THORChain upgrade enables native Monero swaps, boosting XMR 8.9%

THORChain just gave privacy coin holders something they’ve been waiting years for: a way to trade Monero and Zcash directly for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins without touching a centralized exchange or dealing with wrapped token workarounds. XMR responded by jumping roughly 8.9%. The cross-chain decentralized exchange protocol rolled out version 3.20 on August 25, introducing native swap support for both XMR and ZEC. In a crypto landscape where privacy tokens keep getting booted from centralized platforms, that’s not just a technical upgrade. It’s a lifeline. What v3.20 actually does Traders can now swap XMR or ZEC directly against BTC, ETH, and stablecoins through THORChain’s liquidity pools. The transactions remain self-custodial throughout, meaning users never hand over control of their assets to a third party during the swap process. Beyond the privacy coin integrations, the upgrade packs two other notable features. Protocol-Owned Liquidity, or POL, gives the protocol itself a stake in its own liquidity pools. The second addition is a Stable Reserve mechanism that enables fee-free stablecoin swaps. Months in the making This wasn’t a surprise announcement. THORChain’s develo...