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THORChain halts swaps after Ethereum reorg causes 10 ETH overpayment
On October 31, a one-block reorganization on the Ethereum network triggered a technical error on the THORChain cross-chain protocol. The reorg caused a 10 ETH deposit to disappear from the canonical chain after THORChain had already credited it. When the associated swap failed to meet its price limit, the protocol issued a refund from a vault that had never actually received the funds. This resulted in a double refund, leaving the vault with a 10 ETH shortfall.
THORChain’s automatic solvency checker detected the discrepancy, prompting node operators to halt trading on most of the protocol’s supported networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Tron. Trading remained active on Avalanche, Base, XRP, and XRPL. The user involved has since returned the 10 ETH, and the protocol reported that the vault is once again solvent.
Chainalysis reported that the emergency pause inadvertently disrupted attempts to launder funds stolen in a recent $6.3 billion to $6.4 billion Binance hack. Additionally, the FBI reportedly urged THORChain node operators to block transactions associated with North Korean hackers linked to the Binance incident.
Entities
Binance · Chainalysis · Ethereum · Ethereum · FBI · THORChain
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.
- [● 3 SOURCES] Trading remained active on Avalanche, Base, XRP, and XRPL during the halt. cryptocompass.com · blockonomi.com · coinpedia.org
- [● 3 SOURCES] The user returned the 10 ETH, making the THORChain vault solvent again. blockchainreporter.net · blockonomi.com · coinpedia.org
- [● 6 SOURCES] The emergency pause inadvertently slowed laundering of funds from the Binance hack. dijitaliyidir.com · cryptocompass.com · www.cryptobreaking.com · thecoinrise.com · news.bitcoin.com
- [● 5 SOURCES] An Ethereum one-block reorganization occurred on October 31 at 11:34 UTC. cryptocompass.com · blockchainreporter.net · www.cryptobreaking.com · blockonomi.com · coinpedia.org
- [● 6 SOURCES] The Binance hack involved approximately $6.3 billion to $6.4 billion in stolen assets. dijitaliyidir.com · cryptocompass.com · www.cryptobreaking.com · thecoinrise.com · news.bitcoin.com
- [● 12 SOURCES] The Ethereum reorg caused THORChain to issue a duplicate 10 ETH refund. dijitaliyidir.com · cryptocompass.com · blockchainreporter.net · www.cryptobreaking.com · thecoinrise.com · +6 more
- [● 3 SOURCES] Node operators halted trading on 10 networks including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Tron. cryptocompass.com · www.cryptobreaking.com · blockonomi.com
- [● 3 SOURCES] The FBI urged THORChain node operators to block transactions linked to North Korean hackers. thecoinrise.com · news.bitcoin.com