LUNC Surges Over 160% in a Week as Do Kwon Sentencing and Token Burns Draw Traders

LUNC$0.0₄3381, the rebranded token from the collapsed Terra ecosystem, posted one of the largest gains in the crypto market over the past 24-hour period, climbing more than 74% to $0.0000072 on exploding trading volume. The token is up more than 160% in the past week.

The rally comes ahead of the Dec. 11 sentencing of Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, who has admitted to financial fraud charges in the U.S. and faces up to 12 years in prison. Traders appear to be speculating that a final verdict could bring clarity to a project long mired in legal uncertainty. On top of that, Do Kwon’s hearing brings in attention the project has long missed.

At the same time, technical factors are driving attention. Token burns, where coins are permanently removed from circulation, have picked up speed.

In the past week alone, 849 million LUNC were destroyed, with Binance contributing by burning half of the fees from LUNC trades. December's pace has already passed 959 million tokens burned. According to a tracking dashboard, a total of 75.89 billion LUNC has now been burned by Binance.

Though relatively small compared to the token’s circulating supply of 5.49 trillion, the burn activity has energized a community still hoping to revive the ecosystem after the 2022 collapse that wiped out $40 billion in value.

Adding to the momentum, Binance paused LUNC withdrawals ahead of the Terra Chain’s v2.18 upgrade scheduled for Dec. 8. The upgrade aims to fix interoperability bugs and improve network stability.

Still, the token remains volatile while outperforming the wider market. Based on the performance of the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index, it dropped by nearly 2.3% over the same period.