RUNE Is Fully Unlocked, and Its Supply Has Only Shrunk. Here’s How

Most tokens dread their unlock date but RUNE’s final unlock arrived in 2023, and since then its supply has only ever gone down.

I find that combination rare, a token with nothing left to unlock, a smaller supply than it launched with, and a revenue stream that pays the people securing the network. Ultimately, the story of how THORChain got there is also a story about a quiet change of strategy, and the one number that highlights this shift is the burn rate, which fell from 5% to 1%.

A Token With Nothing Left To Unlock

According to THORChain’s RUNE page, “the final RUNE token unlock occurred in 2023.” Furthermore, the tokenomics documentation puts it more bluntly: all RUNE tokens have been released, with no vesting schedules or locked allocations. The same documentation describes the model as having no block rewards, no inflation, and no token unlocks.

That matters significantly for anyone who has watched unlock calendars drag down other tokens. Consequently, for RUNE, the dilution risk from scheduled releases is simply gone. What remains is a supply that can be changed in only one direction.

How Supply Went From 1 Billion To About 354 Million

To understand this change, the supply path is easy to follow. When RUNE originally launched, the maximum supply was 1 billion tokens; subsequently, it was cut to 500 million. Today, THORChain’s RUNE page lists a total supply of 353,904,991, and the live supply tracker referenced in the documentation breaks it down further.

The most recent step was ADR-023, which the architecture record calls a “RUNE supply restructure.” Through this mechanism, the protocol burned excess RUNE from the Reserve, cut the Reserve from roughly 74.2 million tokens to about 9.3 million, and lowered the maximum supply cap to 360 million. The ADR text puts the burn at about 64.9 million RUNE, while THORChain’s May 12 announcement cited 64.4 million, so you’ll see both figures. Either way, the burn removed minted RUNE that had never circulated.

Meanwhile, THORChain’s own explanation outlined the core logic: shrink the gap between market cap and fully diluted valuation, remove the incentive to spend the Reserve, and make future burns count for more against a smaller supply. Importantly, it also noted that the change wasn’t aimed at core protocol mechanics.

How RUNE Earns

RUNE isn’t only a scarce asset, it’s also the security deposit of the network. Nodes must bond it before they can join, and the RUNE page currently lists roughly 104.4 million RUNE bonded, with a bonding APR near 16.1%.

In return, the bonders are paid from system income, which comes directly from swap fees paid by people moving crypto across chains. Under the current model, 59% of that income goes to nodes and liquidity providers, with the split between the two set by the Incentive Pendulum, according to the documentation. As a result, this creates a real revenue loop: usage creates fees, and fees pay the people who secure the system

The Burn Cut From 5% To 1%

Here is where the quiet shift occurs. For years, a slice of income was burned. A July 2025 THORChain blog post described the burn at 5% of earnings and argued it was doing little. By its estimate, the burn had removed about 0.2% of circulating supply, its daily size was tiny against roughly $100 million in daily volume, and it “does not create any additional buy pressure.”

In response, the current split in the documentation shows what changed: 59% to nodes and liquidity providers, 20% to protocol-owned liquidity, 10% to TCY holders, 5% each to the developer and marketing funds, and 1% burned. The burn fell from 5% to 1%, and the freed income was redirected toward building the protocol’s own liquidity.

Protocol-Owned Liquidity Takes The Wheel

The 20% going to protocol-owned liquidity, or POL, represents the other half of this strategic shift. Specifically, the groundwork came in the v3.18 upgrade on May 12, which let a configurable portion of system income flow into a dedicated POL reserve that deploys RUNE into selected pools.

As described, the protocol reassesses the pools every three days and deposits RUNE into the one that earned the most fees relative to its depth, with half of it remaining as RUNE owned by THORChain. Ultimately, the aim is simple: deeper pools mean better prices for traders, which in turn brings more volume, more fees, and more income. While a burn removes tokens only once, POL tries to continuously grow the engine that produces the income.

What The Shift Says About Strategy

My reading is that THORChain has fundamentally moved from a scarcity story to a flywheel story. On one hand, the big supply reset is done, and ADR-023 delivered that in one step. On the other hand, while the 1% burn keeps trimming the supply and the RUNE page shows about 2.1 million tokens burned to date, it is no longer the headline feature.

Instead, the bet now is entirely on usage. The page shows roughly $15.2 million in protocol fees over twelve months, which is modest next to the biggest exchanges. Therefore, compounding liquidity into the busiest pools serves as a practical way to grow that number over time.

What To Watch Next

Looking ahead, two key factors will tell us whether the strategy works:

1. First, whether POL depth improves swap pricing enough to noticeably lift fee volume.
2. Second, whether income can rise while the supply stays fixed, since having fewer tokens alongside more fees is the exact combination that tends to matter for a token like this.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services. Follow us on X @nulltxnews