THORChain mainnet halted amid new vulnerability reports

The THORChain network, which is utilized for the cross-chain liquidity protocol, has suspended its operations in response to recent accusations of a possible network vulnerability.

On March 28, THORChain announced on Twitter that it had paused all trade in response to reports of a potential vulnerability with a THORChain dependency that might damage the network. According to THORChain’s statement, the decision was made as a precautionary measure while the reports are being verified.

Soon after social media reports indicated THORChain’s liquidity platform Nine Realms and the dedicated security team THORSec received “credible reports” of a potential vulnerability affecting THORChain, the announcement was made shortly after that. It has been reported that the THORChain network has been consequently shut down across the globe.

Nine Realms said in a tweet that their network had been “preemptively suspended by NO’s to examine the report; updates will follow.” According to data provided by CoinGecko, the price of THORChain’s native token Rune $1.31 has dropped by almost 5% as a result of the announcement. At the time of this writing, the token is being traded at $1.32, representing a decrease of 18% over the course of the previous 30 days.

THORChain is a decentralized cross-chain liquidity protocol that was launched in 2018. It enables users to trade assets between multiple blockchain networks without the need to use centralized exchanges. The settlement layer of THORChain currently supports trades between eight different chains. These chains are Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Cosmos, Dogecoin, and Litecoin. Bitcoin Cash is also supported.

The most recent stoppage on the THORChain network is not the first of its kind. A software flaw that was generating “non-determinism amongst individual nodes” led to the temporary suspension of the network in October of 2022. After a maintenance period of twenty hours, the network was brought back online and restored to full functionality. The THORChain network was also taken offline in 2021 when a breach occurred in the protocol, which resulted in the theft of crypto assets worth a total of $7.6 million.