$RUNE Is Back Above Its Pre-Hack Price
THORChain's token is up about 10% today to roughly $0.67, with trading volume around 8x what it had at the June restart. It's now above where it traded before the May hack. Before you chase it, here's the full picture 👇
WHAT IT IS
THORChain lets you swap real Bitcoin, Ethereum and other coins directly across chains, with no wrapped tokens. Every swap runs through RUNE, so more swaps means more demand for RUNE.
WHERE IT CAME FROM
It launched in 2021 as a cross-chain DEX. Its record since is rough:
• July 2021: two exploits, about $5M and $8M
• Jan 2025: network halted over roughly $200M in obligations
• May 15, 2026: a $10.7M vault hack, then a halt of more than five weeks
• Trading restarted June 23, 2026
The May hack came from a flaw in its signing system, where a new malicious node leaked key material. It was patched, but a deeper change to a different signing system has only been discussed.
TOKENOMICS
• Max supply about 354M RUNE, with about 329M circulating
• Market cap about $220M, rank #160
• No vesting or locked allocations, since all RUNE is already released
• Rewards come from network fees, not new tokens
• 1% of system income is burned
• Validators must bond RUNE to secure the network
• Its second token, TCY (210M supply), gets 10% of system income
WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE THE RESTART
• Aug 25: native Monero and Zcash swaps added. XMR rallied about 9% on it.
• Sep 28: funds from the roughly $388M Bitget hack moved through THORChain. That boosted volume, but Bitget's CEO asked it to block the attacker's addresses, which raises a neutrality question.
• Oct 21: a Zcash bug wrongly penalized about 140 RUNE across 18 node bonds. ZEC swaps were paused, and no user funds were lost.
• Oct 23: v3.21.0 aims to restore paused Solana and Zcash trading and patch a contract exploit. I couldn't confirm it's fully live.
THE PRICE STORY
• Pre-hack: about $0.585
• After the hack: about $0.50
• Restart in June: about $0.42, then lows near $0.38-$0.40
• Today: about $0.667. 24h range $0.584-$0.712.
• All-time high: about $21 in May 2021. That's about 97% below.
I found no news behind today's jump.
THE LEVELS (drawn from recent prices, not indicators)
• Resistance: $0.712 (today's high)
• Support: $0.584-$0.61, then $0.50, then $0.40-$0.42
3 SCENARIOS
Bull: $0.584 holds, price breaks $0.712 on volume, and swaps keep growing.
Base: it ranges between $0.58 and $0.71 while traders wait for proof the fixes work.
Bear: another bug or exploit, or the pump fades, and it falls to $0.50, then $0.42.
TRADE IDEA (analysis, not advice)
Don't chase today's candle. Wait for a pullback.
Entry zone: $0.60-$0.62
Stop: daily close below $0.56
Target: $0.712 (take profit here)
Risk/reward: about 2:1. I see no clear resistance above $0.712, so if it breaks out, trail your stop.
Small size only. This coin can drop 14% in two hours, as it did on the hack day.
RISKS
• Security: this is its third major incident and the core signing flaw may not be fully replaced
• Trust: liquidity providers may not return
• Neutrality: pressure to block hackers' funds
• Thin market cap, so big swings both ways
• New integrations (Zcash, Monero, Solana) can bring new bugs
MY TAKE
The comeback is real, and the price now sits above pre-hack levels. But the pump has no clear catalyst, and the security question isn't fully closed. Patience beats FOMO.
Would you buy the dip or stay out? 👇
Not financial advice. DYOR.
#RUNE #THORChain #DeFi