Binance announced that its Tether (USDT)-margined Terra (LUNA) futures contracts have been delisted from the platform. News of Binance delisting LUNA/USDT has come to light owing to a 100% price drop.
In addition, Binance announced that it would issue Binance USD (BUSD)-margined LUNA futures contracts. It would act as an alternative investment vehicle if LUNA/USDT was delisted.
Binance delisting LUNA/USDT prompts revised margin tiers
Binance announced in a new blog post that it will take “precautionary measures” around its LUNA/USDT perpetual contracts. The intention is to delist the pair if the price falls below 0.005 USDT. On Wednesday, the exchange changed the leverage and margin tiers for the LUNA-tied contracts. The maximum leverage sits at eight times for positions under $50,000.
According to the exchange, there has been “slowness and congestion,” which has resulted in a large number of Terra network withdrawal transactions being reported as pending.
Following a mass sell-off, the LUNA price dropped to a complete 100% in the last 24 hours. It reached $0.004 at the time of publication – resulting in Binance delisting LUNA/USDT. Volatility hit many tokens in the crypto market. Bitcoin (BTC) falls below $27,000 to a 16-month low. While Ether (ETH) falls below $2,000 for the first time since July 2021.
Volatility scare
Many exchanges have responded to FUD rumors about user funds circulating on social media amid extreme market volatility. On Wednesday, Celsius Network CEO Alex Mashinsky told his Twitter followers that the platform “has not experienced any significant losses and all funds are safe,” while Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told exchange users that the company is at “no risk of bankruptcy.”
Do Kwon, a co-founder of Terra, suggested a “recovery plan” for TerraUSD (UST) on Tuesday, later adding that he backed community requests to boost the algorithmic stablecoin’s minting capacity. Kwon, however, has yet to react to the additional LUNA price drop.