Last updated on June 14th, 2022
If you are looking to send LUNA from one platform to another, you may have noticed that there are a few networks that you can use, including ERC20 and Terra.
If you send LUNA via the Terra network, you will receive native LUNA. However, if you send LUNA via ERC20, you will receive wrapped LUNA.
There are a few differences between these 2 tokens, and here’s what you need to know:
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The difference between LUNA and wrapped LUNA
Both LUNA and wrapped LUNA (WLUNA) are interchangeable and will hold the same value. LUNA is a token that exists on the Terra network, while wrapped LUNA (WLUNA) is an ERC20 token that is used to represent LUNA on the Ethereum network.
You can view this updated video guide for more information:
LUNA is native to the Terra network, which is a separate blockchain network from the Ethereum (ERC20) network. As such, native LUNA will not be compatible with ERC20, so you won’t be able to send native LUNA to an ERC20 deposit address.
This is similar to how the Bitcoin network is not compatible with the ERC20 network, so you can’t add BTC to wallets like Metamask.
As such, wrapped LUNA is a representation of LUNA on the ERC20 network, which can be added to Metamask.
In theory, the value of wrapped LUNA should be equal to LUNA.
There aren’t many use cases for wrapped LUNA (wLUNA)
LUNA is the main token for the entire Terra ecosystem, so it has a lot of use cases such as:
- Staking LUNA on Terra Station
- Bonding LUNA as bLUNA
- Processing transactions on your Terra Station wallet
- Adding to liquidity pools on DeFi protocols
Meanwhile, wrapped LUNA (WLUNA) is an ERC20 token that cannot be used in the Terra ecosystem. This is because the ERC20 network and Terra ecosystems are not able to be connected together.
As such, wrapped LUNA does not have that many use cases. It is mainly used to represent LUNA on the Ethereum network, and could possibly be used in some DeFi applications.
For example, you could create a liquidity pool using WLUNA on Uniswap.
Apart from that, there aren’t many functions of WLUNA on the ERC20 network.
Nevertheless, there are some platforms such as Gemini or Coinbase which only support the ERC20 version of LUNA.
There is a wrapped version of LUNA on the Binance Smart Chain too
Wrapped LUNA is also available on the Binance Smart Chain, where you are able to transfer a tokenised version of LUNA on this network, which is similar to WLUNA on ERC20.
You can view the Binance Smart Chain contract address from BSCScan.
After that, you will be able to add it to wallets such as Metamask.
However, it is interesting to note that Binance does not support the Binance Smart Chain version of LUNA! You are only able to deposit or withdraw the native Terra or ERC20 versions of LUNA from Binance.
How can I convert from wrapped LUNA to LUNA?
To convert wrapped LUNA (WLUNA) to LUNA, you will need to send WLUNA to a platform that supports both ERC20 and Terra versions of LUNA. Alternatively, you can use a bridge (e.g. Terra Bridge) to convert from ERC20 to Terra.
There are 3 platforms that support both LUNA and wrapped LUNA (WLUNA):
This means that you will be able to send wrapped LUNA to any of these exchanges via the ERC20 network. For example, I will send LUNA to my KuCoin account via the ERC20 deposit address.
Don’t forget to double-check that you are able to use the ERC20 network to withdraw LUNA to the platform of your choice!
Once I have LUNA in my KuCoin account, I will be able to send it to another wallet via the Terra (LUNA) network.
If you are sending LUNA via the Terra network to another exchange platform such as Binance, you will need to include a memo from the LUNA deposit address.
However, if you are sending LUNA to Terra Station, you do not need to include a memo.
It does not matter which network to use to send LUNA to KuCoin. Ultimately, all of them will be aggregated into one account balance.
You can repeat the same process of ‘converting’ wrapped LUNA to LUNA on other exchanges:
- Send wrapped LUNA to the exchange via the ERC20 network
- Receive wrapped LUNA on the exchange (it will aggregate wrapped LUNA and LUNA as one balance)
- Send LUNA via the Terra network to a wallet which supports the native Terra network
There are some platforms that only supported wrapped LUNA, such as Coinbase and Gemini. As such, you can only withdraw the ERC20 version from these platforms, and not the native Terra version.
You can use the Terra Bridge to convert from wrapped LUNA to LUNA too
If you do not want to use an exchange, another method you can use is the Terra Bridge.
However, you will need to have wrapped LUNA on a non-custodial wallet such as Metamask.
Here are the steps that you’ll need to take to bridge from wrapped LUNA to native LUNA:
- Connect a non-custodial wallet that has wrapped LUNA (ERC20) inside
- Copy a Terra network deposit address (usually starts with ‘terra’) as the destination address
- Send native LUNA to the wallet that supports the Terra network
There are 2 things that you may want to note:
- You will need to pay a gas fee for this transfer, which can be quite high
- You are only able to send native LUNA to a non-custodial wallet which does not require a memo
The Terra Bridge does not allow you to include a memo to your destination address, so you can’t send native LUNA to an exchange like Binance or KuCoin.
You are unable to convert wrapped LUNA to LUNA using Trust Wallet
If you have Trust Wallet, you may notice that your balance of LUNA is separate from wrapped LUNA.
As such, if you send wrapped LUNA to Trust Wallet, you can only withdraw it using the ERC20 network.
This is different from an exchange platform, which aggregates both native LUNA and wrapped LUNA into the same balance.
How can I convert from LUNA to wrapped LUNA?
To convert LUNA to wrapped LUNA (WLUNA), you will need to send LUNA to a platform that supports both ERC20 and Terra versions of LUNA. Alternatively, you can use a bridge (e.g. Terra Bridge) to convert from Terra to ERC20.
The process of converting from LUNA to wrapped LUNA is similar to the previous method. In this case, you will need to send native LUNA to a platform like KuCoin.
You will need to copy both the deposit address and memo to the platform that you’re withdrawing from, such as Terra Station.
You can find out more about the memos here.
If you do not include the memo in your withdrawal details, there is a chance that your funds may be lost forever!
Once you have sent over native LUNA to KuCoin, you can choose to withdraw it using the ERC20 network.
You will need to withdraw wrapped LUNA to a platform that supports the ERC20 version of LUNA, such as Gemini or Coinbase.
You may want to note that there are some platforms like Huobi that do not support the ERC20 version of LUNA.
As such, you should not send wrapped LUNA to such platforms!
You can convert from LUNA to wrapped LUNA on the Terra Bridge too
It is possible for you to convert LUNA to wrapped LUNA on the Terra Bridge.
Here are the steps you’ll need to do so:
- Connect a non-custodial wallet that supports native LUNA on the Terra network (usually Terra Station)
- Copy the ERC20 deposit address of wrapped LUNA from the platform of your choice
- Send wrapped LUNA to the platform
The gas fees that you’ll pay are lower, compared to the fees you’ll need to pay on the Ethereum network.
Once you have completed the withdrawal, you should receive wrapped LUNA in the platform that you have chosen.
Conclusion
Wrapped LUNA is a representation of the native LUNA on the ERC20 network. This is because the Terra network is incompatible with the Ethereum network.
If you would like to convert wrapped LUNA to LUNA or vice versa, there are 2 main ways that you can do so:
- Send either wrapped LUNA or LUNA to a platform that supports both Terra and ERC20 deposits, and withdraw using the other network
- Use the Terra Bridge to bridge from ERC20 to Terra or vice versa
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