Share this article
Thorchain's RUNE Token Tumbles After 2nd Exploit in 2 Weeks
The latest exploit cost the blockchain protocol $8 million.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 1:30 p.m. Published Jul 23, 2021, 4:35 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
Thorchain's token, RUNE, tumbled in digital-asset markets after the blockchain suffered an exploit for the second time in two weeks, this one costing about $8 million.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The RUNE price was $3.58 as of press time, down 25% over the past 24 hours, in the worst performance among digital assets tracked by Messari with a market capitalization of at least $500 million. The token has lost some 80% since hitting an all-time high price in May..
Thorchain said late Thursday it was hit by an exploit, reported to have cost around $8 million. Last week, the protocol was drained of around 4,000 ether ($8.2 million) in another incident.
Thorchain, now with a market capitalization of $841 million, was founded in 2018 and is a decentralized liquidity protocol that allows for swapping native assets between different blockchains.
Regarding the latest incident, Thorchain told CoinDesk a hacker deployed a custom contract that tricked the network's Bifrost Protocol into receiving a deposit of fake assets. It then processed a refund of real assets to the hacker.
The RUNE token is still up by 178% year to date, handily outperforming the 11% return of bitcoin.
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Strategy purchased $264 million in bitcoin last week, a slowdown from recent acquisition pace
The company’s stack now stands at 712,647 BTC, worth about $62 billion at the current price of $87,500.
What to know:
- Strategy (MSTR) continued its weekly bitcoin acquisitions, purchasing $264.1 million worth of BTC last week.
- The company’s bitcoin stack now stands at 712,647 coins worth just over $62 billion.
- Last week’s acquisition was primarily funded through the sale of common stock.
Top Stories
