THORChain has once again defended its decentralized principles after refusing to block funds from the KelpDAO exploit, with protocol developers arguing that censorship would compromise the network’s neutrality and offer no real security benefit. The stance was reiterated during the THORSday community space on April 23, where developer Chad Barraford stated that pausing the protocol would not solve anything and that chain analysis filters can be easily bypassed.
The attack on KelpDAO, which saw hundreds of millions of dollars drained via LayerZero’s 1-of-1 DVN configuration, saw a portion of the stolen funds flow through THORChain. The attackers, allegedly linked to North Korea, swapped assets through the protocol. THORChain’s response mirrored its position during the $1.5 billion Bybit incident: the protocol does not censor, does not pause, and does not discriminate transactions.
New revenue-sharing and fee mechanisms were also announced. The first is a tiered revenue-sharing model for integrators, where wallets and aggregators exceeding monthly volume thresholds will receive a percentage of fees generated by THORChain from that flow. In Barraford’s preliminary outline, $200,000 in revenue could yield a 10% return, while $10 million could reach 50%. The second change is a dynamic fee algorithm targeted for version 3.18, which automatically adjusts fees per pair and per affiliate based on observed volume.
Version 3.17, expected in the coming weeks, will offer differentiated base fees for stable-to-stable pairs, a market where THORChain accounts for just 10% of volume compared to 80% held by competitors such as Near.
Integrations for Monero, TAO, and Polkadot are underway, with Monero under final review and potentially reaching mainnet in approximately one week.
Meanwhile, the Balancer exploiter reactivated wallets that had been dormant for five months and began converting 1,100 ETH into BTC through THORChain. The theft originally amounted to approximately $120 million in ETH. THORChain’s daily volume climbed to $70 million on April 24, its highest since May 2025, driven by these operations. ZCash also integrated native swaps with THORChain, with gradual activation starting April 24, pushing ZEC from $316 to $342.32.
