Introduction

THORChain is a blockchain built using the Cosmos SDK. Its main purpose is to allow for the exchange of digital assets in a permissionless fashion. It achieves this thanks to its bonding and liquidity pool mechanisms, which allow users to swap tokens between different networks. The network uses the $RUNE token for its different protocols.

Methods

On this dashboard, we take a look at the different ways in which users are getting their first $RUNE tokens.

1. We will first take a look at the top 5 wallets (by the number of users onboarded) from which users are receiving via a transfer their first tokens (i.e, the earliest transfer in which tokens are transferred to that account).

2. Swaps appear in the transfer table, but we haven't found a way to link the swap pool to the RUNE transfer. Therefore, we instead show the pools from which the most users are receiving their first RUNE from swaps. Notice that a swap will be counted regardless if the user had $RUNE from a previous transfer or $RUNE upgrade.

3. Upgrades refer to the bridging of RUNE from some chain to the THORchain. Since we haven't found $RUNE received from upgrades in the transfers table, we show the chains from which users have received their first upgrade.

4. Finally, we show the daily type of transaction onboarding users daily: transfers (that aren't swaps), swaps, and upgrades.

Analysis

1. Transfers

1. The first address corresponds to a [Pool Module](https://viewblock.io/thorchain/address/thor1g98cy3n9mmjrpn0sxmn63lztelera37n8n67c0), i.e., the address that processes a swap. This means that most users seem to have received their first $RUNE from a swap.

2. The second wallet might belong to Binance, since it showed a large amount of volume the day in which Binance $RUNE was being upgraded via the THORchain treasury.

3. The next is the crypto.com outbound address, so it sends $RUNE withdrawals from the CDC centralized exchange.

4. The Flipside wallet! Indeed, Flipside Crypto is the fourth party onboarding the most users to THORchain thanks to THORchain bounties being paid in $RUNE.

5. The last wallet does belong to the Binance CEX.

In terms of volume, the ones that have sent the most $RUNE among the top 5 we showed are the possible Binance wallet and the Pool Module address.

2. Swaps

We can see that the chain onboarding the most users to THOR is the Binance Smart Chain, both through BNB and BUSD. The second chain/asset used to get more new $RUNE holders is ETH, followed by BTC and Terra.

In terms of volume, ETH and BTC seem to be the ones bringing in the most $RUNE. Also, although there are more swaps with BNB than BUSD, there is more volume in the latter.

3. Upgrades

In terms of upgrades, again the chain from which more wallets are getting their first native $RUNE is the Binance Smart Chain.

In this case, we see the same in terms of volume.

4. Comparison and Trend

We can see that in September when THORchain re-opened after the hack of July 21st, a lot of wallets got their hands on their first $RUNE. We also see increases in adoption in November and in March and April.

Regarding the sources of the first $RUNE tokens these wallets were getting, before the hack, it was mostly swaps, followed by transfers and upgrades. We see that after 2 weeks in which maybe test swaps were being made, the chain was activated again. After September the onboarding from swaps seems to increase until May. Upgrades don't seem to be the preferred option to get new native $RUNE.

Takeaways

• Most people have gotten their first $RUNE from swaps.

• The CDC and Binance CEXes as well as Flipside Crypto are the platforms onboarding the most users to THORchain.

• The most swapped asset for new $RUNE in terms of users is BNB, but in terms of volume, it's ETH.

• Users are getting their first $RUNE from upgrades from the Binance Smart Chain rather than Ethereum.

• Swaps were the most popular way to get the first $RUNE until May when transfers took over.

Contact Data

Thank you for reading!

For any questions or feedback feel free to contact me on Discord at CarlOwOs#4288 or Twitter at @CarlOwOs1