After recording new all-time highs all throughout 2021, the value of Theta (THETA) dropped 25% in less than 24 hours leading into March 25, following news that the project’s mainnet launch had been pushed back two months.
Theta is a blockchain-based video streaming platform that was gearing up for its official Mainnet 3.0 launch next month. On March 24, the Theta team announced that it was delaying the mainnet launch until the end of June.
By early Thursday morning, Theta had lost a quarter of its value — falling from a token price of $14.43 down to $10.73.
The cause of the mainnet delay appears to have been a late code review, and a last-minute decision to include an NFT marketplace in the upcoming upgrade.
“Key partnership opportunities in the NFT space have required us to devote resources to building out the upcoming Theta NFT marketplace in a broader approach, and incorporating some of these foundational elements into Mainnet 3.0 core,” Theta stated.
Given Theta’s miraculous surge throughout the first three months of 2021, it is perhaps unsurprising that the token price finally dipped. The token recorded 961% growth between Jan.1 and March 24, as its dollar value rose from $1.36 to $14.43.
Forming one half of a two-token system, Theta’s sister token, Theta Fuel (TFUEL), also recorded significant growth during the last three months. The TFUEL price surged 1,921% since Jan. 1, but by Thursday morning it too had lost a quarter of its value, dropping 25.6% overnight.
Notably, four hours after Theta and Theta Fuel had each lost 25% of their values, both were subject to a sizable bounce, regaining 17% and 20% respectively.