THORChain Enables Native ZEC Swaps as RUNE Trades Near $0.755
THORChain (RUNE)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
crypto-economy.com reports that THORChain has completed its native Zcash integration, allowing users to swap ZEC directly with assets on other blockchains without wrapping or bridging. This marks the protocol’s first support for permissionless swaps involving a privacy-focused asset, giving ZEC holders a native route into BTC and ETH. The integration leverages Zcash’s UTXO architecture, reusing infrastructure already supporting Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Dogecoin.
THORChain added ZEC-specific logic for transaction rules, RPC behavior, fees, and oracle infrastructure to enable these native swaps. The rollout follows the earlier deployment of the ZEC liquidity pool on October 2, 2026, which prepared the network for trading. Nodes can now observe the Zcash network, track vault funds, and coordinate swaps through decentralized infrastructure.
However, the protocol currently integrates only the transparent UTXO side of Zcash, meaning swaps remain publicly traceable rather than shielded. This development advances the ZEC work included in THORChain’s broader v3.20 roadmap.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for RUNE, measured when this story was written up on 7 October 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
RUNE is trading at $0.755 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 50.3%, indicating a near-even split between buyers and sellers over the day. The 1-hour buy ratio has dropped to 44.0%, suggesting that short-term buying pressure is fading compared to the 4-hour ratio of 54.5%. Volume Delta turned negative in the last hour at -$10,775, while the 4-hour delta remains positive at +$75,255. This shift indicates that recent selling activity is outpacing buying in the immediate term, despite earlier accumulation. The Cumulative Volume Delta for the 24-hour close is -$147,302, showing that sellers have dominated the day's total flow. Only 8 out of 24 hours saw net buying, highlighting a day where selling pressure was prevalent for most of the session.
The latest daily buy ratio of 45.1% sits at the 6th percentile of the last 323 days, against a median of 50.3% - among the weakest buying days it has had.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for RUNE, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the average buy ratio was 51.3%, making today's 24-hour ratio of 50.3% slightly below the weekly norm by 1.1 points. Spot volume for the day was $2,332,377, which is 0.38 times the weekly average, indicating a significantly quieter trading day than usual. The 8-day volume delta totaled +$759,702, contrasting with the negative 24-hour delta, showing that buying had accumulated earlier in the week. While the price changed only +0.4% over eight days, the current session represents a dip in both volume and buying intensity relative to the weekly trend. This suggests that today is an unusually quiet and slightly bearish day compared to the moderate accumulation seen earlier in the week.