of the supposed stablecoin that crashed in early May 2022? It was once the talk of the crypto town. 

Now it’s making a comeback as its co-founder Do Kwon and the Terra community is following through with Kwon's Terra ecosystem recovery plan.

The plan involves creating a hard fork in the Terra

 it into two distinct chains. The original one is now called Terra Classic with the token renamed Luna Classic (LUNC), and the new one is termed 

How are they different, you ask? Is Luna Classic still a good investment option? 

Read on to find the answers to these questions and more.

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 retains all the properties of the original Terra Luna coin, and continues to act as a stabilizing mechanism for the Terra Classic stablecoin, 

 of just under $2 billion. The price of the Luna Classic token is around $0.0003 on September 27, 2022. 

An extensive LUNC burn is underway after the

passed in late September, imposing a 1.2% tax on each transaction. The goal is to reduce the circulating supply and increase its demand. 

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 

 alongside its sister token Luna. It also dragged the entire cryptocurrency market down with it, causing the start of a long 

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. LUNC, however, has the added role of helping maintain the price of its 

, Terra (UST), through the protocol’s algorithmic 

. When the price of UST rises too high or falls too low, the module incentivizes the burning of UST to mint LUNC, or vice versa. This, in turn, helps stabilize price volatility. 

Hence, the primary difference between the two tokens is that LUNC acts as an arbitrage mechanism to the Terra algorithmic stablecoin, while LUNA doesn’t because there aren’t any algorithmic stablecoins.

The collapse of the entire Terra ecosystem led Do Kwon to suggest a hard fork to revive the Terra network. A 

 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 

, 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, no longer includes any algorithmic stablecoins in its ecosystem, and holders of the original LUNA token were air-dropped new Terra LUNA tokens. The new LUNA tokens were air-dropped to the Luna Classic holders, stakers, residual UST holders and app developers on Terra Luna Classic. 

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 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. 

 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.

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 rise in the next five years and reach 

by 2025. However, they don’t expect the price to go much higher in the upcoming decade.

Similarly, WalletInvestor predicts the price of Luna Classic to 

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. 

. You can also buy Luna Classic on other cryptocurrency exchanges.

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. 

Since the fork, the Terra Classic blockchain is showing promise. The coin is trending especially after Binance’s announcement of the LUNC tax burn on its transactions. That points toward the possibility of Luna Classic increasing in value in the upcoming years. 

That said, INTERPOL reportedly has requested law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and arrest Do Kwon, and Terraform Labs, the development firm behind Terra, is also accused of running a Ponzi scheme. Hence, it’s hard to say if LUNC will truly rise from the ashes, or simply crash and burn. 

It is, however, an interesting crypto to watch, and you should definitely keep your eyes on it for the next development.

What Is Luna Classic: Rise of LUNC With Luna Hard Fork

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