THORChain Loses $10M in Multi-Chain Hack — RUNE Drops 15%

TLDR

• Blockchain investigator ZachXBT flagged a $10M+ exploit on THORChain across Bitcoin, Ethereum, BSC, and Base chains
• THORChain triggered an emergency halt, pausing all trading and swaps to protect liquidity providers
• Attacker wallets hold 36.85 BTC, 3,443 ETH, and 96.6 BNB among other tokens
• RUNE dropped up to 15% following the alert, falling from $0.58 to near $0.50
• Futures open interest on RUNE spiked 19% in four hours, showing heavy derivatives activity despite the drop

THORChain, a decentralized cross-chain liquidity protocol, was hit by an exploit worth over $10 million on May 15, 2026. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT first flagged the attack, reporting unauthorized outflows across four major chains.

The affected chains include Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Base. The attacker drained funds through THORChain’s router contracts on each network.

Analytics platform Arkham identified the attacker’s wallets. They held 36.85 BTC, 3,443 ETH, and 96.6 BNB, along with USDT, USDC, and WBTC.

ZachXBT initially estimated losses above $7.4 million. He later updated that figure to at least $10 million after reviewing more on-chain data.

THORChain Triggers Emergency Halt

THORChain activated its built-in emergency halt mechanism after the exploit was detected. This global HaltTrading setting paused all trading and swap activity across connected chains.

Under this setting, the THORChain blockchain itself and native RUNE transactions can still continue. The halt is designed to limit further damage while node operators assess what happened.

Security platforms including PeckShieldAlert flagged the attacker’s wallets shortly after the alert went public. The protocol’s nodes paused operations automatically as part of the built-in response system.

ZachXBT also called out a third-party account that shared the alert without verifying the numbers. He said they had not checked the figures themselves or confirmed which chains were involved.

RUNE Price Falls Sharply

RUNE dropped around 15% in minutes after ZachXBT’s post spread online. The token fell from above $0.58 to near $0.50 before stabilizing.

At the time of reporting, RUNE was trading around $0.52. Its 24-hour range ran from $0.502 to $0.597.

Trading volume jumped nearly 140% in 24 hours as investors sold into the decline. Despite the spot sell-off, derivatives markets moved in the opposite direction.

CoinGlass data showed THORChain futures open interest climbing more than 6% to $24.80 million within one hour. RUNE futures open interest rose 19% in four hours, with Binance and Bybit each seeing gains of around 17% and 19%.

RUNE’s market cap stood near $204.88 million before the full price drop was reflected across trackers. The token remains down more than 70% over the past year.

This is not the first time THORChain has faced scrutiny in 2026. In April, funds from the roughly $290 million Kelp DAO exploit were routed through THORChain as attackers moved around $175 million in ETH across new wallets.

That earlier case raised questions about cross-chain recovery, as stolen assets become harder to trace when moved across multiple networks.

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