THORChain’s Q1 Blues: DeFi TVL Tanks as RUNE Stumbles—But Native Deposits Defy the Trend

RUNE’s price slump dragged THORChain’s dollar-denominated TVL down hard in Q1—classic ’stablecoin-pegged’ DeFi drama. Meanwhile, true believers doubled down on native deposits, voting with their crypto wallets while TradFi bankers clutched their spreadsheets.

Key takeaway? When the market bleeds, DeFi degens still trust code more than centralized balance sheets. Even if that code occasionally eats their lunch.

THORChain’s USD TVL Drops 50%

According to Messari’s latest report, the slump in RUNE’s value heavily impacted THORChain’s DeFi footprint, as total value locked (TVL) in USD terms fell by 50.5%, from $368.6 million to $181.1 million by the end of the quarter. TVL had peaked at $367.7 million on January 2, before sliding in step with RUNE’s declining price.

Despite the steep losses in USD terms, native participation in THORChain’s ecosystem remained strong. In fact, RUNE-denominated TVL climbed 93.2% QoQ, after increasing from 82.2 million to 158.8 million RUNE.

Messari said that the figure pointed to growing user activity and confidence in the protocol’s multichain liquidity infrastructure even amid volatile pricing.

THORChain Swap Volumes Dip

Swap activity, however, painted a more muted picture. Average daily swap volume fell 24.4% QoQ to $68.8 million, reversing the previous quarter’s momentum and continuing a downward trend from the $218.4 million daily average seen in early January.

A notable exception occurred on March 2, when THORChain processed a record $1.05 billion in swaps in a single day. This anomalous spike followed the Bybit exploit, as attackers utilized the protocol to convert stolen ETH into BTC. While this inflated weekly throughput figures, it did not meaningfully alter the broader decline in organic activity.

On-chain data also showed a drop in user engagement, with the average number of daily swappers declining 14.5% QoQ to 1,780. However, usage remained widely distributed across wallets and affiliates, which indicated that while overall volume fell, the protocol’s infrastructure continued to support a broad base of participants.

“The sustained participation reflects the protocol’s continued role as a backend settlement layer for multichain swaps, even as broader market volatility and RUNE’s price drawdown weighed on user activity.”