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The cross-chain liquidity protocol THORchain (RUNE) has finally achieved mainnet status after four years of development.

The network boasts of being “the first and still the only protocol to facilitate asset swaps between chains in a permissionless, trustless and non-custodial setting.” The THORchain team has announced,

“From its inception in 2018 until now, THORChain has primarily been a research project. Mainnet makes the change to a fully functional, feature-rich protocol with a large ecosystem and strong community.”

What does mainnet THORchain mean?

Speaking to the team, mainnet means more than 6 months “without bugs, loss of funds, or network instability.” Further, it is “just a goal” rather than a network upgrade. The mainnet launch symbolizes THORchain’s evolution into a “fully functional” network.

THORChain now facilitates “8 major ecosystems: BTC, ETH, BNB, DOGE, LTC, BCH, ATOM, and RUNE.” Support for AVAX is also promised to be on the horizon. The features offered by THORchain are undoubtedly impressive;

• Access the network via Web, Mobile or Desktop. See full details here.
• Wallets, DEXs, and Aggregators can integrate THORChain to offer users native cross-chain swaps
• Swap between hard layer 1 assets including Bitcoin and Ether
• Park your unproductive assets to earn yield

Regarding the launch, CryptoSlate recently spoke to THORchainMaximalist, a network validator, who told us, “I think dexes will replace CEXES. And the CEX category is worth 100+ billion even in a bear market… Less so on Layer 0/stargate/wormhole, these are nightmares rug in the making security-wise.” THORchainMaximalist continued,

“I’m bullish on THORchain because it’s the decentralized multi chain custodian / dex / financial services network. Everything else has liabilities and single points of failures right now. On the decentralization spectrum [THORchain] is far ahead of everything else so far, I’m also invested across the space in other competing projects.”

Hurdles to climb and complexity risks

The validator did note a word of caution, stating that THORchain may struggle to build momentum due to the competition’s size, but this seems to be stopping the core team from developing new features. For those interested in a full breakdown of the abilities of THORchain, THORchainMaximalist has a series of threads available on their Linktree. Amid THORchainMaximalist’s concerns, a post from THORchain — obtained by CryptoSlate early — reads.

“Do not be alarmed if trading or LP actions are paused unexpectedly.
THORChain will never compromise on security, stability, and decentralisation. These are the most necessary requirements to deliver on the whitepaper – To make it possible to trade digital assets without a central organizing company at fair market prices in a way that is resistant to attack.”

Any security risks come from the fact that “ the complexity of the project is nearly unparalleled,” according to the THORchain team. With native coins, cross-chain swapping, and no need for wrapped tokens, it is hard to argue that THORchain is exceptionally complex.

An interview with Tyler, Head of Communications at Nine Realms, a team-building with THORchain, is coming up soon on CryptoSlate, so watch out for a deep dive into what makes THORchain different from other DEXs.