Cross-chain liquidity protocol THORChain has suspended its network due to new allegations of a potential network vulnerability.
THORChain took to Twitter on March 28 to announce that it halted all trading amid reports of a potential vulnerability with a THORChain dependency that could affect the network. The decision was taken as a precaution while the reports are verified, THORChain said.
The announcement came shortly after social media reported that THORChain’s liquidity platform, Nine Realms, and dedicated security team THORSec had received “credible reports” of a potential vulnerability affecting THORChain. The THORChain network would then have gone down globally.
**THORChain globally stopped**@ninerealms_cap and THORSec have received credible reports of a potential vulnerability affecting @THORChain. As a precaution, steps have been taken to shut down THORChain globally.
Stay tuned for more information.
— Pluto (9R) ⚡️ (@Pluto9r) March 28, 2023
“The network was preemptively put on hold by the NOs to investigate the report; updates will follow,” Nine Realms tweeted.
Amid the news, THORChain’s native token Rune (RUNE) has tumbled around 5%, according to data from CoinGecko. At the time of writing, the token is trading at $1.32, down 18% in the past 30 days.
Founded in 2018, THORChain is a decentralized cross-chain liquidity protocol that allows users to exchange assets between different blockchain networks without using centralized exchanges. THORChain’s settlement layer currently offers swaps between eight chains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Chain, Avalanche, Cosmos Hub, Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.
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The last stop of the THORChain network is far from being the first. The network was put on hiatus in October 2022 following a software bug causing “non-determinism between individual nodes”. The network then resumed and became fully functional after 20 hours of maintenance.
In 2021, THORChain also shut down its network after the protocol suffered a breach, with hackers stealing $7.6 million in crypto assets.
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