THORChain Upgrade Advances Zcash Native Swap Support
THORChain (RUNE)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
Tokentopnews.com reports that a THORChain protocol upgrade has advanced support for Zcash within the network’s native swap architecture. This development gives ZEC holders a path toward direct, non-custodial cross-chain trading through the decentralized liquidity network. The upgrade integrates Zcash at the protocol level rather than relying on wrapped or bridged workarounds.
Native swaps remove the custodial and wrapping steps that typically sit between a user and a cross-chain trade. Instead of locking ZEC to mint a bridged representation, the underlying asset can move through THORChain’s liquidity pools directly. This design allows users to trade one native asset for another without a centralized intermediary.
The phrasing “closer to” indicates progress rather than completion, as live, fully available native ZEC swaps are not yet active. Remaining milestones, rollout timing, and liquidity depth will determine when these swaps become practical. THORChain has previously shipped base-layer changes, including a network upgrade backed by Binance. The upgrade establishes the groundwork for deeper, more organic liquidity for the privacy-focused asset.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for RUNE, measured when this story was written up on 28 August 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Whalio data shows RUNE trading at $0.5070 with a 24-hour spot volume of $8,035,344. The 1-hour buy ratio stands at 52.7%, while the 4-hour ratio is 50.9%, both slightly higher than the 24-hour average of 50.2%. This suggests that short-term buying pressure is building relative to the broader daily trend. The 1-hour volume delta is positive at +$3,189, indicating net inflows, whereas the 4-hour delta is +$9,153. However, the 24-hour volume delta is -$7,660, and the Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) for the day closed at -$406,953. This divergence implies that while recent hours saw net buying, the overall daily flow remains net selling.
The latest daily buy ratio of 44.5% sits at the 5th percentile of the last 281 days, against a median of 50.4% - among the weakest buying days it has had.
Twenty-four hours later
What RUNE did over the 24 hours after the story broke. The market moves for its own reasons; this is what happened, not what the story caused.
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 7-day average buy ratio was 49.7%, making today’s 24-hour ratio of 50.2% a marginal increase of 0.5 points. Spot volume today was 4.49 times the weekly average, marking an unusual spike in activity compared to the norm. The 8-day price change was +14.2%, with a total volume delta of +$51,157 over that period. Only 3 of the 7 days saw net buying, indicating that this recent volume spike is not yet sustained by consistent directional flow. The current day represents a brief intensification of trading activity against a backdrop of mixed weekly trends.