THORChain Co-Founder Fires Back at FBI: Node Data Is Already Public

Chad Barraford, who co-founded THORChain, pushed back on the FBI's request to node operators, saying THORNode operators have no special stash of information. Everything they can see, he said, is already out in the open and refreshes in real time. That means law enforcement can grab it without going through a subpoena.

The FBI's appeal, according to tokenpost.com, didn't single out THORChain alone. It named three groups — THORNode operators, RPC node operators and DeFi platforms — and asked them to block transactions connected to a reported theft from Binance. That put THORChain's node runners in a bucket with other crypto services pressed to act.

Barraford's answer stayed narrow: he addressed what node operators know, not what they should do. He argued there's no separate pool of nonpublic data sitting with operators, so authorities face no information barrier. The FBI's ask, by contrast, was about stopping transactions linked to the reported theft — a very different request.

The gap between the two is the whole tension. One side wants a freeze; the other says the records were never secret to begin with. For THORNode operators, that distinction could matter if they're ever asked to explain what they handed over — or didn't.