THORChain Privacy Upgrade Drives RUNE 26% Higher — Can Bulls Break $0.65?
THORChain ($RUNE) Surges 26% After v3.20 Upgrade Enables Privacy Coin Swaps
$RUNE rallied more than 26% in the past 24 hours, making it the top gainer among the top 200 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The price spike coincided with the launch of the THORChain v3.20 upgrade and a broader recovery across the crypto market. Daily trading volume tripled to exceed $20 million, though it remains modest relative to the token’s market cap.
THORChain v3.20 Goes Live, Unlocking XMR and ZEC Swaps
The network confirmed that the v3.20 upgrade went live on August 26. The release introduces native cross-chain swapping for Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) against Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and major stablecoins. By bridging privacy-focused assets directly into THORChain’s liquidity pools, the upgrade expands the protocol’s addressable market and brings a new cohort of privacy-conscious users into its ecosystem.
This development arrives three months after an exploit drained over $10 million from THORChain across BTC, ETH, and BSC networks. Since then, the protocol has rebuilt confidence, with swap volume data from DeFiLlama showing consistent dominance from Bitcoin and Ethereum. The chain currently averages roughly $7 million in daily BTC swaps and $10 million in daily ETH swaps.
Source: DeFiLlama
Short Liquidations Amplify the Move
The sudden influx of buying pressure triggered a cascade of short liquidations in the perpetual futures market. According to CoinGlass data, $RUNE short positions worth roughly ten times the value of long positions were wiped out during the surge, adding fuel to the upside momentum.
Source: CoinGlass
Technical Outlook: Can Bulls Flip $0.65 Resistance?
On the daily timeframe, the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) signals a shift to a long-term bullish trend. However, horizontal price structure remains bearish. $RUNE is still trading below the $0.65 zone, which marks the last lower high of the prior downtrend. Bulls tested this supply zone but faced immediate rejection, leaving it unclear whether buyers have the conviction to breach resistance decisively.
Source: $RUNE/USDT on TradingView
On-chain and derivative metrics offer mixed signals. Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) data shows aggressive accumulation, with 1.78 million $RUNE bought on Binance as of press time. Meanwhile, a Sentiment reading of 80 indicates the crowd is convinced the rally is sustainable. Yet the move remains largely sentiment-driven, raising the risk of a short-lived spike if the market structure fails to confirm a trend change.
Key Takeaways
- $RUNE surged over 26% in 24 hours after the THORChain v3.20 upgrade, leading all top-200 crypto assets.
- The upgrade enables direct swaps for Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) into BTC, ETH, and stablecoins, expanding THORChain’s user base.
- Short liquidations were extreme, with shorts liquidated at roughly 10x the volume of longs.
- Price remains below the critical $0.65 resistance; a successful flip to support would confirm a structural shift to bullish.
- CVD and sentiment data show strong buying interest, but sustainability depends on whether the rally transitions from sentiment-driven to structure-confirmed.
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