THORChain's co-founder explains why it told Bitget no after a $387M hack

Bitget came calling, and THORChain hung up. The exchange asked the decentralized protocol to freeze addresses tied to a $387.5 million hack. THORChain's answer was no — and its technical co-founder Chad Barraford is now explaining the reasoning behind it.

The refusal didn't go unanswered. Weeks later, Tether froze four THORChain vaults on Tron holding 1.45 million USDT — then unfroze them about three hours after that. The episode became a flashpoint for the argument over who gets to hit pause in DeFi, and whether anyone should have that power.

THORChain isn't a bystander in this fight. In May, the protocol itself bled $10.7 million when a GG20 flaw was exploited, and it stayed halted for 39 days while it picked up the pieces. Barraford sits down with The Defiant's Camila Russo to unpack the messy middle: the gap between a protocol that can't stop a hacker and one that won't.

Part of the conversation digs into why attackers route through Bitcoin to cash out, and how THORChain's stance stacks up against the approaches taken by Bitcoin, Ethereum and NEAR Intents. Barraford also teases what's on deck: Monero, Zcash, new chain integrations, and a long-running bet that DEXs eventually take the crown from CEXs.

It's a question splitting DeFi down the middle — the code is permissionless until a hacker shows up, and then everyone wants a lever to pull.