$RUNE bounced roughly 15% after THORChain restarted most of its cross chain swaps, and the story behind it is more than a simple relief rally. On October 31 a one block Ethereum reorganization erased a 10 ETH deposit that THORChain had already credited. The protocol then refunded funds its vault never received, creating an extra 10 ETH payout. The solvency checker caught the gap within minutes and node operators paused trading across most networks. The extra ETH was later returned.
According to Cointelegraph, swaps are now live on 10 of 13 external networks, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, while BNB Smart Chain, Cosmos Hub and Solana remain paused with no reopening date. Chainalysis also noted that the halt delayed cross chain transfers linked to the $6.3 billion Binance hack.
My view: the safety mechanism did its job, which is encouraging. Still, THORChain has had several incidents this year, and the hacker angle reopens the old debate about how neutral a protocol should be. RUNE ranks outside the top 100 on CoinMarketCap, so moves can be sharp in both directions. I am watching when the last three chains come back and whether the remaining nodes finish upgrading.
According to Cointelegraph, swaps are now live on 10 of 13 external networks, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, while BNB Smart Chain, Cosmos Hub and Solana remain paused with no reopening date. Chainalysis also noted that the halt delayed cross chain transfers linked to the $6.3 billion Binance hack.
My view: the safety mechanism did its job, which is encouraging. Still, THORChain has had several incidents this year, and the hacker angle reopens the old debate about how neutral a protocol should be. RUNE ranks outside the top 100 on CoinMarketCap, so moves can be sharp in both directions. I am watching when the last three chains come back and whether the remaining nodes finish upgrading.