Luna lives?

Good morning! Welcome to The Daily Moon. You know you’ve reached the end of a cycle when Spotify is hawking it. The music streaming company is testing NFT galleries for a handful of musicians. No, not Madonna, not yet. But The Wombats and Steve Aoki. If you’re in the mood for more, you can head to Open Sea and buy some of their collectibles as well. Spotify is being very generous for a change by not demanding a commission from these sales.

EU Has A Date With CBDC

Europe’s virtual currency dreams finally have a formal deadline. The European Central Bank is planning to launch the digital euro in 2026. Once launched, this digital currency can be used for payment across the European Union.

The digital euro is the region’s Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC. To simplify, CBDC is the digital version of paper money backed by a central bank. The concept came as a response to crypto investments gaining prominence.

On the radarEach region is at a different stage of the CBDC debut. Here:

• Nigeria and the Caribbean’s Eastern Caribbean Central Bank were among the first globally to launch a digital currency.

• Countries such as Russia, China, and Brazil have started CBDC trials.

• India and Australia are in the development stage.

• The United States’ digital dollar is still at an exploratory stage.

• Europe is working towards a 2026 launch date.

The idea here is to get users hooked on government-backed virtual currencies, rather than crypto. In fact, ECB’s Fabio Panetta gave TerraUSD’s example to show how stablecoins are vulnerable too.

And, back homeThe Reserve Bank of India is working on developing a digital rupee. A 2023 deadline has been set for the launch and the regulator is taking a ‘calibrated’ approach.

But even before the digital rupee's debut, think-tanks such as NCAER have sounded caution. There are fears about cash-dependent users getting left out of the payment system if CBDC becomes the norm.

With strict deadlines in sight, you’ll hear more often from central banks across the globe.

Luna’s Staying Alive

Terra’s de-pegging troubles are far from over, but founder Do Kwon hasn’t given up yet. After Proposal 1164, Kwon has another rescue plan in mind.

Under this, the existing Terra chain will be forked into a new chain. To simplify, this means that changes will be made to the existing blockchain. The new chain will not be backed by algorithmic stablecoins, essentially abandoning the TerraUSD token.

Let’s go a little deeper

1. Terra will be split in two. The old chain will be called Terra Classic with the token LUNA Classic. The forked chain will be called ‘Terra’ with the token LUNA. Both these chains will coexist.

2. LUNA will be airdropped or distributed to Terra Classic stakers and residual TerraUSD holders.

3. The old Terraform Labs wallet will be removed from the blockchain.

4. Terra will become a fully community-owned chain.

Once the network approves the proposal, Terraform Labs will initiate the fork on May 27. The crypto market was unimpressed by this plan, leaving LUNA to slide 18.9% soon after.

What Does Nomura See?

Japanese investment bank Nomura can’t get enough of crypto. After entering the crypto derivatives world on May 13, the bank is now planning to set up a separate unit offering DeFi and NFTs. It’s an interesting time for the bank to wade into crypto, especially when token prices are trending downwards and there seems to be a sentiment to sell rather than buy.

Are they really serious?Extremely. Nomura plans to set up an entire unit and hire a 100-member team for this business before 2023 ends. This unit will give clients access to assets in crypto, decentralised finance, and non-fungible tokens.

This sounds familiarBecause it is. This isn’t the first time Nomura is wading into crypto. In January 2020, its research arm, the Nomura Research Institute, created a benchmark index to track Japan’s crypto market. Nomura also launched a digital asset custody business called Komainu with two crypto startups, CoinShares and Ledger.

LIC Let Out A Big Meh

It was a bit of a roller coaster for everyone involved. So, let’s go with how the day started. Today was one of the biggest days in history for Indian investors. One of the largest IPOs, that of LIC, finally listed. But it opened at an 8.6% discount. Scaring investors that the worst of the market had affected this as well.

But the day ended with the LIC rising ~1% from its listing price.

LIC is a little specialIt is. Not only is it the country’s largest insurance provider, but it is also an active investor in the public markets. In some cases, governments have used it to bail out related entities. So, when LIC has a bad day, you can bet others will as well.

HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential Life, and SBI Life all had a very meh day on the market.

And that’s it for today. If this email was forwarded to you, please consider subscribing. It’s free. We’ll never show you an ad or charge you for this. We swear.

Who are we? There is a lot happening in our world. Everything has layers, and each layer has to be carefully peeled so you, the reader, know how the world of money is changing every day. That’s our promise. Help you unpeel the onions, which are the public markets in the US, India, and crypto, so that you know just a little more.