George Town, Cayman Islands, August 25, 2026, Chainwire — THORChain, a decentralized exchange, announced the launch of THORChain 3.20, an upgrade that introduces native support for Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) swaps.

Until now, moving between privacy coins such as XMR or ZEC and the broader crypto market has often required users to rely on centralized exchanges, custodial services, or additional intermediary steps. Monero obscures senders, receivers, and amounts by default using ring signatures and stealth addresses, while Zcash offers optional shielded transactions based on zk-SNARK proofs — design choices that exchanges and regulators have cited when restricting privacy coin trading over traceability and anti-money-laundering concerns. With THORChain 3.20, users can natively swap XMR and ZEC against assets including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and stablecoins directly through THORChain.

No wrapped versions of XMR or ZEC are required. Users do not need to create an account or hand custody of their assets to a centralized entity. THORChain said this creates a more direct route between privacy-focused cryptocurrencies and widely used assets in crypto.

For Monero holders, access to the broader crypto market has become an increasingly important issue as XMR continues to be removed or restricted by centralized exchanges. Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, delisted XMR in February 2024, and OKX removed XMR and ZEC among other privacy tokens at the end of 2023. In Europe, Kraken has delisted XMR for users in the European Economic Area, and the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, in full application since the end of 2024, has added compliance pressure around privacy-enhancing tokens. THORChain said its integration offers an alternative based on native assets and self-custody rather than requiring users to deposit their coins with an exchange.

The release is one of THORChain's most significant upgrades to date. In addition to Monero and Zcash integration, version 3.20 introduces broader changes to the protocol, including Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL) and the new Stable Reserve, alongside renewed support for Solana, Base, and BNB. The Stable Reserve introduces stablecoin-to-stablecoin swaps with no liquidity fees, and Protocol-Owned Liquidity gives THORChain additional mechanisms for deploying protocol capital across the network. Protocol-Owned Liquidity also connects to the restructuring THORChain carried out in 2025 of liabilities from its halted THORFi lending and savers programs, under which creditor claims were restructured to be repaid through protocol-owned capital and network income.

The move builds on THORChain's core proposition of allowing users to exchange native cryptocurrencies across otherwise disconnected blockchain networks without handing control of their assets to an intermediary.

THORChain already enables native cross-chain swaps across assets including Bitcoin and Ethereum. The addition of privacy-focused networks expands that model into an area of the crypto market where decentralized access has been more limited until now, as most decentralized exchanges operate on transparent networks such as Ethereum and Solana and their Layer 2s and cannot directly route swaps for assets from privacy chains.

About THORChain

THORChain is a decentralized exchange that enables users to swap native digital assets across different blockchain networks without relying on wrapped assets or centralized custodians. It allows users to exchange assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other supported cryptocurrencies while maintaining a self-custodial experience.

Users can swap assets here: swap.thorchain.org

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