Crypto industry’s who’s who pump $32M into new stablecoin project 'Terra'

A new project aimed to create a price-stable digital currency – Terra – has secured $32 million in a seed funding round which saw participation from well-known global funds and investment arms of leading cryptocurrency exchanges.

The round was led by Binance Labs, OKEx, Huobi Capital, and Dunamu & Partners (the investment firm of Upbit operator Dunamu) and also drew support from leading global blockchain-focused funds, including Polychain Capital, FBG Capital, Hashed, 1kx, Kenetic Capital, Arrington XRP Capital, as well as mainstream funds like TransLink Capital.

Terra has been founded by Daniel Shin, who is also the founder and Chairman of TMON – a leading eCommerce platform in South Korea. TMON claimed the “unicorn” title in 2017 when it closed a $115 million funding round, which brought its valuation to around $1.2 billion at the time.

“From experience, I know that faster, more secure transactions at a fraction of today’s fees could be a game-changer for many eCommerce platforms. We are excited to be working with great partners and look forward to beta-testing Terra’s payment system in Q4 of this year,” Shin said.

Terra will invest the funding towards the creation of price-stable cryptocurrency, or “stablecoin”, which can be readily used on its blockchain payment solution. According to the Terra whitepaper:

“Terra is a cryptocurrency price-pegged to a basket of currencies much like the IMF’s SDR. At genesis, the composition of the basket will exactly mirror the composition of the SDR, but the basket will, over time, include basic goods and services with worldwide usage and appeal such as gold, corn, and timber.”

In order to drive rapid adoption, Terra announced the “Terra Alliance” – an alliance of global eCommerce partners. According to the official release, 15 companies have joined the alliance so far including TMON, Woowa Brothers, Qoo10, Carousell, Pomelo, and TIKI.

“Beyond being a currency, Terra hopes to evolve into an open platform where innovative financial dApps can build upon Terra’s stability,” it added.