The Avalanche Foundation has revealed that it is planning to repurchase 1.97 million Avalanche tokens (AVAX) that were sold to the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) just a month before Terra’s ecosystem collapsed in 2022. The tokens sold for $100m at the time. The Avalanche token buyback goes through today at $45.5 million as the network tries to recover those tokens and keep them out of a bankruptcy liquidation system that would likely turn into an expensive risk for everybody involved.
This buyback represents a big part of the AVAX reputation as the tokens will be returned back to its Foundation’s holdings. The Avalanche Foundation made this clear in a recent statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) about its significance.
“This action ensures that LFG would not violate the original agreement’s restrictions on the tokens’ use and shields the tokens from the complexity of a bankruptcy trustee liquidation,” they noted. The Foundation aims to restore the balance and will continue their efforts to strengthen the AVAX ecosystem with a buyback of its Avalanche token.
The Terra Collapse and AVAX’s Recovery Efforts
The Luna Foundation Guard, which uses its Lunar tokens to perpetrate the USTC-backed stablecoin shored up reserves for 1.97 million AVAX in April of this year. As at that moment, the deal was portrayed as a strategic move between Terra and Avalanche ecosystems. But just weeks later, USTC broke the link to the dollar and markets crashed.
AVAX, on the other hand, is trading at 42% below sale price. The Avalanche token buyback would help to reverse some of the impact from the collapse, easing off potential lawsuits for Terraform Labs that declared bankruptcy after it all came crashing down.
Settlement Agreement and its Future Consequences
Under the terms of the settlement, Terraform Labs has also committed to a $45.5 million Avalanche token repurchase in early August 2024 at AVAX volume-weighted average prices over a seven-day period. The deal is detailed in an October 9 filing with the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, which has yet to approve it.
According to Terraform Labs, the settlement will save on litigation expenses and streamline bankruptcy. As they clarified in the filing, however, being able to retrieve anything close to the current market value of these AVAX tokens also protects them from losing more.
Its statement that “the proposed settlement will ‘deplete fewer assets available to distribute to creditors’ than it would have if the Debtors had been compelled to litigate potentially complex and technical issues means anything significant with respect to getting a deal done in favour of the troubled company.
Moving Forward for AVAX and the Market in General
The Avalanche token buyback is occurring as Terraform Labs phases out its operations altogether. A Delaware bankruptcy judge in September approved the company’s motion to liquidate after it agreed earlier this year to settle with securities and exchange commission for $4.5 Billion.
Though the Terra collapse sent shockwaves through multiple parts of the cryptocurrency market, Avalanche’s token repurchase could serve to offset some potential concern. As the Foundation continues to face an uncertain time in global markets, the Foundation is committed long-term to maintaining a healthy ecosystem with the near 2 million AVAX recovery.
As analysts are plugged into the crypto-space, paying keen attention to this is crucial and from market observers point of view, they see it as a new lease on life for AVAX — albeit by distancing itself away from Terra’s drama-filled history. The aforementioned token buyback by the Avalanche Foundation could therefore be a watershed moment for the greater AVAX ecosystem and its growth over an extended period.
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