THORChain was financed through an initial DEX offering (IDO) that commenced via the Binance DEX in July 2019. The project's single-chain chaosnet was introduced in April 2021, followed by the multi-chain Chaosnet upgrade, which also launched in April 2021, and subsequently transitioned to Mainnet in June 2022. Learn more on Eulerpool.

An official representative of THORChain has stated that the platform operates without a CEO, founder, or directors. The protocol's ongoing development is managed through Gitlab, where nodes serve as the final decision-makers regarding which codebase to implement. Nine Realms, an organization originating from the community, currently oversees the management of the codebase and coordinates software upgrades in collaboration with the node community.

THORChain facilitates native asset settlement, allowing users to exchange Bitcoin, Ether, Stablecoins, and other cryptocurrencies across nine distinct blockchains. Serving as a decentralized cross-chain exchange, it enables native asset settlements. THORChain employs a unique slip-based fee system to address the issue of "impermanent losses"—the often temporary losses liquidity providers may encounter when contributing to liquidity pools. This system uses slip-based fees to ensure liquidity remains where it is required. THORChain uses deterministic swap ordering, organizing transactions by the amount of liquidity fees paid. This method effectively eliminates frontrunning, sandwich attacks, and MEV strategies. THORChain integrates various innovative technologies, including one-way state pegs, a state machine, the Bifröst Signer Module, and a TSS protocol, to enable seamless and permissionless cross-chain token swaps. All complex processes are managed behind the scenes, ensuring the platform is accessible to even those with minimal trading experience. THORChain supports Streaming Swaps, allowing large transactions to be divided into multiple smaller swaps over time, thereby significantly reducing swap fees for users.

As of October 2024, 337 million RUNE tokens are in circulation out of a total maximum supply of 500 million. THORChain was initially launched following an Initial DEX Offering (IDO) on the Binance DEX. During this event, 20 million RUNE tokens were sold. Prior to the IDO, a cumulative total of 130 million RUNE tokens were sold across earlier funding rounds. In line with the official proposal on Binance DEX, 10% of the total supply (equivalent to 50 million tokens) was allocated to the team, with a lock-up period extending until the launch of the mainnet. Post-launch, these tokens were set to unlock at a rate of 20% per month. A significant portion of this allocation was subsequently sold to generate additional funds for the protocol. The team currently holds less than 1% of all RUNE tokens. As of July 2023, all RUNE tokens are fully vested and unlocked. The ERC-20 and BEP-2 versions of RUNE tokens have been deprecated following a 2.5-year transition period to native RUNE, orchestrated by the validators. The protocol now only accepts mainnet RUNE.

THORChain is developed using the Cosmos SDK and is supported by the Tendermint consensus mechanism. This framework protects the network from attacks through an innovative Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) proof-of-stake (PoS) system. Within this system, a substantial number of validators collaborate to propose and finalize transaction blocks. The native asset vaults of THORChain are secured by GG-20 Threshold Signatures. Every three days, active validators undergo a “churning” process. During this process, outdated validators, as well as those with the lowest bonding and poorest performance, are removed from the active set. New validators are selected to join based on their bond amount. The newly formed validator set employs Threshold Signatures to establish new native asset vaults, and all funds held by the network are transferred to new addresses.

RUNE exhibits the highest liquidity on the THORChain Automated Market Maker (AMM), accessible through any ecosystem interface. RUNE is a well-known cryptocurrency available for purchase and trading across numerous centralized and decentralized exchange platforms. The most notable platforms include Binance, a centralized exchange, and THORSwap, a decentralized interface for THORChain. For additional information, refer to Eulerpool.