THORChain Resumes Swaps on 11 Major Blockchains After Key Upgrade
According to an official announcement, the cross-chain protocol THORChain has successfully deployed version 3.21.1. This update re-enables swap functionality for assets on 11 blockchains: Avalanche, Base, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, RUNE, Tron, XRPL, and Zcash. However, swap services for Cosmos, BNB Chain, and Solana remain paused, and users should note these limitations.
Node Upgrade Progress and Future Roadmap
The team noted that 14 active validator nodes have not yet upgraded to the new version. THORChain emphasized that swap performance and stability issues will only be fully resolved once all active nodes are running 3.21.1. This update is also seen as a significant step toward enabling cross-chain swaps for Monero, laying groundwork for future integration of more privacy-focused assets.
Swift Movement of Funds Linked to Binance Hack Following Reopening
Within just 25 minutes of swap functionality being restored, on-chain monitors detected a series of unusually rapid transactions. Crypto researcher Grey Ledger, tracking addresses flagged by analytics firm Elliptic in connection with the Binance hack, observed that 41 linked swap transactions were all completed swiftly.
Fund Flows and On-Chain Traces
These transactions paid approximately 368.12 ETH in total fees, while over 1.327 million TRX was returned to sender wallets. Notably, while the initial swap addresses did not directly match addresses listed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the final recipient wallets for 25 of these transactions had previously sent ETH to addresses on the FBI's list. This indirect linkage has sparked discussions within the community about the ultimate destination of the funds.
Protocol Rules vs. External Regulatory Requests
On October 31, the FBI publicly called on THORChain node operators to block transactions related to the hacking incident. However, Grey Ledger's analysis indicates that under THORChain's current decentralized governance and protocol rules, the network lacks the technical mechanism to selectively intercept or freeze specific transactions based on requests from a particular law enforcement agency. This incident highlights the challenges decentralized finance protocols face in balancing compliance and censorship resistance.