A DECENTRALISED LIQUIDITY NETWORK
THORChain facilitates cross-chain liquidity pools with no pegged or wrapped tokens.
Swap between assets across chains. Stake assets to earn liquidity incentives. Run a node to service the network.
THORCHAIN ECOSYSTEM
A decentralised effort from the community.
THORChain is supported by many individuals and teams working together in pursuit of decentralised and democratised liquidity.
THORNODE
THORNode is the primary software that runs THORChain.
The team also build and maintain the Bifröst and TSS protocols.
MIDGARD
Midgard is the API service that tracks data from THORChain.
The Midgard team ensures compatibility of THORChain and user clients.
ASGARDEX
ASGARDEX is the reference implementation of a THORChain wallet and exchange.
The ASGARDEX team also maintains the BEPSwap web-client.
THORNODE BOT
The THORNode Bot monitors and informs Node Operators of node health and status.
The THORNode Bot Team keep the bot up to date for Node Operators.
ARB BOT TEAM
The ARB bot will serve to balance ASGARDEX pools and profit from price disparities.
The ARB Bot team are experienced in the field of market making.
EDUCATION
Rebase Foundation have worked to build out a body of clear documentation on the operation of THORChain.
This includes easy to understand explainers, walkthroughs, and useful calculators.
AUDIT AND REVIEW
Several teams work together to audit and review THORChain.
This includes the codebase, infra, economic model, and TSS protocol.
SWAP ASSETS
- Swap between any connected asset
- Pay a transparent fee for access to liquidity
- Swaps completed immediately (once confirmed on-chain)
- Swaps are non-custodial (no third-parties)
- Swap directly from supported wallets
STAKE ASSETS
- Stake in existing pools, or add new ones
- Liquidity providers earn fees and block rewards
- Liquidity is always on-chain and never “pegged” or “wrapped”
- Only the original provider can claim back their share
- Staked capital is always underwritten by the system
BOND AS A NODE
- The system churns nodes every 3 days, ensuring liveness and preventing capture
- Nodes compete to enter with bonded capital
- The oldest and most unreliable node is churned out
- Nodes are anonymous, with plausible deniability on all transactions
- Nodes earn 2/3rds of the System Income
SOLVING SECURITY
- Incentives ensure bonded RUNE is always double staked RUNE
- Malicious nodes are slashed to protect staked capital
- The liquidity and security of the system is tightly coupled
- A Threshold Signature Scheme with no trusted dealer protects assets
- The system is always Byzantine fault tolerant
SOLVING SCALABILITY
- Liquidity is sharded into realms to reduce signing committee sizes
- Liquidity is delegated into smaller vaults for faster signing
- Base infrastructure is Tendermint (100+ Nodes possible)
- Chains and Assets added via economic weight
- High performance CosmosSDK replicated state machine
SOLVING CROSS-CHAIN
- THORChain observes transactions on external networks
- State is highly-validated: incorrect transactions are ignored or refunded
- Logic is applied to state changes, generating outgoing transactions
- Transactions are signed via a chain agnostic TSS protocol
- Outgoing transactions are broadcast back to the external network
ROADMAP
THORCHAIN IS A MULTI-YEAR PUBLIC PROJECT
PUBLIC ALPHA
DELIVERED
First testnet on Binance Chain allowing simple swaps. Non-public API. No public nodes and no active churning. No bonded capital.
TESTNET
FINAL TESTING
Second testnet on Binance Chain allowing swaps, stakes, and withdrawals. Public Midgard API. No public nodes and no active churning. Bonded capital, but no block rewards.
CHAOSNET
FINAL TESTING
Launch on Binance Chain with swaps, stakes, and bonding. Public nodes participating, with active churn. Block rewards with liquidity incentives. System capital limited to 600k RUNE. ChaosNet ends in a Ragnarök - a global shutdown.
Multi-chain Chaosnet
IMPLEMENTING
Binance Chain, Ethereum and Bitcoin. Public nodes participating, with active churn. Block rewards with liquidity incentives. Cap on staked amount. Public audit completed.
ASGARDEX - MAINNET
IN SCOPE
Mainnet with no caps. Decentralised.
RUNE
A FIXED-SUPPLY NETWORK ASSET
ON-CHAIN LIQUIDITY
- All pools contain RUNE at a 1:1 ratio to asset value
- A single settlement asset means any two pools can be linked
- Only staked capital is secured, simplifying the economic security model
- Pools earn continuous liquidity incentives - 1/3rd of the System Income
NETWORK SECURITY
- All nodes bond RUNE at a 2:1 ratio to staked RUNE
- Highest bonded nodes are churned-in to drive bonding rates
- Nodes are slashed if malicious behaviour is detected
- Nodes earn 2/3rds of the System Income (fees and emission)
GOVERNANCE
A GOVERNANCE-MINIMAL APPROACH
- Staked capital drives the network direction (listed assets and chains)
- Developers respond to the network, delivering tested and validated code
- Nodes choose to run backwards-compatible software
- Nodes are anonymous and do not communicate, coordinate, or socially-signal
- Nodes are second-class citizens that service the network
TEAM
PSEUDO-ANONYMITY IS A STRENGTH
- The team is mostly pseudo-anonymous to protect the project
- Figureheads, personalities and founders undermine a project’s ability to decentralise
- Transparency is demonstrated in other facets (treasury, code, research)
- In time, Node Operators will fund satellite development teams
- Reach out on Telegram, Twitter or Discord to discuss further
PROJECT
OTHER DETAILS ABOUT THORCHAIN
- The project was seed-funded in 2018
- RUNE was listed on Binance DEX to assist distribution prior to mainnet
- Weekly development updates cover project progress
- Monthly treasury reports cover project finance