Thorchain

THORChain is making yield more accessible by expanding bRUNE staking capacity from 50,000 to 2 million tokens. **Key changes:** - Powered by Rujira Network - Users can earn yield while maintaining liquidity - Access to node bonding rewards without technical complexity - No need for the traditional 300K RUNE requirement The expansion removes barriers to entry for earning passive income on the protocol. Users can now participate in node bonding yields through a simplified staking mechanism. [Learn how to stake bRUNE](https://blog.thorchain.org/brune-staking-cap-increased-to-2-million-how-to-stake-and-earn-thorchain-yield/)

THORChain has released **v3.17.0**, one of its largest protocol upgrades to date. The update includes: - Over 100 improvements across multiple areas - Enhanced security measures - Improved swap functionality - Better cross-chain reliability - Governance updates - Developer tooling enhancements The upgrade represents continued development momentum for the decentralized liquidity protocol. Full technical details are available in the [official blog post](https://blog.thorchain.org/protocol-upgrade-v3-17-0/).

THORChain is weeks away from integrating Monero, enabling permissionless swaps into the privacy-focused asset without KYC requirements. Unlike centralized exchanges, THORChain will allow anyone to swap Bitcoin for Monero natively, with no intermediaries or wrapped tokens. **Key developments:** - Monero integration represents THORChain's most technically complex chain addition to date - New Native API launched, giving wallets and aggregators direct access to swap functionality, asset quotes, and transaction tracking - No third-party fees on the protocol-maintained interface - All swaps remain transparent and traceable on-chain while maintaining permissionless access The combination of native cross-chain swaps and censorship-resistant access positions THORChain as infrastructure for platforms seeking to offer broader asset coverage without identity layers. Full integration guide: [THORChain Native API](https://blog.thorchain.org/thorchains-native-api-plugging-liquidity-directly-to-wallets-and-dexs/)

**Major Milestones** - Vultisig surpassed $100M in total swap volume - Symbiosis reached $8B in cumulative cross-chain volume, routing through THORChain **Key Launches** - **THORSwap** celebrates 5 years by launching [Metro.exchange](http://Metro.exchange) - a next-gen DeFi app featuring native unified wallet, simplified UI, and user-first design. Open beta now live - **RujiraNetwork** hit $200k in total borrowed on RUJI Money Market, enabling KYC-free borrowing against BTC, ETH, DOGE, XRP and more. Also launched Custom Concentrated Liquidity on RUJI Trade - **SwapKitPowered** integrated Ballet Crypto, bringing fully decentralised cross-chain swaps to US users - **leodexio** released Rapid Swaps volume tracker at [thorvolume.com/rapid](http://thorvolume.com/rapid) - **THORStackAPI** shipped THORStack Elding as standalone binary for real-time THORChain event streaming in terminal

**Zcash integration is now active on THORChain**, marking the start of native ZEC swaps across the decentralized liquidity protocol. **Trading timeline:** - Full trading functionality will roll out progressively over the coming weeks - Depends on node operators adding support - Bifrost scanning must go live before swaps begin **What this means:** Users will soon be able to swap Zcash natively without wrapped tokens or centralized intermediaries. This follows THORChain's recent momentum with Monero targeting mainnet in 1-2 months and Bittensor development ongoing. The integration represents another step in THORChain's expansion of privacy-focused asset support alongside its growing rapid swap volume and Protocol-Owned Liquidity improvements.

**Bridges don't actually move your assets** - they lock them in vaults and issue wrapped tokens as IOUs. When you bridge ETH to Solana, your real ETH sits locked while you receive a synthetic token representing a promise to unlock it later. **This architecture creates a critical vulnerability**: the system must maintain perfect synchronization between locked assets and minted synthetics. Major exploits include: - Wormhole: $320M lost - Ronin: $600M lost - Nomad: $190M lost **THORChain uses a different approach** with atomic swaps. When swapping ETH for SOL, your Ethereum enters a threshold-signature vault while native Solana from a separate vault goes to your address. No wrapped tokens exist. **Key differences**: - Bridge hack → your wrapped tokens become worthless - Atomic swap → transaction either completes or refunds, no synthetic tokens at risk **The tradeoff**: Native swaps are slower and more expensive than bridges, but eliminate the failure mode where users discover their wrapped tokens have no backing. With atomic swaps, you never hold someone else's promise.

THORChain released its Q4 2025 ecosystem report showing significant activity across its decentralized liquidity protocol. **Key Metrics:** - $4.02B in swap volume - 108,000 unique swappers - 1.22M total trades - $5.02M collected in swap fees - Beta launch of swap.thorchain.org **2026 Roadmap Highlights:** - Solana integration - ZCash support - Rapid Swaps feature The numbers represent a slight decrease from Q3's $4.5B volume and 1.8M swaps, though the platform maintained strong user engagement with over 100,000 active swappers. [Read the full report](https://blog.thorchain.org/thorchain-q4-2025-ecosystem-report-2026-roadmap/)

**THORChain v3.14.0** addresses several critical issues affecting user experience and network operations. **Key Fixes:** - **Swap Speed Restored**: Fixed bug causing trade assets (BTC~BTC) and secured assets to take ~13 minutes instead of instant settlement - **Vault Recovery**: Automated retry system for failed refunds from retired vaults, eliminating manual intervention - **Quote Consistency**: Removed randomness in quote queries to ensure same inputs always return identical results - **Outbound Safety**: All transactions now checkpointed immediately to prevent silent failures **Technical Improvements:** - Retired vault balances automatically recovered and refunded - Streaming swap time estimates now accurate for rapid swaps - Enhanced node safety with automatic retry mechanisms These updates resolve operational overhead, improve swap reliability, and strengthen the overall network infrastructure for cross-chain liquidity.

**Vultisig** rolled out its new DeFi tab on iOS, enabling **one-tap access** to DeFi on Rujira Network and THORChain directly from vaults. **CALC Finance** announced grid trading coming soon to Rujira Network, offering advanced trading strategies within the native cross-chain stack. **Rujira Network** simplified cross-chain UX with omnichain logic - users just deposit USDC and the network handles everything else. No chain switching or extra steps required. **SwapKit** secured another major integration as CoolWallet joined to access THORChain routes for cross-chain flows, advancing native interoperability.

**THORChain node operators are being urged to vote on a crucial Mimir update** that promises to enhance network efficiency. The update specifically targets: - **Arbitrage support** - providing better tools for arbitrageurs - **Network optimization** - improving overall system performance - **Operational efficiency** - streamlining network operations This follows a previous October proposal to scale the App Layer by increasing TVLCAPBASIS to 15,000, which aimed to unlock deeper liquidity across the protocol. **Node operators play a critical role** in THORChain's governance, with their votes determining key protocol upgrades and parameter changes that affect the entire ecosystem. The community is actively encouraging participation to ensure the network continues evolving and maintaining its competitive edge in decentralized liquidity provision.