Thorchain Surges 17% Leaving DeFi Tokens In Its Wake

By Liam Frost

At the time of writing, Thorchain's native RUNE token is trading at around $7.13, gaining nearly 18% in the past 24 hours and 83% in the last week, according to crypto metrics platform CoinGecko.

Notably, the latest push is part of the token’s “comeback” following a series of exploits. Over the past couple of weeks the project has suffered two major security breaches that resulted in RUNE’s price plummeting from nearly $8 to below $4.

On July 15, hackers drained 2,500 Ethereum (ETH) tokens (around $4.8 million at the time) from Thorchain’s liquidity pools. In response, the protocol’s developers promised to reimburse the affected liquidity providers using funds from the project’s treasury.

Thorchain’s troubles didn’t stop there.

Less than a week later, the project was hit by another attack, and this time around, the hacker even left a few tips for the team.

RUNE has nonetheless recovered as the token’s price has been steadily rising over the past couple of weeks. Thanks to the latest rally, the token’s market capitalization—the combined price of all tokens currently in circulation—went back to nearly $2 billion.

Thorchain leading DeFi

Meanwhile, other DeFi tokens have been trading sideways on the day. 

Native assets of platforms such as Uniswap (UNI, $21.03, -4.5%), Chainlink (LINK, $22.60, +1%), AAVE ($305.73, -3.4%), Maker (MKR, $2,796.93, -3.8%), Compound (COMP, $391.5, -1.5%) and others are either in the red zone or wallow just slightly above the waterline. 

Total amount of dollars captured within all DeFi protocols as of August 3, 2021. Source: DeFi Pulse

Still, there is currently more than $67 billion of value currently locked on DeFi platforms across the whole sector, according to DeFi Pulse. The top three spots are occupied by AAVE ($12.84 billion locked), InstaDapp ($9.49 billion), and Curve ($8.86 billion).

Recommended News