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THORChain Restarts Bitcoin and Ethereum Swaps After v3.21.1 Update as Solana, BNB Chain and Cosmos Stay Halted

Muhammad Harib
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THORChain has restarted cross-chain swaps on Bitcoin and Ethereum after a four-day freeze, bringing back trading on 11 blockchains while three major networks remain halted. The decentralised exchange announced the restart in a post on X at about 02:01 UTC on November 4, 2026, after node operators began running its v3.21.1 update. The restart matters because THORChain is one of the few places where traders can swap native Bitcoin for native Ethereum and other assets without wrapping tokens or trusting a centralised exchange. When it froze on October 31, that route closed for 10 chains at once. Its return restores a key piece of cross-chain plumbing — but only partly, because Solana, BNB Smart Chain and Cosmos Hub are still offline.

What happened on October 31

THORChain froze trading on 10 chains on October 31 after a reorganisation on Ethereum led it to pay out a 10 ETH refund twice. A blockchain reorganisation, or reorg, happens when competing versions of recent blocks are resolved and some transactions are effectively rewritten. In this case the duplicate refund meant the protocol paid out the same 10 ETH twice, and the team halted swaps to stop further incorrect payouts while it investigated. The November 1 statement from the team said nodes would re-enable chains only as they were deemed safe. That cautious approach explains why the restart has come in stages rather than all at once: Bitcoin swaps were restored on November 3 at 17:08 UTC, followed by Ether and Tron at 19:58 UTC the same day, before the wider announcement on November 4.

Which chains are trading again — and which are not

According to THORChain's November 4 post, swaps are now live on Avalanche (AVAX), Base, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin (BTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Tron, the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Zcash (ZEC), as well as on THORChain's own RUNE token — 11 blockchains in total including RUNE. Seven of those chains had been halted since October 31: BCH, BTC, DOGE, ETH, LTC, Tron and ZEC. Avalanche, Base and the XRP Ledger kept trading through the pause. Still halted are Cosmos Hub (ATOM), BNB Smart Chain (BSC) and Solana (SOL). THORChain has not given a date for reopening them, and outbound signing remains switched off for those three, so swaps are not possible there yet. Public node data showed 103 of 111 active nodes running version 3.21.1 at 10:12 UTC on November 4, while 8 were still on version 3.21.0 — and the team said every active node must update to fix performance issues with swapping.

What v3.21.1 actually fixes

The release notes describe v3.21.1 as a Bifrost-only patch on top of v3.21.0 that does not change consensus. Bifrost is THORChain's component that watches external chains and signs outbound transactions, so a Bifrost patch fits a bug rooted in how the protocol reads and pays out on other networks. The fixes also cover XRP timeouts, Tron block queries in groups, and Ethereum receipts with a single call to eth_getBlockReceipts. In plain terms, the update tightens how THORChain confirms what happened on other chains before it releases funds — exactly the kind of check that failed when the Ethereum reorg produced a double refund. Key numbers: Chains trading again: AVAX, BASE, BCH, BTC, DOGE, ETH, LTC, RUNE, TRON, XRPL, ZEC. Chains still halted: ATOM, BSC, SOL. Nodes on v3.21.1 at 10:12 UTC Nov 4: 103 of 111. Original freeze: October 31, after a double 10 ETH refund.

Why traders should still be careful

A partial restart is good news, but it is not a clean bill of health. Users with funds or pending swaps on Cosmos Hub, BNB Smart Chain or Solana still cannot move them through THORChain, and anyone routing a trade through the protocol should check the live chain status first rather than assuming every route is open. The incident is also a reminder of how cross-chain bridges and decentralised exchanges carry a different risk from a single-chain trade. A reorg on one network — Ethereum, in this case — can ripple into payouts on another, and the fix depends on node operators across the network upgrading promptly. The 14 active nodes that had not yet installed v3.21.1 at the time of the announcement show that coordination, not just code, is part of the recovery. For the wider market, the timing is notable. The restart landed on a day when the total crypto market was worth about $2.63 trillion, with Bitcoin near $78,430 after dipping to about $75,630 overnight, according to CoinMarketCap data reported on November 4. Cross-chain liquidity returning in that kind of fragile session helps traders rebalance — but it does not remove the leverage and ETF-selling pressures that have weighed on prices in recent weeks.

What to watch next

Three things will show whether this restart holds. First, whether the remaining 8 nodes upgrade and the three halted chains reopen without a new incident. Second, whether any further duplicate payouts or stuck swaps surface as volume returns to the reopened routes. Third, whether THORChain publishes a fuller post-mortem on the reorg handling, which other cross-chain protocols will read closely. Until Solana, BNB Chain and Cosmos return, THORChain's recovery is best described as partial but real: the Bitcoin and Ethereum routes that matter most to its users are open again, with the rest still waiting on a safety verdict.

FAQ

What is THORChain? THORChain is a decentralised cross-chain exchange that lets users swap native assets — for example, Bitcoin for Ethereum — without wrapped tokens or a centralised intermediary.

Why did THORChain halt swaps on October 31? An Ethereum reorganisation caused a 10 ETH refund to be paid twice. The team froze trading on 10 chains to prevent further incorrect payouts while it fixed the issue.

Which chains can I swap on THORChain now? As of November 4, swaps are live on AVAX, BASE, BCH, BTC, DOGE, ETH, LTC, RUNE, TRON, XRPL and ZEC. ATOM, BSC and SOL remain halted.

Is it safe to use THORChain again? The reopened routes are running on the patched v3.21.1 software, but the restart is partial and the team has not yet reopened three chains. Check the live chain status and never move funds you cannot afford to have delayed.

Closing: This story draws on THORChain's own November 4 announcement and reporting on the v3.21.1 restart, including the external source linked below, and readers can follow more crypto and blockchain coverage on the Zimbuck News page and in the Zimbuck Market News group. Join the conversation on Zimbuck at https://zimbuck.com — this article is market news and general information only, not financial advice.

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