THORChain founder JP Thor has urged the protocol's node operators to resist calls to block cryptocurrency linked to North Korean hackers, arguing that such a step would undermine THORChain's commitment to permissionless settlement. His position puts him at odds with U.S. law enforcement agencies that are pressing crypto services to cut off the movement of funds stolen in the record Binance hack.

The dispute follows the October 29 theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance, an exploit described as the largest in crypto history, which the FBI attributed to TraderTraitor, a hacking group affiliated with North Korea.

The FBI, working with the U.S. Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation, has urged THORChain node operators, instant exchanges, and other crypto services to block transactions involving addresses connected to the stolen funds. The agency warned that the hackers are converting the stolen assets, primarily into Ethereum, before moving them through decentralised finance protocols and instant-swap services to further obscure their origins.

THORChain has previously been used by North Korean-linked hackers to swap cryptocurrencies following major exploits, generating transaction fees for the protocol in the process. After the BitGet hack, more than $80 million in stolen XRP was likewise moved through the network. That history captures the trade-off at the centre of the dispute: open access generates fee revenue for the protocol, but also keeps it available to the North Korean-linked groups U.S. authorities are trying to cut off.

Amid expectations of increased trading activity tied to the Binance theft, THORChain's native RUNE token rose 13%.

#ThorChain's $RUNE token up following the #BinanceHack. — BitKE (@BitcoinKE) October 30, 2026

THORChain is a decentralised cross-chain protocol that allows users to swap assets between different blockchain networks without a centralised intermediary. Nine of its supported chains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and TRON, remain halted after automated systems paused the network on October 31, 2026, over an unrelated block-reorganisation bug that is separate from the Binance hack. Whether operators restore the halted chains, and how they weigh the FBI's request once normal swapping resumes, are the immediate developments to watch.

JP Thor, who says he is no longer involved in the protocol's operations, argued that node operators should not intervene to restrict transactions.

"IMO if THORNodes decided to take the protocol offline next week then the experiment is over," he said. "The last bastion of unencumbered and neutral settlement is over. There will simply be no other venue and the protocol would have failed."

THORChain's governance structure allows node operators to coordinate a halt of the network, while individual operators can also leave the network entirely if they no longer wish to process transactions. Any restriction on the stolen funds would therefore depend on coordinated action among operators rather than a directive from a central authority, and there is no single point of control that could unilaterally block specific transactions. For U.S. authorities, that design offers no direct lever: acting on the request would require voluntary coordination among operators whose identities are not publicly known.

According to THORChain developer Chad Barraford, speaking on the Unchained podcast, roughly 50 unknown individuals operate the network's 100 nodes. In a worst-case scenario, the protocol can continue functioning with as few as 4 nodes.

The dispute raises questions about the legal exposure of infrastructure operators that continue processing transactions linked to a major state-sponsored theft, particularly as U.S. authorities investigate the incident.

The FBI's request places THORChain at the centre of a broader debate over whether decentralised financial infrastructure should remain neutral or intervene when its permissionless services are used to move stolen assets.

Source: BitcoinKE — https://bitcoinke.io/2026/11/thorchain-faces-pressure-to-block-transactions/