bRUNE Staking Cap Increased to 2 Million, How to Stake, and Earn THORChain Yield

Almost two months ago, Rujira first launched bRUNE Staking with a cap of just 50k, and it filled within 24 hours.

Now, Rujira is increasing the bRUNE Staking cap to 2 million. That means much more RUNE can now be bonded through bRUNE, opening the door for more community members to stake, earn and secure THORChain.

Here is our latest update about bRUNE Staking.

⚡️ Bonding RUNE vs Staking bRUNE

Bonding RUNE is one of the most profitable ways to earn yield with RUNE, with APYs ranging consistently between 10% to 25% over the past 1+ year, yet for most people it remains one of the hardest strategies to access.

That is where bRUNE Staking comes in.

With bRUNE, users can swap RUNE for bRUNE, stake that bRUNE, and earn from THORChain node bonding in under a minute.

⚡️More room for RUNE

Increasing the cap to 2 million is an important step because it allows much more RUNE to be bonded through bRUNE. That means more people can earn with their RUNE, and more RUNE can help support the security of the THORChain network.

Our initial launch with 50k bRUNE showed there was clear demand, and this next phase opens the door for a much larger part of the community to take part.

⚡️How to get bRUNE

Before you can get bRUNE, you need to have RUNE in your wallet. If you do not have RUNE yet, you can buy it via RUJI Swap or RUJI Trade:

https://rujira.network/swap/USDC/RUJI

Next, you can swap RUNE for bRUNE on RUJI Trade:

https://rujira.network/trade/bRUNE/RUNE

When the bRUNE contract has available capacity, users can swap RUNE for bRUNE at a 1:1 rate through the bRUNE/RUNE market on RUJI Trade. If the mint cap is full, users can still acquire bRUNE by buying it from other participants in the same market.

⚡️How to stake bRUNE

Once you have bRUNE, you can stake it to earn yield from THORChain node bonding.

Stake your bRUNE at:

https://rujira.network/strategies/staking/bRUNE

You can choose to manually claim RUNE rewards or set the position to auto-compound into more staked bRUNE.

So the flow is simple:

• Swap RUNE to bRUNE (RUJI Trade)
• Stake bRUNE (bRUNE Staking)
• Earn THORChain yield

In the future we will improve the flow, allowing you to deposit RUNE and stake bRUNE directly from the Strategy page instead of switching between different pages.

⚡️What makes bRUNE unique

bRUNE is more than just a receipt token for RUNE.

Because it trades in a live bRUNE/RUNE market, users are not limited to a closed staking system or withdrawal periods. They can move between RUNE and bRUNE through RUJI Trade, and they can also use the pair for market-making strategies.

In practice, it is likely that some users will prefer to use part of their bRUNE to provide liquidity in the bRUNE/RUNE pair with a CCL strategy, so the actual distribution per bRUNE staker may be higher.

⚡️Built with safety and nodes in mind

bRUNE is designed to give RUNE holders access to bonding in a way that remains responsible for both users and Node Operators.

In the early phase, bonded RUNE will only be allocated across a whitelist of nodes managed by the Rujira team, and any Node Operator can request to be added. Over time, this is intended to become permissionless.

Allocation across nodes is designed to stay balanced while still taking node fees into account. To avoid a race to the bottom, the system uses a minimum node fee of 20%, meaning nodes charging between 0% and 20% receive the same allocation, while nodes with higher fees receive progressively lower allocation.

There is also a max bond parameter that limits how much RUNE can be allocated to any single node. Over time, this is expected to move toward a bondHardCap-based model.

⚡️Hard cap of bRUNE

Per ADR 020, the hard cap for any RUNE Liquid Staking Token (LST), in this case bRUNE, is set at 10% of the active bond to prevent systemic risk. If this cap is reached, no additional RUNE can be bonded via bRUNE.

Nodes have the ability to express their willingness to increase it via a new ADR, an the Rujira team won’t go beyond this cap without clear support from the nodes.

⚡️Yield, liquidity, and fees

Because the bRUNE contract always keeps part of its RUNE liquid to support withdrawals, end-user yield is lower than direct bonding. For now, the utilization rate is set at 85% and is expected to increase to 90% over time.

bRUNE captures a 10% fee from bonding yield, which is distributed to RUJI stakers.

So the final yield depends on a few key factors: gross node yield, average node commission, the protocol fee, the utilization rate, and the percentage of total bRUNE that is staked.

A Simple Yield Example

Assume we have an average 25% gross yield for node operators, an average node commission of 10%, and a 90% target utilization ratio for the bRUNE contract.

• From the 25% gross yield, 10% (= 2.5%) goes to nodes, leaving 22.5% yield to bonders.
• With a target utilization of 90%, the bRUNE contract receives 90% of that 22.5%, or ~20.3%.
• From that 20.3%, 10% (= ~2.0%) goes to RUJI stakers.
• The remaining ~18.3% yield is distributed in RUNE among staked bRUNE. Assuming 100% of bRUNE is staked, that means end users receive a net yield of ~18.3%.

Or in formula form: 25% gross yield × (1 − 0.1) × (1 − 0.1) × 0.9 ÷ 100% = ~18.3%

⚡️It’s time to scale bRUNE Staking

We are proud of this launch because staking RUNE has been such a common topic in THORChain’s Discord for years. Many people have wanted a way to access RUNE bonding that is easy to understand, easy to enter, and easy to exit, and now that is possible.

bRUNE gives more people access to THORChain yield in a way that is easier to use and easier to understand. It helps level the playing field and gives more people a fair chance to earn with their RUNE.

With the cap increased to 2 million, more users can swap RUNE for bRUNE, stake bRUNE, and start earning through the same core system that powers RUNE bonding.

Today marks an important step forward for Rujira and the THORChain ecosystem.

Swap your RUNE for bRUNE here:

https://rujira.network/trade/bRUNE/RUNE

Stake your bRUNE here:

https://rujira.network/strategies/staking/bRUNE