🧵The Day Inflation Died: How THORChain Killed Block Rewards Forever! For years, THORChain paid you to secure the network, and inflation funded the system. In 2025, that money printer got turned off. But here’s how THORChain ended emissions and became sustainable, and why it’s so important for you🫵 Why Emissions? Let's remember that THORChain originally launched with a fixed 500M $RUNE supply. 44% (~218M $RUNE) went to a Protocol Reserve, non-circulating, meant to fund block rewards for over a decade. In the early days, swap fees were really low, and emissions were the incentive layer. The Bootstrapping Era The network needed bonded nodes + deep liquidity before it could generate a meaningful revenue. Block rewards started at ~25% APR, tapering toward 2% over time. These emissions made it possible for THORChain to attract capital when fees were near zero. Volume Explodes. Dynamics Shift. By the end of 2024 and into early 2025, THORChain’s cross-chain infrastructure reached a point of real maturity. The protocol became more reliable, faster, and easier to integrate. As a result, more wallets, DEX aggregators, and trading bots began routing swaps via .@THORChain, significantly increasing trading activity across chains. This surge in usage led to a sharp increase in swap volume and fees. In December 2024, fees represented 48% of the rewards distributed to the network participants. And since then THORChain has very clearly been on its way to sustainability. The Problem with Emissions Despite this milestone, the emissions system was still running in the background, paying out rewards to participants. But it created several problems: 1⃣ Continued to dilute RUNE holders by expanding the circulating supply. 2⃣Drained the Protocol Reserve - a finite pool of $RUNE set aside to fund emissions. 3⃣Subsidized yield artificially instead of allowing the protocol’s real usage to determine rewards. In this environment, emissions were no longer necessary to attract participation and were becoming economically inefficient, draining resources while the protocol was already generating meaningful, sustainable fee-based revenue. February 2025: Governance Makes the Call Node operators voted to end block rewards permanently. Protocol Reserve emissions → stopped forever All yield now comes only from actual protocol usage The money printer was turned off for good! Immediate Impact - Emissions have dropped to zero - Reserve preserved for future use - Node operators + LPs now earn only when the network is active As a result, yield became earned, not subsidized! What About Returns? In May 2025: - Node APR ~12% - All from fees, no inflation This is higher than many chains still paying inflation-based staking rewards. THORChain offers predictability, sustainability, and competitive returns, thanks to @RujiraNetwork $XRP and every newly integrated chain. This approach serves as a blueprint for future protocols: bootstrap with emissions, scale real usage, shut off inflation, and operate sustainably while aligning users and contributors with long-term protocol success. If you found value in this post, please hit the repost and like so we can let CT know who's the tip of the spear in DeFi⚡️