THORChain Now Third Largest DEX As Trading Volume Hits $1.32B

THORChain, a decentralized crypto trading protocol capable of cross-chain swaps, has emerged as a prominent player in the decentralized exchange (DEX) landscape by securing the third-highest trading volume in the past week. Users appear drawn to the high yield associated with its native token, RUNE. 

Last week, THORChain’s trading volume hit $1.32 billion, third to Uniswap, which recorded $10.85 billion, and PancakeSwap with $2.77 billion, DefiLlama reported. Additionally, THORChain has the second-highest 24-hour trading volume at $334.3 million, about $50 million higher than third-placed PancakeSwap.

The recent increase in THORChain’s performance is primarily driven by its native token. Last week, the value of RUNE increased by 51%, and in the last 30 days, it recorded an exceptional increase of more than 200%, according to CoinGecko. At the time of writing, Rune is trading at $5.16, showing minimal change over the past day.

Notably, THORChain surpassed Curve Finance sooner than anticipated by Chad Barraford, THORChain’s core developer, who initially expected the “flippening” to occur before the end of 2023. In a recent post, Barraford stated that the event unfolded more quickly than he had predicted. It only took 2 days instead of the expected 2 months.

Okay, this happened much faster than i thought. Just took 2 days instead of 2 months. But its happened, @THORChain has more trade volume in a week than @CurveFinance.

Next is @PancakeSwap 🎯 https://t.co/xbGkKfFtRU pic.twitter.com/YdPeCZiOQA

— Chad Barraford (@CBarraford) November 13, 2023

THORchain is considered a multichain version of Uniswap, enabling users to swap Bitcoin for Ether. THORSwap, the decentralized exchange, operates on the THORChain protocol.

THORChain’s High Yield Attracts Users

The platform’s average annual percentage rate (APR) is about 44%. Moreover, some liquidity pools on THORChain offer even higher yields, such as Rune pairs and Bitcoin, which provide an APR of more than 353%.

THORChain has grabbed the attention of Bitcoin advocate Erik Voorhees. He pointed out that the platform allows large-scale Bitcoin trading without an intermediary, aligning with Bitcoin’s core principles.

Voorhees said:

“Principled Bitcoiners should be familiar with THORChain. It is the only market to trade Bitcoin at scale without an intermediary… which is the entire point of Bitcoin.” 

Principled Bitcoiners should be familiar with @THORChain

It is the *only market* to trade #Bitcoin at scale without an intermediary… which is the entire point of Bitcoin.

>$200m of native non-wrapped BTC was traded here in the past 24 hrs, permissionlessly.

If you'd like… https://t.co/0WW4QRCo6F

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) November 12, 2023

A group of developers launched the THORChain project during the Binance Dexathon 2018. Most of its developers have chosen to remain anonymous.

In addition to increasing trading volume in DeFi, spot trading on centralized crypto exchanges also experienced a significant surge in the previous month, marking the highest month-on-month increase since early 2021.