Crypto Gainers: Avalanche and Terra ($AVAX, $LUNA)

Over the past week, the total cryptocurrency market cap has increased by ~+1.8%... However, there are 2 top-20 coins vastly outperforming the market: Avalanche ($AVAX) and Terra ($LUNA).

What is Avalanche? ($AVAX)

Avalanche is a blockchain that boasts the fastest smart-contract platform in the industry, making it a direct competitor to other layer-1, smart-contract blockchains like Ethereum ($ETH), Cardano ($ADA), and Solana ($SOL)

Avalanche has been significantly outperforming the rest of the cryptocurrency market: up +53% in the past week.

Crypto-specific mentions of the Avalanche blockchain and its primary token, AVAX, have surged to a new ATH alongside the project's market cap,  up +141% QoQ on a 7-day moving average.

As a Proof-of-Stake(PoS) blockchain, Avalanche utilizes validator nodes to achieve consensus and secure the network. Avalanche has more validators securing its blockchain than any other proof-of-stake protocol: ~1,000 -- This facilitates AVAX's fast, low-cost transactions speeds.

What is Terra? ($LUNA)

According to the team responsible for Terra’s development, Terraform Labs, this blockchain protocol supports, “stable programmable payments and open financial infrastructure development.” In short, Terra represents a “family” of fiat-pegged stablecoins and a protocol token, LUNA, which is used to regulate the price of the stablecoins -- The goal of the project is to increase the price-stability of cryptocurrency-based transactions.
Underlying investor chatter surrounding the Terra protocol and LUNA token has risen by +210% QoQ and +28% month-over-month (7-day moving average).

The recent influx of Buzz has largely been driven by LUNA’s outperformance – LUNA has gained by more than +555% over the past 3 months and +25% in the past week, currently nearing a new all-time high.
Both protocols (AVAX and LUNA) have intriguing real-world use cases in addition to providing rewards to token holders, making them attractive prospects for a long-term investment.