- THORChain suffered a coordinated multi-chain exploit that drained more than $10.8 million from its liquidity vaults.
- According to Coinglass data, the sudden price drop today triggered an approximately $11.3 million in long-liquidation o, while short-positioned traders witnessed a $34.6k liquidation.
- The THORChain price pullback could seek at the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement support at $0.526, followed by its next cushion at 50% FIB at $0.5.
On Friday, May 15th, the THORChain price witnessed a sudden outflow after suffering a sophisticated multi-chain exploit that drained more than $10.8 million from its liquidity vaults. The attack forced validators to halt core network operations and the RUNE price also recorded double-digit loss to breach $0.55 support.
THORChain Halts Network Following $10.8 Million Multi-Chain Exploit
Cross-chain liquidity protocol THORChain has been completely halted due to a major, coordinated security attack. A hacker managed to siphon out about $10.8 million from the platform’s liquidity vaults, triggering the immediate emergency of network validators, and resulting in double-digit RUNE token losses.
The vulnerability was first identified in the early morning hours of Friday, May 15, 2026. On-chain security researcher ZachXBT identified a series of highly unusual, automated outbound liquidity operations that emerged from the main vault addresses of THORChain.
Blockchain security firm PeckShield immediately cross-checked the data and found that a hacker was stealing money at the same time in several integrated blockchain networks.
THORChain Freezes Operations After Coordinated Multi-Asset Exploit
The exploit involved a very sophisticated attack on native assets and EVM-compatible tokens. The attacker managed to accumulate around $10.8 million at a few key address destinations – one for the Bitcoin network (bc1ql4…f6f37) and one for the EVM network (0xd4…890Bd).
Current Loss breakdown:
Bitcoin (BTC): 36.85 native BTC which is worth around USD $3 million.
Ethereum (ETH) & BNB Chain: Roughly 3,443 ETH and 96.6 BNB.
Stablecoins & Wrapped Assets: Over $7.2 million in USDT, USDC, and wrapped tokens, which the attacker rapidly swapped out to prevent any remote freezing mechanisms.
THORChain node operators intervened quickly to avoid the total draining of the liquidity pools of the protocol. Validators convened an emergency meeting of the entire community within 1 hour of finding it in the public ledger and were able to stop all outbound signing and trading operations.
The freeze effectively kept the remaining user funds safe in the pools while it has completely suspended the core cross-chain swapping capability of the network.
The KelpDAO Connection and Attack Vector
A full technical post-mortem from the THORChain core dev team is still underway, but preliminary telemetry indicates it was tied to another security incident.
Prior to the exploit, bad actors behind a recent breach at liquid staking platform KelpDAO had been actively routing illicit funds through THORChain’s high-velocity liquidity pools. During this heavy laundering activity, security analysts believe that the exploit that was used might stem from a significant vulnerability in THORChain’s Bifrost bridge protocol or smart contract routing logic that had escaped detection.
Market Impact and What Comes Next
The market was affected immediately. As news of the exploit and the subsequent network freeze spread, THORChain’s native token, RUNE, plummeted between 10% and 15%, falling sharply to around the $0.51 mark.
The security failure has also triggered a ripple effect across centralized infrastructure. Major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Kraken, announced they are actively investigating their own THORChain funding gateways and have temporarily paused RUNE deposits and withdrawals as a precautionary measure.
The THORChain project now faces a challenging road to recovery. The protocol’s development is completely halted, and code is being reviewed by the developers to pinpoint the exact attack path.
The community is eagerly awaiting two updates: The official technical post-mortem explaining the flaw and an announcement about possible whitehat bounty negotiation or a plan to reimburse funds to affected liquidity providers. Until then, cross-chain operations remain completely dark.
Crypto Hacks Show No Slowdown as DeFi Losses Mount
Security vulnerabilities have continued to plague the cryptocurrency sector, showing no signs of letting up. Two key DeFi projects — decentralized perpetual exchange Drift Protocol and liquid restaking project KelpDAO — experienced significant losses worth a combined $600 million in just April.
The decentralized finance sector has traditionally been a hot spot for malicious parties, with cross-chain bridges and liquidity protocols often being their first choice. Data from Chainalysis reveals that thefts associated with bridges have reached over $2.8 billion since 2021, indicating that there are significant underlying structural vulnerabilities that are yet to be addressed throughout the sector.
THORChain Price Seeks Bullish Support at Key Fibonacci Floors
From early-April to May 11th, the RUNE price witnessed a high-momentum rally from $0.376 to $0.638, registering a gain of roughly 70%. The upstream can be attributed to major network upgrades, upcoming high-profile integrations, and a massive, system-wide volume spike from the Kelp DAO laundering funds.
However, the coin price witnessed a sudden accelerated pullback following the recent record breach in its own network. The asset price currently trades at $0.526 and holds a $185.39M.
According to Fibonacci retracement level, the current correction is seeking support at 38.2% retracement level, which coincides with the $0.527. If the price fails to defend this floor, the coin sellers could drag its price to 50% FIB at $0.494, followed by 61.8% FIB at $0.46. Theoretically, a pullback to 61.8% FIB is still considered healthy retracement for an asset to recoup the exhausted bullish momentum.
The RUNE price holding above the 100-day exponential moving average (EMA) also accentuate the mid-term bullish trend in the market.
If the buyers manage to hold these support, the RUNE price could rebound and attempt a sustainable above $0.6 resistance.
On the contrary, a breakdown below the 61.8% FIB will accelerate the market selling pressure and strengthen the sellers grip over this asset.
