THORChain co-founder says acting against Bitget hacker was possible but difficult

THORChain could have taken steps to disrupt funds linked to the Bitget hack, according to co-founder Chad Barraford. However, he said implementing an effective response would have been difficult, as coordinating validators can take days while attackers can quickly move funds to new addresses. Barraford discussed the issue during an Unchained interview hosted by Laura Shin alongside onchain analyst and investigator Taylor Monahan. The debate centered on whether THORChain could have done more after Bitget asked the protocol to stop serving addresses linked to wallets that drained $387.5 million from the exchange. Barraford said THORChain does not currently have a mechanism that allows the protocol to immediately censor individual transactions or wallets. He said creating one would still leave validators with the problem of coordinating quickly enough to act before stolen funds move elsewhere. Reaching the two thirds validator consensus needed for certain actions takes about three days on average and can sometimes take as long as two weeks, Barraford said. A faster response, he argued, would require redesigning THORChain to give a smaller group more control. The problem becomes more c...