THORChain Promotes Leveraged Borrowing Strategy

THORChain has deployed version 3.18, a major protocol upgrade containing 51 merged improvements. **Key updates include:** - POL (Protocol-Owned Liquidity) foundations - Dynamic fee architecture implementation - Groundwork laid for Monero, TAO, and DOT integration - Enhanced solvency measures and infrastructure hardening This follows the network's v3.17.0 release from April, which included over 100 improvements to security, swaps, cross-chain reliability, and governance. The upgrade represents continued development momentum for the decentralized liquidity protocol. [Full technical breakdown](https://blog.thorchain.org/thorchain-protocol-upgrade-v3-18/)

**The Hidden Vulnerability in DeFi Infrastructure** Most DeFi protocols rely on Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) to access blockchain data. If an RPC serves incorrect information, every system depending on it—oracles, liquidation bots, risk dashboards—operates on false data. No audit can catch this in real-time. **THORChain's Solution: Independent Verification** - Each THORNode runs its own full node for every supported blockchain - No shared RPC infrastructure or third-party data providers - Nodes independently verify Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other chain states - Consensus only occurs when nodes agree on the data **Why This Matters** This architectural choice represents a fundamental difference: protocols that independently verify truth versus those that trust external sources. THORChain's cross-chain swapping network operates through cooperation built on independent verification, not shared assumptions. The design continues to prove its resilience over time.

THORChain has completed a burn of 64.4 million $RUNE tokens, reducing the total supply to 360 million—down from 1 billion at launch. The burn brings the market cap to fully diluted valuation (MC/FDV) ratio to 97%, with circulating supply now within 3% of total supply. **Key Details:** - Total supply decreased from 500M to 360M following ADR023 approval - 5% of all protocol fees are burned daily, making $RUNE deflationary - Nodes will vote to update the MAXRUNESUPPLY setting from 500M to 360M once supply stabilizes The burn came from the Reserve using system income. Analytics sites currently show outdated 500M max supply figures, which will update after the Mimir setting change. More data available at [Dune Analytics](https://dune.com/thorchain/thorchain-overview).

**Station Wallet is back** after being jointly acquired by Vultisig and RujiraNetwork, relaunching as a fully agentic wallet with the same interface but completely rebuilt infrastructure. **Key launches this week:** - **LeoDEX** shipped [leodex.io/earn](http://leodex.io/earn), a unified dashboard for managing liquidity pools across THORChain and Maya Protocol - **THORDEX** added fiat on/off ramps with P2P trades secured by zkTLS via PeerXYZ, with v2 already in development - **RujiraNetwork** raised the bRUNE staking cap to 5 million, opening another 1M bRUNE for real yield from bonded RUNE on THORChain The ecosystem continues building with improved liquidity management tools and expanded fiat integration options.

**Node operators are being called to vote on critical protocol updates:** **Three new stablecoin pools proposed:** - BSC.USDT - BASE.USDC - TRON.USDT These additions aim to strengthen the RUNE/USD price reference and make the TOR anchor more resilient against single-chain or single-issuer disruptions. All three pools are already live with meaningful liquidity depth. The proposal is strictly additive with no downside risk if any pool becomes unhealthy. **Requires 2/3+ supermajority to pass.** **xUSK activation needed:** Nodes must also activate xUSK (the receipt token for USK in Kujira's lending vault) by setting: `ENABLESWITCH-GAIA-XUSK: 1` This follows the merge in v3.17. Full details on USK sunsetting: [Rujira Network announcement](https://x.com/RujiraNetwork/status/2040839475916624309)