Thorchain, a decentralised finance app that lets users swap assets between incompatible blockchain networks, is expanding.
Over the coming months, it plans to integrate several new blockchains, including Solana, Tron, Cardano, and the Telegram Open Network, said John-Paul Thorbjornsen, a prominent Thorchain community member.
Yet adding more blockchains doesn’t necessarily translate into significantly more swap volume.
DeFi infrastucture
Since Thorchain integrated XRP on June 5, users have only swapped $781,000 worth of assets through the new route.
In any event, the expansion is well under way. This year, Thorchain has also integrated Coinbase’s Base blockchain.
Since its launch in 2022, Thorchain has become a widely-used piece of DeFi infrastructure.
Users value the app because it lets them swap assets between blockchains directly. Without Thorchain, they would have to use intermediaries such as Binance and Coinbase to make the swaps.
Yet Thorchain’s lack of know-your-customer and anti-money laundering checks makes it risky.
Thorchain faced criticism earlier this year after North Korean hackers used it in the laundering of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crypto stolen from exchange Bybit in February.
New integrations
Integrating new blockchains into Thorchain poses technical challenges.
Before Thorchain can integrate Solana, for example, it needs to add a new encryption type called Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm, or EdDSA, said FamiliarCow, a pseudonymous Thorchain developer.
Integrating Tron, the blockchain founded by crypto billionaire Justin Sun, is relatively more straightforward.
It is already set to go live in the coming version 3.8 upgrade, scheduled for July.
The Open Network and Cardano are also in the works but there are no concrete dates set yet.
“There should be one release every three to four weeks,” FamiliarCow said.
Over the past year, Thorchain hasn’t prioritised integrating new blockchains. Its developers were instead focused on upgrading its so-called App Layer.
But now that’s completed, there’s a renewed priority on integrating more blockchains to boost swap volumes. Doing so means more fees generated for the node operators who run the infrastructure that processes swaps.
“New chains that move volume have been the priority,” FamiliarCow said. “We look at data from our swap partners like Trust Wallet and Ledger to help prioritise these decisions.”
While Thorchain’s XRP’s numbers are small, Bitcoin swaps accounted for more than $676 million in volume over the same period.
According to FamiliarCow, 80% of Thorchain’s swap are between Bitcoin and Ethereum, so the return on investment of adding new chains is comparatively low.
Still, with other upgrades out of the way, it’s time for Thorchain to expand to the most economically significant blockchains, FamiliarCow said.
