THORChain made 63% of its record $3 million September income during the Bitget hack-linked trading surge

THORChain experienced a dramatic increase in revenue during September, fueled by Bitget-linked transaction flows that sparked the platform’s most active period in over a year.

Last month, the cross-chain exchange brought in $3.01 million in system income—marking its highest total since March 2025. Simultaneously, swap volume reached $2.40 billion, achieving its peak since June 2025.

A significant portion of this activity was concentrated within a five-day window immediately following the Bitget security breach. Between Sept. 25 and Sept. 29, approximately $1.37 billion (57% of September’s total swap volume) passed through THORChain, generating roughly $1.9 million in income, which accounts for about 63% of the monthly figure.

THORChain noted that this surge aligned with funds connected to the Bitget exploit traversing the network. The protocol elaborated:

“Between September 25 and 29, daily volume ran between roughly $190M and $460M as funds linked to the Bitget exploit moved through the network.”

This heavy concentration underscores the economic impact of a policy stance THORChain maintained while Bitget attempted to restrict the transfer of the stolen funds.

Following the exchange breach, THORChain declined requests to selectively intervene, maintaining that the platform is permissionless and decentralized, functioning similarly to BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Bitcoin.

Furthermore, the protocol differentiated between a network halt—an emergency safety feature meant to safeguard THORChain itself—and the censorship of specific transactions or addresses. To support this, the platform referenced its May exploit, during which attackers drained $10.7 million from liquidity pools without being barred from trading assets through the network afterward.

According to Bitget, approximately $387.5 million was ultimately moved to addresses controlled by the attackers during the September incident.

THORChain’s record activity came without a user boom

Wallet statistics from THORChain indicate that the revenue spike was driven by unusually large transaction sizes rather than a proportional growth in overall users.

Active wallets rose from 23,500 in August to 25,000 in September, while newly created wallets increased slightly from 21,800 to 22,400. According to THORChain, wallet activity showed little reaction to the late-month volume surge, indicating that transactions were concentrated among a small group of participants.

This nuance complicates the apparent financial growth of the protocol.

Income for September climbed to nearly five times August’s total of $615,000, and swap volume nearly quadrupled from $613 million. However, the majority of this extra activity occurred during a brief window when hack-related assets were bridged across chains.

This sudden surge also temporarily boosted trailing yield metrics. On Sept. 29, the seven-day annualized return for RUNE hit 69.03%, while TCY’s return rose to 29.74%. THORChain anticipates that these figures will drop as those high-fee days exit the calculation period.

Additionally, frontend affiliates collected approximately $840,700 over the course of September, with roughly $669,000 distributed to unidentified affiliates.

Moving forward, the primary challenge for token holders and liquidity providers will be determining whether standard trading activity can sustain the elevated returns seen in September.

Should trading volumes return to pre-hack averages while user growth stays low, both protocol revenue and trailing yields could drop significantly. For long-term growth, THORChain will need to leverage the visibility gained in September to secure steady transaction volume from regular traders and integrators, rather than depending on occasional spikes driven by exceptionally large transfers.

?Frequently Asked Questions

01What caused THORChain’s income surge in September?

The surge was primarily driven by a five-day trading spike between September 25 and 29, during which funds linked to the Bitget hack moved through the network.

02How much revenue did THORChain generate in September?

THORChain generated a record $3.01 million in system income for the month, with about 63% of that total accumulated during the five-day post-hack window.

03Did the revenue spike come from a large increase in new users?

No, wallet data shows that active and new wallet counts grew only slightly, indicating the high volume came from unusually large transactions by a small number of participants rather than a broad user boom.