Terra (LUNA) has just become one of the fastest-performing cryptocurrencies on the market today, recording an impressive double-digit price increase.
This sharp price surge coincided with the sentencing hearing of founder Do Kwon (taking place today) and several new updates to the ecosystem, which have brought the project a lot of attention.
Why is the price of the Terra (LUNA) Token rising sharply?
LUNA started showing signs of an uptrend late last week, but buying pressure intensified further on Monday after the network upgrade project to version v2.18.0. Major exchanges like Bybit and Binance supported this upgrade, temporarily suspending deposits and withdrawals to ensure user safety.
As a result, market sentiment has shifted significantly positively. In fact, the Token surged to its highest level in 7 months yesterday. LUNA's upward momentum continues into today.
Data from BeInCrypto Markets shows that the price of LUNA has increased by 55.58% in just the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, the coin is trading around $0.232.
Terra (LUNA) price movement. Source: BeInCrypto MarketsNotably, with today's surge, LUNA has become the second-highest-performing coin of the day on CoinGecko . Volume also exploded, increasing by 192.10% and exceeding $700 million for the day.
Besides network upgrades, another factor believed to be strongly influencing attention to LUNA is the upcoming sentencing of Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon .
Today, Kwon will appear before Judge Engelmayer in the Southern District of New York court. The U.S. Department of Justice is recommending a 12-year prison sentence for him.
However, one analyst also emphasized that the sentences handed down may differ from those proposed by the prosecutor. For example, Sam Bankman-Fried received a 25-year prison sentence despite the prosecution's initial recommendation of 40-50 years . Alex Mashinsky also received only 12 years, even though the UK was recommended 20 years.
“I wouldn’t speculate on the exact number of years Do Kwon will be sentenced to, but it would be naive to think he’ll definitely get more than 12 years, especially when you include the time he spent in custody,” Camol Chia .
However, Toknex expressed concern about LUNA's recent price surge and warned retail investors not to XEM it as a genuine sign of recovery .
“This isn’t a comeback. This isn’t due to fundamental factors either. It’s simply community hype driving up the price for fun. The Terra ecosystem has truly been dead since 2022. This new LUNA has no story, no long-term value. The price only spikes whenever traders want to ‘gamble’ with volatility,” Toknex wrote .
As the sentencing approached, the trading community paid attention not only to LUNA but also to Terra Luna Classic (LUNC). This attention helped both Token consistently appear at the top of CoinGecko 's "trending" list today.
BeInCrypto also reported last week that the price of LUNC surged by 100% after a journalist wore an "original" Terra Luna t-shirt at the Binance Blockchain Week event in Dubai.
Thus, as both LUNA and LUNC Token returned to the spotlight, the community continued to debate whether this surge was a genuine "resurgence" or merely temporary volatility driven by speculative trading.
