Theta ecosphere’s twin tokens THETA (THETA) and Theta Fuel (TFUEL) traded dramatically lower after the development team announced a delay to conduct a “code review” and testing for Theta Mainnet 3.0. 

What Happened: “To ensure the edge network functions efficiently as it scales to 100K+ Elite Edge Nodes and to incorporate some building blocks for our longer-term NFT vision, we decided that additional time to conduct a more thorough code review and testing was important,” Theta Labs said in a statement. 

THETA reached an all-time high of $14.99 on Wednesday was trading 20.48% below that level at $12.05 at press time. In a 24-hour period, the currency fell 17.17%.

TFUEL too reached its all-time high of $0.56 on Wednesday and traded 23.86% below that mark at $0.43. In a 24-hour period, the cryptocurrency declined 18.51%. 

Theta said that key partnership opportunities in the non-fungible token space required its team to devote resources in building the upcoming Theta NFT marketplace “in a broader approach, and incorporating some of these foundational elements into Mainnet 3.0 core.”

Why It Matters: A similar delay also marred the launch of Mainnet 2.0 in the spring of 2020 but the Theta team expressed confidence that the present delay “is the right choice for the long term.”

Theta pointed to its native blockchain, which it claimed is “lightning fast with effectively 0 transaction fees.” 

“Our proof-of-stake protocol purpose-built for media becomes even more important as the cost of minting and transacting NFTs on Ethereum,” according to Theta Labs. Ethereum (ETH) traded 5% lower at $1,595.36 at press time.

THETA has soared 547.84% since the year began while TFuel has shot up 1,177.86% in the same period.

THETA has been subject to a social media buzz. The token can be earned by watching the theta.tv service and plays the role of “fuel” just as gas does on the Ethereum blockchain.

The two coins gains have eclipsed the apex cryptocurrency Bitcoin’s (BTC) rise. BTC year-to-date returns have been 79.89%. The cryptocurrency traded 2.57% lower at $52,709.03 at press time.