Someone Forgot to Tell the Washington Nationals About Terra

By Jeff Benson

Talk about bad timing. The Washington Nationals, winner of the 2019 World Series, have been making good on the terms of a partnership it forged back in February.

The unfortunate part?

That partnership is with Terra, the blockchain network whose algorithmic stablecoin dropped to a price below $0.70 yesterday as the network hemorrhaged funds like the Nationals have been hemorrhaging runs.

The Nats tweeted to their nearly 800,000 followers a video titled "Crypto 101" sponsored—in big letters—by Terra with the caption: "You have questions. We've got answers." It then proceeds to tout the benefits of cryptocurrency while pointing out that it's not "paper money" and is native to the internet. 

Terra inked a five-year, $40 million deal with the Washington Nationals before the start of the MLB season. Terms of the deal involved the Nats placing signage and advertising with the park, renaming a premium seating area Terra Club, and publishing a Terra-produced video explainer series that debuted today.

The relationship is managed by the Terra Community Trust, which is in turn managed by a DAO of LUNA token holders called the Terra Community Pool. DAOs are groups of token holders who collectively make decisions about how to use their treasury and/or modify protocols.

The deal itself occurred a few months after Terraform Labs head Do Kwon was served by the Securities and Exchange Commission—also based in D.C.—and just one week before the U.S. District Court in New York ordered Terraform and Kwon to comply with the subpoenas.

Washington Nationals managing principal owner Mark D. Lerner wrote at the time of the deal's announcement: "We are excited to partner with Terra to name our most exclusive club and explore bringing powerful new fan experiences to Nationals Park, including the use of UST cryptocurrency to make purchases.”

 But UST likely won't be used for purchases any time soon. The algorithmic stablecoin, which maintains its peg through a complex burn mechanism with Terra's native LUNA token, was trading for under $0.70 on Monday. It remains at $0.91 today, still well below the $1.00 target—and knocking it off its perch of the third-largest stablecoin. 

LUNA, meanwhile, has lost nearly 50% of its value in just 24 hours, per CoinMarketCap.

But it could be worse: At least Terra isn't 10-20 in the NL East and paying Patrick Corbin $23 million a year to sport a 7.16 ERA.

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