RUNE

THORChain

DeFi

A cross-chain DEX for native BTC, ETH and more; survived a 2026 hack, but fee income is still small.

Resilient but fragile v1.1 · as of 2026-10-21 · framework v1.13 Coinsight · all analyses
Bottom line

THORChain still does something few others do: swaps between native coins on different chains with no wrapping or bridge tokens, now including Monero and Zcash. 2026 was rough: a $10.7M vault exploit on 15 May halted the network for five weeks, and the Rujira app layer has been paused. Tokenomics are tighter than a year ago, with no block rewards and ~65M RUNE burned from the Reserve. The weak point is income: outside a September spike driven by Bitget-hack flows, fees run at roughly $0.6M a month against a ~$225M market cap.

Scorecard (1–5)
Project
Token performance
Tokenomics
Price
$0.6858
+3.2% 24h · +10% 30d · CoinGecko 21 Oct
Market cap
$225.5M
rank #177 · FDV $242.9M
24h volume
$79.2M
35.1% of market cap
From ATH
−97%
ATH $20.87, May 2021
2026 YTD
+23%
$0.5567 → $0.6858
Fees, last 30 days
~$635K
DefiLlama, mid-Oct; near the August baseline

The last 12 months

$0.25$0.5$0.75$1$1.25Oct 25NovDecJan 26FebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec2025-10-27: $0.9304$0.93 peak2026-06-06: $0.3207$0.32 low2026-10-01: $0.7987$0.802026-10-21: $0.6866$0.69112-month high at $0.932Q1: $2.82B volume3~65M RUNE Reserve burn4$10.7M vault exploit5Year low at $0.326Network restarts7v3.20: Monero and Zcash8Bitget-hack flows spike fees9v3.21: Rujira restart10DKLS signing migration
MarketAdoptionTokenomicsTechProductUpcoming

Daily closes from CoinGecko, 22 Oct 2025 to 21 Oct 2026. CoinGecko's closes from 10 Jan to 27 Mar 2026 look inflated (data glitch), so that stretch is not read as a rally.

Key events
  1. 1
    27 Oct 25 12-month high at $0.93. RUNE's highest daily close of the period, before a long slide into mid-2026.
  2. 2
    31 Mar 26 Q1: $2.82B volume. Quarter brings $3.3M in fees and $1.9M in affiliate revenue; Rapid Swaps fully operational.
  3. 3
    01 May 26 ~65M RUNE Reserve burn. ADR-023, shipped with v3.17, burns most of the Reserve and cuts total supply to ~360M.
  4. 4
    15 May 26 $10.7M vault exploit. A two-day-old node leaks a vault key through a GG20 flaw; the solvency checker halts the network.
  5. 5
    06 Jun 26 Year low at $0.32. RUNE bottoms during the halt, about −66% from the October 2025 high.
  6. 6
    22 Jun 26 Network restarts. After patches on 20 May, 9 Jun and 11 Jun, swaps and LP actions resume after five weeks.
  7. 7
    25 Aug 26 v3.20: Monero and Zcash. Native XMR and ZEC swaps against BTC, ETH and stablecoins, plus a new Stable Reserve.
  8. 8
    27 Sep 26 Bitget-hack flows spike fees. 25–29 Sep flows lift September income to a record $3.01M; RUNE runs to $0.80 by 1 Oct.
  9. 9
    ~Oct v3.21: Rujira restart. Fixes the FIN contract flaw and restarts the paused app layer, with a 24-hour borrower grace period.
  10. 10
    Q4 26 DKLS signing migration. Planned replacement of GG20 threshold signing, benchmarked with Soda Labs; no firm date.

How a native BTC → ETH swap flows through THORChain

User
Sends BTC with a memo

From any wallet to the current Asgard vault address; the memo names ETH and the destination.

Node observers
Witness the deposit

Bonded nodes watch Bitcoin and agree the inbound transaction happened.

BTC pool
BTC swapped to RUNE

Slip-based liquidity fee kept in the pool; large orders stream in small parts.

ETH pool
RUNE swapped to ETH

Second leg of the double swap; another fee goes to LPs.

TSS vault
Nodes co-sign the payout

Threshold signing (GG20 today, DKLS planned); an outbound fee is charged.

User
Receives native ETH

No wrapped token or bridge IOU is involved.

Where RUNE comes in: every swap between two outside assets routes through RUNE as the pool pair, fees are booked in RUNE, and nodes must bond RUNE to secure the vaults. 5% of system income is burned and 10% goes to TCY holders; no new RUNE is minted for the swap.

Usage and adoption

RUNE supply change, Oct 2025 → Oct 2026 (millions of RUNE)
Total supply removed
~71M
of which ADR-023 Reserve burn
~65M
Not yet circulating (mostly Reserve)
~25M
New RUNE from block rewards
~0

Total supply fell from ~425M (THORChain, Oct 2025) to 353.9M (CoinGecko, Oct 2026). Most of that is the one-off ~65M Reserve burn; the rest is the ongoing 5% burn of system income and smaller items. Block rewards ended in early 2025 (~720 RUNE a year per the docs), and the 2026 exploit was covered without minting. The grey bar is supply that can still enter circulation.

  • medium signal
    Swap fees
    ~$635K / 30d

    DefiLlama, mid-Oct 2026. Q1 fees $3.3M, Q2 $2.37M. This is real paid usage, but small next to a ~$225M market cap.

  • weak signal
    Record month
    $3.01M (Sep)

    System income; 57–63% came from Bitget-hack flows on 25–29 Sep, so not organic demand.

  • medium signal
    Swap volume
    $2.82B (Q1 26)

    $2.06B in Q2 despite the halt; $2.40B in September, mostly the hack flows.

  • weak signal
    TVL
    ~$49M

    DefiLlama THORChain DEX page (search snapshot); pool depth limits slippage on large swaps.

THORChain's usage is real and fee-paying, but it is small and spiky, and some of the biggest weeks come from hackers moving stolen funds. The token side looks better: no emissions and a large one-off burn.

Project

What it is
A cross-chain liquidity network (mainnet since 2021, token trading since 2019): users swap native BTC, ETH, stablecoins and other L1 assets directly, with every pool paired against RUNE and vaults run by bonded node operators.
Team
Founded by John-Paul Thorbjornsen (JP Thor, who posted as “Leena” until 2024; also behind Vultisig), with co-founder Chad Barraford. Development is spread over pseudonymous core contributors; node operators vote on upgrades and ADRs.
Technology
Threshold-signature (TSS, GG20) vaults on each connected chain, streaming swaps for large orders, and a CosmWasm app layer (Rujira) since v3.3. v3.20 (25 Aug 2026) added native Monero and Zcash swaps; a move to DKLS signing is planned.
Traction
$2.82B volume and $3.3M fees in Q1 2026; $2.06B and $2.37M in Q2 (five-week halt). September system income hit a record $3.01M, but 57–63% came from Bitget-hack flows; recent 30-day fees ~$635K. Cumulative volume above $124B.
Competitors
Centralized exchanges and instant-swap services, wrapped BTC on Ethereum and Solana DEXs, bridges and intent-based cross-chain protocols (Chainflip, Maya Protocol).
Key risks
Security: exploits in 2021 and May 2026 (the $10.7M financial recovery is still unresolved per the Q2 report). Reputation: repeated use by hackers to launder funds. Low fees relative to the security budget, and a paused app layer.
Roadmap
v3.21 (expected ~23 Oct 2026) fixes the Rujira FIN contract flaw and restarts the app layer; migration from GG20 to DKLS signing is on the 2026 roadmap; Monero follow-ups, TAO, DASH and eCash integrations are in the pipeline.

Token performance

1-year return (22 Oct 2025 → 21 Oct 2026, CoinGecko)
RUNE
-19%
BTC
-22%
ETH
-35%

RUNE fell less than BTC and ETH over 12 months. Over 3 years it is down roughly −65% (from about $2 in late Oct 2023, before the rally to ~$6.80 by Dec 2023), against BTC ~+179% (from ~$29.7k) and ETH ~+53% (from ~$1.6k); the 3-year figure is researched by hand and approximate, because the free CoinGecko API covers 365 days.

Range 2026
$0.32 low (6 Jun) to $0.80 high (1 Oct), daily closes, ignoring the Jan–Mar data glitch; now $0.69
12-month drawdown
−66%, from $0.93 (27 Oct 2025) to $0.32 (6 Jun 2026); −96.7% from the $20.87 ATH
Liquidity
$79.2M traded in 24h, ~35% of market cap; rank #177
Relative strength
1 year −18.9% vs BTC −22.1% and ETH −35.4%; YTD +23.3%, mostly the late-September jump
ATH check ATH check passed. RUNE began trading in 2019 and the $20.87 high came on 18 May 2021, about two years later, so it is not a launch spike. Price is now −96.7% below it.

Tokenomics

Supply
353.9M total and max, 328.5M circulating (CoinGecko). Total supply was ~425M a year ago, before the ADR-023 Reserve burn.
Inflation
Block rewards ended in early 2025; the docs put residual emissions at ~720 RUNE a year. Node and LP rewards now come from fees and Reserve accruals.
Unlocks
No team or investor vesting left. The ~25M RUNE not circulating is mostly the remaining Reserve, which can be paid out as system income.
Utility
Pair asset in every pool (all swaps route through RUNE), node bond that secures vault assets, network fees, and node-based governance. TCY holders receive 10% of income.
Concentration
Large shares sit in node bonds, pools and the Reserve; no reliable holder breakdown was found.
Sinks
~65M RUNE burned from the Reserve under ADR-023 (v3.17, Apr–May 2026); 5% of system income burned since Nov 2024; exploit losses covered by protocol-owned liquidity, not minting.

Bull case

Rujira restarts cleanly with v3.21, the DKLS move removes the vault-key risk, and Monero and Zcash routes bring steady volume; monthly fees back above $1M would re-rate RUNE toward the $0.80 October high and the $0.93 12-month peak.

Bear case

Another security incident or a botched DKLS migration hits trust again; fees settle near $0.6M a month as the September spike rolls off, and RUNE gives back the late-September jump toward the $0.32 June low.

Watch before the next re-run

  • v3.21 launch (~23 Oct) and whether Rujira restarts without new issues
  • DKLS signing migration date and any further vault incidents
  • Monthly system income without hack-related flows (August baseline ~$615K)
  • $0.64 support (mid-Oct closes) and the $0.80 October high

Where to trade

Krakenlisted

RUNE against EUR · USD

24h $95.5k · ±2% depth $135.4k

OKXnot listed

No RUNE spot market on OKX.

Largest exchanges

Exchange24h vol±2% depth
BinanceRUNE/USDT$1.74M$249.6k
MEXCRUNE/USDT$359.1k$37.9k
KrakenRUNE/USD$74.6k$137.4k
KuCoinRUNE/USDT$64.6k$26.3k
BybitRUNE/USDT$61.5k$18.6k

Deepest DEX pools

Pool24h vol±2% depth
THORChainRUNE/USDC$2.22M$192.0k
THORChainRUNE/WBTC$5.82M$115.2k
THORChainRUNE/USDT$2.22M$98.8k

Pool size (TVL), fee tier and fee APR are not in yet: they need DefiLlama, which this setup cannot reach so far. CL = concentrated liquidity (higher fees, more impermanent-loss risk).

On-chain share of all RUNE volume: 25.4%.

As of 21 Oct 2026 · CoinGecko tickers (24h volume, ±2% depth). ±2% depth is the money it takes to move the price 2% either way: the real size of a market. Exchanges ranked by volume among well-known venues; pools by depth. Not investment advice.

Where to follow

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