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Thorchain Dominates Cross-Chain Trading Volume: What’s Next for RUNE?

Thorchain, a cross-chain liquidity network, has emerged as a frontrunner in cross-chain transfers, surpassing its competitors in volume and transaction activity, on-chain data shows. 

Thorchain Trading Volume Expands As Prominence Increases

Citing Galaxy Research data, a user on X, Bullion, noted that Thorchain processed $4.82 billion in cross-chain transactions over the past 30 days, while Cosmos’ Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol handled $3.35 billion worth of transactions during the same period.

Among layer-2 bridges, Arbitrum Bridge led the pack with $1.21 billion in cross-chain volume. Others, like Polygon POS and Stargate, processed $564 million and $694 million, respectively.

Cross-chain transfer volume comparison | Source: Galaxy Research via Bullion on X

The spike in Thorchain’s trading volume and liquidity indicates the protocol’s increasing significance in the broader decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape. The protocol’s unique features and innovative solutions have made it a preferred destination for cross-chain asset transfers. 

At the heart of Thorchain is its ability to facilitate cross-chain asset swapping in a trustless and non-custodial manner. In this arrangement, and like popular decentralized exchanges like Uniswap, Thorchain allows users to retain control of their funds without depending on intermediaries. 

The stream swaps technology seems to be drawing user attention to Thorchain. This feature allows users to swap with near-slippage free even without high liquidity. Technically, and as expected in decentralized exchanges, the lower the liquidity, the higher the slippage. The offer for low or zero slippage gives Thorchain a significant advantage over other cross-chain swaps.

Beyond trading, Thorchain has incorporated other defi solutions, including lending. In this arrangement, Thorchain now supports the trustless lending of assets without liquidity risk or interest, a deviation from traditional lending protocols, including Aave. 

As DeFi TVL Recovers, Will RUNE Break To New 2024 Highs?

Together, these features have contributed to Thorchain’s growing trading volume, further cementing its position in the recovering DeFi scene. According to DeFiLlama, Thorchain has a total value locked (TVL) of around $322 million.

Meanwhile, Thorchain claims to have over 91,000 swappers. Cumulatively, the protocol has processed over $61 billion in trading volume.

Network statistics: Source: Thorchain

As DeFi expands from 2022 pits, RUNE, the platform’s native token, has also benefited. Looking at the RUNE daily chart, it is up roughly 5X from 2023 lows.

Thorchain price trending upward on the daily chart | Source: RUNEUSDT on Binance, TradingView

Despite the re-pricing of asset prices on January 3, RUNE remains resilient. Prices are trending inside a bull flag. Any breakout above $6.5 and local resistances could catalyze demand, lifting the coin above $7.3 to new 2024 highs.

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THORChain (RUNE) Notches 31.5% Gain To Attain New Yearly Peak

RUNE, native token of the cross-chain decentralized exchange THORChain, is currently one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies in the market, boasting of a 31.5 % price increase in the last 24 hours. 

Based on data from Coingecko, this price gain only underlines the remarkable bullish form of RUNE in the past few weeks, as the token is up by 115.0% and 212.3% on the 14-day and 30-day charts, respectively. 

Interestingly, this sustained bullish pressure in the RUNE market has resulted in the DeFi coin attaining a new yearly high of $5.31 and a peak daily trading volume of $1.28 billion.

Behind THORChain (RUNE) Rise

In analyzing RUNE’s meteoric rise in the past few weeks, several analysts have given credit to the newly introduced features on the THORChain platform. 

For context, in the THORChain Q3 2023 Ecosystem Report, the DEX’s development team announced the implementation of new features such as lending, streaming swaps, streaming loans, and savers for stablecoins, among others. 

In an X post on Saturday, a crypto analyst with the username The Wolf of DeFi provided some insight into how one of these features has spurred RUNE to new heights. The analyst attributed most of RUNE gains to the streaming swaps feature, which is designed to allow large swap requests to be automatically divided into smaller requests that are processed over time. 

The Wolf of DeFi explains the introduction of this update has triggered an increase in the platform’s swap volume and the annual percentage rate (APRs) being offered to liquidity providers.

As expected, higher APRs will attract more liquidity providers who have to invest in RUNE, which serves as the base asset of every liquidity pool on THORChain, creating a cycle named the liquidity flywheel.

Furthermore, The Wolf of DeFi stated that every dollar worth of non-RUNE assets deposited in a THORChain liquidity pool is matched with its equivalent in RUNE by the network nodes. 

Thus, if an LP deposits $100 consisting of $50 BTC and $50 RUNE into BTC/RUNE, nodes will balance this transaction with an additional $50 RUNE, which adds to the buying pressure in the market, allowing the token to maintain its upward trajectory. 

RUNE Price Prediction

Looking at RUNE’s daily chart, the relative strength index (RSI) stands at 87.24, which indicates the token is well in the overbought zone. Thus, investors are advised to be on alert for a possible price pullback.

On the other hand, RUNE may continue to sustain its bullish momentum, especially as the team behind THORChain looks to introduce more attractive features, including order book trading.

At the time of writing, RUNE is currently valued at $5.10, with a 3.2% gain in the last hour. Meanwhile, the token’s market cap stands at $1.58 billion, allowing it to rank as the 41st largest cryptocurrency in the market.

THORChain

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RUNE Beyond Swaps: THORChain Introduces New Lending Protocol

In a recent development, THORChain (RUNE), the liquidity network, has unveiled its lending feature, enabling users to leverage their native Layer-1 (L1) assets, such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), to secure loans denominated in TOR, a USD equivalent stablecoin. 

According to the announcement, this move opens up new avenues for financial participation, allowing users to borrow funds without the “burdens” of interest, liquidations, or expiration.

THORChain Introduces Interest-Free Loans

The lending process is designed to be user-friendly and “straightforward,” focusing on minimizing cognitive burden. 

Depending on prevailing market conditions, borrowers can collateralize their assets within a range of collateralization ratios (CR), ranging from 200% to 500%. The CR determines the amount of debt borrowers can receive in proportion to their collateral.

One of the critical advantages of THORChain’s lending protocol is the absence of interest charges. By eliminating interest, the protocol encourages borrowers to hold onto their loans for extended periods, thereby increasing the equity value of the protocol. 

This approach aims to align the interests of borrowers with the protocol itself, fostering a mutually beneficial ecosystem.

Furthermore, THORChain’s lending system does not involve liquidations. In traditional lending models, borrowers risk having their collateral forcibly sold if its value falls below a certain threshold. However, THORChain’s design eliminates this risk by treating the collateral as equity (RUNE IOU). 

Consequently, if the collateral falls below the debt value, it does not pose a problem, as the stored equity acts as the liability. Per the report, this approach ensures a more user-friendly experience and eliminates the need for borrowers to monitor asset prices constantly.

The loans issued through THORChain’s lending feature have a minimum period of 30 days, providing borrowers with flexibility. 

Repayment can occur anytime after the initial 30-day period, allowing borrowers to manage their debt according to their circumstances. Partial repayments are also possible, although the collateral is not released until the debt is fully repaid.

THORChain’s Circuit Breaker System

To enhance security and protect against inflation, THORChain has implemented a circuit breaker mechanism. 

In the event of a drastic drop in RUNE’s price-native token of the THORchain network- against collateral assets such as BTC and ETH, which could lead to net inflation of RUNE, the system will pause new loans and disable the lending feature. 

At this point, no further inflation of RUNE can occur, and the protocol’s reserve will cover the remaining collateral payouts.

Initially, the lending feature will support BTC and ETH collateral, with plans to expand to other Layer 1 gas assets, including Binance Coin (BNB), Litecoin (LTC), Avalanche (AVAX), and DOGE. 

According to the announcement, this expansion will further diversify borrowing options, accommodating a broader range of users and assets.

Overall, with the introduction of the lending feature, THORChain takes a significant step toward expanding financial opportunities within its liquidity network.

THORchain

As of the latest update, THORChain’s native token, RUNE, has experienced a decline of nearly 8% within the past 24 hours, currently trading at $1.694, despite the anticipation surrounding the announcement of the new lending protocol.

Nevertheless, the token has successfully maintained substantial gains of 20% and 80% over the past seven and fourteen days, respectively, attributed to a simultaneous increase in the social volume of the THORChain cryptocurrency.

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com

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Thorchain Shows A Glimpse Of Hope, Are The Green Days Near?

  • RUNE price could be ready to break out from the downtrend as price gears up for a short-term recovery creating more bullish sentiment.
  • RUNE looks strong on the low timeframe. 
  • The price of RUNE attempts to break and hold above 8 and 20 EMA on the daily timeframe.

Thorchain (RUNE) has shown little or no recovery sign in recent weeks, but that could change as the price gears up for a rally against tether (USDT). Previous weeks for the crypto space have been slow as most altcoins, and major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) continued to move in a range. The month looks promising, with altcoins, including Thorchain (RUNE), bouncing off from their low with high hopes of a rally with the current shift in trend. (Data from Binance)

Crypto Market Outlook 
Crypto Market Outlook | Source: Coin360

For most crypto projects as altcoins, including RUNE, the new month has been more of a relief. The price of Bitcoin has led the market, rising from a low of $18,800 to $20,100. With the market looking more promising for crypto assets, we may see more cryptocurrency recovery, as the previous month prevented major altcoins from rallying.

Thorchain (RUNE) Price Analysis On The Weekly Chart

The price of RUNE in recent weeks did not show the strength as seen in other altcoins like Cosmos as the price continued to decline to its weekly low of $1.5.

After rallying from a low of $3 to a high of $12, the price of RUNE faced rejection as it was unable to break above $12, acting as resistance to the price of RUNE and the area of supply.

The price has since struggled to find support as the price declined to a weekly low of $1.5 with what looks like a demand zone for more buy orders.

RUNE price bounced off this region to $1.6 as price prepares for a rally from this area. Although the price continues in a range trying to break out, it looks promising as there have been more buy orders than in recent weeks.

Weekly resistance for the price of RUNE – $1.8-$2.

Weekly support for the price of RUNE – $1.5.

Price Analysis Of RUNE On The Daily (1D) Chart
Daily RUNE Price Chart | Source: RUNEUSDT On Tradingview.com

On the daily timeframe, the price of RUNE remains bullish as it attempts to flip the resistance at $1.8 and break out with good volume.

The price of RUNE is currently trading at $1.65, with resistance to breaking above the 8 and 20-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMA), which act as resistance zones for the price of RUNE. The prices of $1.6 and $1.66 correspond to RUNE’s 8 and 20-day EMAs, respectively.

Daily resistance for the RUNE price – $1.66-$1.8

Daily support for the RUNE price – $1.5.

Featured Image From zipmex, Charts From Tradingview  

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TA: Rune Could Be Set For A Rally As Buyers Step In

Rune could be set for a relief bounce despite having difficulty breaking the daily resistance.

The crypto market saw a setback in price after Bitcoin (BTC) saw a retracement back to a key support area leading to a drawback to the likes of Rune, but the market state indicates Rune could be set for a rally.

Rune Weekly Chart Analysis

The price of Rune has seen a continuous downtrend from a high of $12 to a low of $1.6 in weeks for what seems to be more than an 80% decline.

After finding a low at $1.58, it has started making a move with buyers stepping in; Rune has formed strong support at $1.6 with a weekly resistance of $3.7

Major resistance on the weekly chart – $3.7

Major support on the weekly chart – $1.6

Rune Daily Chart Analysis

 

Rune Price Analysis On The Daily Chart | Source: RUNEUSDT On Tradingbiew.com

The daily chart for Rune price shows a rising trend after falling to $1.58.

Haven struggled for days to reclaim important support on the daily chart; Rune is finally showing relief as it aims to reclaim significant support just above the 50 exponential moving average (EMA). 

Although Rune still trades below the 200 exponential moving average (EMA), it gives a sense of relief that on the low timeframe, Rune is doing well. A reclaim above the 200 EMA could send Rune higher.

Rune has resistance at $2.85; a breakout and close above this region could send Rune to a region of $3.3, should there be a pullback for the price of Rune, we would see a retest of the daily support at $2.45.

Daily resistance – $2.85.

Daily support – $2.45.

Rune Price Analysis On The 4H Chart
Rune Price Analysis On The 4H Chart | Source: RUNEUSDT On Tradingview.com

The price of Rune on the 4H chart shows the price has reclaimed both the 50 & 200 EMA, indicating an upward trend if all market conditions remain favorable.

Rune has a resistance of $2.85 on the 4H chart for it to trade higher. A break and close of this region would be good for Rune holders.

The volume of Rune shows buyers are stepping into the market after a series of panic sales due to market decline.

Rune has a relative strength Index above the 50 mark showing good signs of buy orders in the market.

If Rune fails to go higher in the price above $2.85, a pullback is expected to the support that corresponds with the 50 EMA with another key support on the 200 EMA.

Resistance on the 4H chart – $2.85.

Support on the 4H chart – $2.6, $2.4.

Rune 1H Chart Analysis

Rune on the 1H chart shows a good buying volume in the market with the RSI over the 70 mark region. Rune is having a challenge breaking the resistance at $2.85, breaking and closing above this region is important to sustain the bullish structure for Rune.

Rune has the structures of a solid project and looks good in the high timeframe as these timeframes maintain trends better.

 

Featured Image From The Coin Republic, Charts from TradingView.com 

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THORChain Deploys Mainnet After 4-Year Wait, RUNE Soars 13% In 24 Hours

THORChain has been trading in the green and recovering faster than larger cryptocurrencies. The development team behind this project, Nine Realms, announced the launch of their mainnet after 4 years of development and research.

Related Reading | Cosmos (ATOM) Price Swells 12% – Can It Breach Resistance?

At the time of writing, THORChain (RUNE) trades at $2.30 with a 14% and 35% profit in the last 24 hours and 7 days respectively. The market seems to be positively reacting to the announcement.

RUNE with minor gains on the 4-hour chart. Source: RUNEUSDT Tradingview

As part of the announcement, crypto users on the Binance exchange will be able to participate in a promotional campaign and earn part of a total $1 million price. Via an official post, the team behind THORChain said the following celebrating the project’s major milestone:

Mainnet marks the achievement of a fully functional, feature-rich protocol with a large ecosystem and strong community. It has been a long time coming and the community is very excited about this important milestone.

Before mainnet, THORChain was operating with the Multichain Chaosnet (MCCN) to enable users to provide cross-chain liquidity. This allowed the project to battle-test its features and migrate from a centralized to a decentralized and community-driven platform, according to the official post.

As part of this deployment, the project launched its native token RUNE and has called for all token holders to swap their non-native RUNE for the former asset. Once 67% of the network runs on native RUNE, the protocol will implement a “Killswitch” and “kill” the non-native asset under the BEP2 standard.

As NewsBTC reported, 4 months ago THORChain released a highly expected feature, synthetics assets. This allowed users to gain exposure to the price of large cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), by trading with their THORChain versions called sBTC and sETH.

This was just one of the milestones reached by the project on track to its mainnet launch. The aim is to make the platform a decentralized, secure, and liquidity-efficient protocol in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

Who Is Buying The THORChain (RUNE) Rally?

Data provided by the team behind the project claims THORChain has seen $9.2 billion in total trade volume, with a total of around 10 million transactions and around 72,000 unique swappers. The protocol has around $250 million in total value locked (TVL) making it one of the largest in the DeFi sector.

In their next step of development, which includes making the platform more transparent and decentralized, the team behind the project said:

Centralised points of failure must be removed as they are a risk to the future of the network. The largest remaining centralised point is Treasury management. Treasury plans to hand over full control to the community soon.

Further data provided by Material Indicators (MI) records an increase in buying pressure from investors with over $1,000 to $10,000 bid orders (red and green on the chart below). Retail investors (yellow on the chart) have been selling into the current price action while whales (brown and purple) have been inactive.

Source: Material Indicators

Related Reading | Top 5 Cryptos Taking A Major Beating In The Ongoing Market Mayhem

If the crypto continues to rebound, RUNE could extend its gain. If large investors see bullish continuation, they might jump into the action and push RUNE into further gains.

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Can RUNE Sustain Its 20% Rally?, Why This Analyst Doubts It

THORChain (RUNE) has seen an important rally in the past month. The native token of this decentralized cross-chain bridge rose from its 2022 low at around $3 with 30% intra-day rallies to its current levels.

Related Reading | THORChain Activates Feature, 30% Spike Follows, Can Bulls Sustain It?

At the time of writing, RUNE’s price trades at $9 with an 11% profit in the past 24-hours and a 17% profit in the past week.

RUNE on a rally in the daily chart. Source: RUNEUSDT Tradingview

According to analyst Alerzio from research firm Santiment, RUNE’s current rally has traders wondering if the token will be able to sustain its gains. The cryptocurrency could revisit its lows if the bulls are unable to push past the $10 in the short term or if the crypto market takes another bearish turn.

The analyst believes that RUNE’s current rally has been “healthy”. As the price move upwards, the token’s trading volume followed standing at its highest since April 2021.

In addition, the Weighted Sentiment, a metric used to measure market sentiment across social media platforms, suggests more gains. This metric stands in the negative as the token claims into its current levels which is a bullish sign.

Source: Santiment

In the crypto markets, operators believe that prices tend to move opposite to the crowd’s expectations. Therefore, a negative sentiment suggests more gains for RUNE. The analyst said that “the greed is out” of the market, for the time being.

In addition, the futures market seems to support the bulls as funding rates on Binance and FTX were barely returning from negative territory into positive on the recent price action. The analyst added:

Binnance’s funding rate is positive (not too much) while FTX’s funding rate is about to get into the positive areas. this can be considered as a “not very good, but not too bad” signal.

Source: Santiment
THORChain (RUNE) Potential Headwind For Future Gains

The analyst believes that THORChain (RUNE) developer activity could be a long-term obstacle for RUNE’s price. He claims the project needs fresh ideas and proposals to sustain its momentum. The analyst concluded:

RUNE’s previous rally was a healthy one. there is still some price potential in short term, but the outlook for long term hodling is not good enough because there is not enough development activity.

However, THORChain introduced a major feature for its network recently called synthetics assets. This gives users the capacity to access tokens pegged to the price of BTC, ETH, and others.

Related Reading | Top DeFi Names SUSHI, ThorChain, Others Surge 10% Higher

Thus, users will be able to leverage new investment strategies and products. At the time, an official THORChain post stated:

As a benefit, you will have access to yield generating vaults, and be one of the first users who will vest their funds. Minting synths will be capped and access will depend on how much liquidity is in the THORChain pools.

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THORChain Activates Feature, 30% Spike Follows, Can Bulls Sustain It?

Up almost 30% during today’s trading session, decentralized cross-chain exchange THORChain (RUNE) trades north of $5.28. One of the top gainers in the current relief rally across the market, the network has activated synthetic assets, a new feature that could attract use cases and users to the platform.

Related Reading | Monero And Zcash Take Off With 15% Gains, Here’s What May Have Spurred The Rally

RUNE moving sideways on the 4-hour chart. Source: RUNEUSDT Tradingview

Per an official post, synthetics assets are tokens pegged to the value of their underlying collateral, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. In order words, users can now access BTC, ETH, and others running on THORChain.

Similar to Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), a popular token on Ethereum, with the difference than synthetic assets can also be collateralized by BTC, in this case, and other cryptocurrencies. The synthetic version of Bitcoin running on this blockchain is called sBTC and offers the user exposure to BTC’s price performance.

Unlike Bitcoin, according to the post, its synthetic version on THORChain offers faster transactions and lower fees. In that way, a user can trade with this benefit and benefit from other yield generation products. Per the post:

As a benefit, you will have access to yield generating vaults, and be one of the first users who will vest their funds. Minting synths will be capped and access will depend on how much liquidity is in the THORChain pools.

The post adds that users can simplify their trading experience, and gain access to different cryptocurrencies from multiple blockchains without using a centralized exchange. Core developer Chad Barraford said the following on the advantages of this feature and its impact on the network’s ecosystem:

Synthetics can be used to change the pool depths, and therefore correct the pool price to match market demands, i.e. arbitrage. This is super important because it means the pools can be arbs faster, cheaper, and more efficiently.

THORChain Publish Roadmap, How It Is Moving Towards Decentralization

Furthermore, synthetics assets will provide THORChain users with the ability to earn as much as 20% interest on their holdings. For that, users will need to lock their assets on a vault called THORSaving which will have an initial 5% APY.

One of the most hyped products in the lending and borrowing use case. Users will be able to access “self-repaying loans” which generate yield on collateral. As the post clarified:

You take the loan which will be paid automatically by the interest the vaults generate from the locked synthetics.

Barraford predicts a potential increase in trading volume for RUNE and the THORChain ecosystem in general. The project recently integrates with Terra (LUNA) and will begin acquiring this network’s native token along with its native stablecoin UST.

Related Reading | Mars Protocol To Launch On Terra, But Why MARS Has Seen A Massive Dump

Ultimately, the decentralized exchange aims at increasing its liquidity 10-fold. To achieve this goal, THORChain published a roadmap that included the integration of DEX aggregators, more features, wallets, and access to other blockchains.

THORChain project roadmap:

* More chains (LUNA, Privacy, L2's)* More wallets (all the big ones)* More integrations (Dex aggregators)* More Features: Synths, THORFi (lending, saving), THORNames

Not stopping until decentralised liquidity 10x bigger than centralised. $RUNE

— THORChain #ACTIVATETHESYNTHS (@THORChain) March 6, 2022