Thorchain Exploit Drains $11M Across 9 Chains — What It Means for Bitcoin Cash

By alberdioni8406 May 18, 2026

This Monday, the crypto market woke up with the main coins behaving irregularly, raising suspicions that it may have been affected by the recent exploit of the Thorchain protocol on May 15, 2026. While this may be true—given that it mostly impacted Bitcoin and Ethereum—it also affected other cryptocurrencies, with greater incidence on BTC, ETH, BNB Chain, and Base.

According to the renowned investigator ZachXBT, these were the chains that suffered the most from the exploit, and the perpetrator(s) caused significant damage. Bitcoin had more than 36.7 BTC stolen, representing over 3 million dollars in losses; Ethereum saw more than 3,443 ETH taken by the attacker, along with ERC-20 tokens as well as USDC/USDT wrapped assets; on the BNB Chain network, more than 96.5 BNB were drained; and finally, the Base chain was also attacked, where the author(s) took considerable amounts of assets.

In a more detailed blog, TRM Labs states that the exploit had a greater impact on these major networks but affected a total of 9 chains—Avalanche, Dogecoin, Litecoin, XRP, and Bitcoin Cash. According to these researchers, and using the information they provided, I dug deeper into this and found an entry of 628 BCH that the attacker or attackers managed to extract from the Thorchain protocol vaults, though not enough to shake the market. I specifically checked because I wanted to better understand whether this amount of BCH drained from Thor’s vaults could have a strong impact on the market, but I don’t believe it does.

It is important to understand that the exploit happened on May 15, and on that same day Bitcoin Cash was trading above 430 dollars, continuing to decline to 385–374 dollars today, Monday—mainly due to the broader crypto market, which experienced deep changes and financial liquidations influencing the price not only of BCH but also of many other coins. Bitcoin Cash does not exist in isolation, and when Bitcoin moves, it also tends to register notable losses. This Thorchain event contributed to some users becoming concerned and pausing trading, especially since the protocol itself has been halted until the situation normalizes and prevents attackers from causing further damage.

Across all nine networks, the Thorchain protocol suffered total losses of 11 million dollars, with more than 12,500 wallets affected that may be compensated in the future. This is significant for a protocol that has not been attacked for the first time, with users losing millions of dollars. However, it is always important to keep in mind that such events will continue to happen, largely because while developers create protection and security mechanisms against hackers, attackers also innovate in their methods and will always find ways to breach protocols and achieve their goals. Therefore, whenever you use the protocol, always keep this in mind.

Next, see the links, screenshots, and other types of information to fully understand the incident:

Link to ZachXBT’s Telegram post - https://t.me/investigations/319