TL;DR
- THORChain v3.20 introduces an experimental Stable Reserve for eligible stablecoin swaps, allowing 1:1 execution without liquidity fees or slip when inventory is sufficient.
- Two POL Mimirs now control how much System Income flows into Protocol-Owned Liquidity and which pools are eligible to receive RUNE liquidity.
- The upgrade advances Monero and Zcash integrations, prepares BNB, Base and Solana trading to resume, expands ERC-20 Memoless Swaps and strengthens node and vault security.
THORChain has shipped protocol upgrade v3.20, a feature-heavy release that combines new economic machinery with chain-integration and security work. The update moves Monero and Zcash closer to activation, prepares BNB, Base and Solana trading to resume, expands Memoless Swaps to ERC-20 tokens and adds MOR to Ethereum and Base token lists. The biggest change is economic: v3.20 introduces the experimental Stable Reserve while making Protocol-Owned Liquidity controls operational. Churn is also set to resume, giving the network another operational reset after previous chain-specific, solvency and security issues were addressed across several parts of the protocol.
Stable Reserve and POL reshape THORChain’s liquidity model
The Stable Reserve is designed to improve THORChain‘s competitiveness for stablecoin swaps by letting eligible stablecoins trade directly against protocol-owned stablecoin inventory instead of routing through normal RUNE-based liquidity pools. When sufficient inventory exists, eligible stable-to-stable swaps can execute at 1:1 with no liquidity fee or slip, although normal outbound network fees still apply. The design effectively creates a faster stablecoin lane while preserving fallback to standard pools when reserve inventory cannot fill a trade. It also includes depeg protections and ships disabled by default until testing supports gradual activation once the feature is enabled.
Protocol-Owned Liquidity, or POL, also moves from groundwork toward practical deployment. The mechanism can redirect a portion of THORChain’s System Income into a dedicated reserve, then deploy that capital as RUNE liquidity into selected pools. The intended flywheel is straightforward: deeper protocol-owned liquidity could improve swap execution, attract more volume and generate additional System Income. Version 3.20 activates two Mimirs, one controlling the percentage of System Income allocated to POL and another determining which pools may receive POL liquidity, giving node operators direct control over how the mechanism is used across the network in practice.
Beyond those economic changes, v3.20 strengthens infrastructure across several fronts. Monero receives fixes for FROST key generation, signing, recovery, vault rotation and solvency reporting, while Zcash support advances through compatibility with its NU6.3 Ironwood upgrade. Solana gains outbound recovery, fresher signing state and improved solvency reporting, with BNB and Base also preparing to return progressively. The release broadens usability while hardening custody and node operations. ERC-20 Memoless Swaps reduce wallet integration friction, TSS keyshares are encrypted at rest, validator seed handling becomes safer, and additional swap, refund and vault protections are included for node operators.
