THORChain Halts Trading After $10.8 Million Exploit as RUNE Token Falls 12%

THORChain paused all trading and signing operations on Friday after suffering a cross chain exploit that drained nearly $10.8 million from the protocol. The attack affected deployments across four major blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain (BSC), and Base.

The decentralized liquidity protocol halted activity shortly after the incident as developers and node operators moved to contain further losses. On-chain investigator ZachXBT reported that trading and signing functions were temporarily disabled following the breach.

THORChain’s governance system, known as Mimir, activated trading and signing halt settings, while a node pause was set to run for nearly 12 hours and 42 minutes from block 26190429.

Attacker Wallets Hold Bitcoin, Ethereum and BNB

PeckShieldAlert data shows wallets linked to the attacker currently hold around 3,443 ETH valued at nearly $7.77 million, 36.85 BTC worth about $2.97 million, and 96.6 BNB valued near $66,000.

The exploit quickly impacted market sentiment, sending THORChain’s native token, RUNE, down roughly 12% after news of the attack spread according to Blockto market data.

Security Risks Continue for Cross-Chain Protocols

THORChain allows users to swap native assets across blockchains without relying on wrapped tokens or centralized bridges. However, cross-chain protocols remain one of the most targeted sectors in decentralized finance.

According to blockchain security data, bridge and liquidity-related exploits have resulted in more than $2.8 billion in losses since 2021. THORChain has not yet released a post-mortem explaining how the exploit happened.