The price of Rune may be a lot lower than back in spring/ summer 2023 (DEFI's crazy now hazy heydays!) but the current price of Rune is $1.80, which isn't too bad given it's not so distant lows of around $1.00 in mid November 2022, and taking into account the rather flat nature of DEFI in general.
So I decided to take a look at some of the main developments with ThorSwap (RUNE is the main token of ThorSwap) over the last several months, and there has been plenty going on.
What is ThorSwap/ Rune
In case you are not aware, ThorSwap is a native-staking cross chain yield aggregator. It allows you to stake native assets including Bitcoin, ETH, Litecoin, ATOM and COSMOS, as well as USDC and other assets with Rune for a yield/ return and swap between to two, fees paid in Rune, which are relatively low.
This is unlike with, for example, Binance Smart Chain, where you have to first convert your BTC or whatever other asset into BTCb before staking it.
Thorswap is truly decentralised DEFI, and there are a lot of pooling options, all with RUNE...
Developments on Thorcahin over the last several months
The most visible difference is that the interfaces have had a total make over and they look a lot flashier...
Since I last checked it out they have added several protocols to ThorSwap, Avalanche integration being among the more notable offerings, and they have also added COSMOS. The most recent Addition is the Kyber Network.
Personally i think this is pretty impressive as this shows steady expansion making Thorswap today truly multichain.
There's currently just over $270M pooled on ThorSwap, so this is still relatively small scale by DEFI standards, plenty of room for growth I think.
Especially when the average yield is 11.49%, so if yer prepared to risk some Native coins with Rune, you can get a decent return, although NB this is lower with BTC!
Further Developments...
In September they introduced fee tiers for $THOR holders: the more $THOR you hold, the more your fee discount, which gives this token some utility besides it being just another DEFI coin (NB $THOR was airdropped to XRUNE stakers getting on for two years ago now, it was carnage at the time with sky high ETH fees!)
In October 2022 yield emissions were reduced on the Thorswap pools by 50%, moving towards sustainable Yield Farming.
ThorSwap Earn was introduced back in November which allows you to 'stake' some selected single assets such as BTC or ETH with no pooling with Rune required. Given the current state of DEFI returns for single assets, the current returns are not too bad it would seem...
Link to ThorSwap Earn.
The most recent current propsoal is the Thor Burn Proposal - burning a shed load of $THOR which is A. Essentially pointless and B. Has way too much of it, so I say do it!
Final thoughts: Is Rune Worth Holding or even buying...?
I'd say there has been steady development on the network over the last six months, nice expansion to other chains, single asset staking, a new interface, everything seems to be going well, and emissions being reduced but still a decent yield.
And with there being a relatively small amount staked, it seems like ThorSwap and Rune have a pretty bright future, I mean this is viable native asset pooling and now staking for a decent return, after all!
So I certainly won't be selling any RUNE. Whether or not it can get back up to $20 is another matter, of course!