THORChain Price Rally Fueled by Kelp DAO Exploit Aftermath

RUNE, the native utility token of the THORChain ecosystem, jumps over 10% during Wednesday’s U.S. market hours to trade at $0.48. A primary catalyst for this surge was heightened network activity and fees generated by funds moving from Kelp DAO exploit. The easing geopolitical tension in the middle east further bolstered the general market sentiment in crypto market, supporting THORChain price for a major breakout.

Kelp DAO Exploit Triggers Record THORChain Volume 

The Lazarus Group, specifically its TraderTraitor subunit, siphoned approximately $292 million from Kelp DAO on April 18, 2026, in the largest DeFi heist of the year. The attackers took advantage of a configuration vulnerability in the LayerZero bridge infrastructure of Kelp, an RPC-spoofing attack to authorize the fraudulent transfer of 116,500 rsETH. This hack caused a colossal contagion throughout the ecosystem, with more than $10 billion in withdrawals out of the lending giant Aave as customers sought to escape possible bad debt. 

During the days after the exploit, the hackers initiated an advanced laundering process, moving about $80 million (34,500 ETH) of assets through THORChain to convert them into Bitcoin. This immense flow of illegal funds propelled the daily transaction volume of THORChain to more than $211 million, a tenfold increase over its 30-day average, and yielded an estimated protocol fees of 189,000 to 420,000 in one day alone. The attackers used the permissionless cross-chain swaps available through THORChain to circumvent the traditional compliance barriers and centralized monitoring of exchanges.

This exploit and the ensuing laundering trail led to a spike in market attention, according to data provided by Santiment, with social media mentions of RUNE8.15% rising by five to ten times. This increased social control came when the price rose by 19 percent, enabling RUNE to break above important 7-day and 30-day moving averages.

Although the price movement gave a positive signal of a bullish move to the technical traders, it also added to the debate on whether the decentralized infrastructure is safe or not. 

In spite of the controversy, THORChain maintainers re-emphasized that the protocol was a neutral, decentralized mechanism having no administrative keys to freeze or block transactions.

THORChain Price Rebound Amid Double Bottom Pattern

Following the sharp correction in January 2026, the THORChain price stabilized above the $0.375 support. The consolidation above this support witnessed two major reversal in the daily chart, indicating the formation of a double-bottom pattern.

The bullish reversal pattern is commonly spotted at major market bottom, signaling an intact demand pressure at key reversal. A fresh higher low swing in daily relative strength index accentuated the rising buying pressure as aforementioned, positioning the asset for renewed recovery.

With today’s price jump, the THORChain price gave a decisive breakout from the pattern’s neckline resistance at $0.464. If the breakout holds, the coin price could rally to $0.542, followed by a leap to $0.6.