Marketing Update Q3 2026

Between July and September, the marketing team continued to build THORChain’s visibility as the protocol recovered from the May security incident and network halt. The quarter opened during the quieter summer months. Activity picked up in September with the launch of Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL), and the Bitget exploit at the end of the month brought a sharp rise in attention to the protocol.

The clearest progress came in search and AI visibility. Google AI Overview impressions rose 169% over the quarter, blog clicks tripled, and THORChain is now described as a decentralized exchange rather than a liquidity protocol across the platforms the team controls.

The quarter also saw the launch of the affiliate page on swap.thorchain.org, new investor relations dashboards on DefiLlama and Blockworks, the bulk of the MarketAcross PR campaign, and steady output on the blog (58 posts) and the podcast (26 episodes).

This report presents the main achievements and key data points by category, along with a breakdown of marketing spend.

STO (swap.thorchain.org)

STO continues to improve and evolve. After a year in operation it has become the 6th largest affiliate by total volume, despite the bear market and other affiliates having a few years head start. STO has the largest average swap size and consistently ranks as the highest volume interface every month.

Throughout the quarter 79 issues were created and 85 issues were closed. You can review them on GitHub .

The affiliate.thorchain.org page was launched. This is where affiliates can create an account to request an API key and have a place to manage it. Having an account enables the affiliate to use their THORName and MayaName to easily set an affiliate fee on their API key, and view their earnings history.

HTML code for a widget is also available to the affiliate if they would rather install a pop up swap widget on their website.

It’s important to note that an affiliate can still integrate THORChain permissionlessly, without an API key. The API just makes it easier for the affiliate and gives them access to the aggregator function that exists on STO. The aggregator prioritizes swaps through THORChain first, then goes to Maya Protocol if the route is not available on THORChain.

As of this writing, we have approved 124 API keys. Many of them say they found out about the affiliate program through a Google or AI search. This is encouraging because it’s evidence our SEO/AEO efforts are working. Unfortunately, there has been next to no volume generated by any of these API keys. A lot of them are startups or unknown platforms. We filter out spam by making contact with each affiliate, therefore the 124 number is from a curated list. We are trying to get in touch with these affiliates to understand what is happening on their end.

Referral links were created to give us a way to track marketing campaigns. These links don’t give any fees to their users. They are simply a tracking mechanism for visits, unique users, swaps, volume, and fees generated. Only a few links have been created and used. So far, the only link worth mentioning is on the DefiLlama dashboard with 59 users doing $20.5k in volume.

Added Trezor, Trust Wallet, and Exodus browser wallet support. Keplr now shows all blockchains, not just Cosmos and THORChain. Fixed issues on Ledger with Segwit and Taproot bitcoin addresses, along with several other nuanced wallet fixes.

Chatwoot support button was added to replace using Discord. The average user may not have a Discord account, which makes the barrier to getting help very high. Even if a user already has a Discord account, they would still have to leave the website in order to get help. There is still a Support channel in Discord should users go there for help.

Houdini Swap was added to STO at the end of Q3. Houdini Swap is a third party swap provider that uses centralized exchanges to create privacy for swapping and sending crypto. The reason for adding this service to STO is to help cover the cost of running the site. The Treasury has been paying out of pocket to pay for the development of STO, and the Houdini Swap integration creates a way for the Treasury to recover these costs and even make a profit.

The community has expressed concern over this move tarnishing the THORChain brand and/or confusing users. We are sympathetic to this view, however we believe it is worth the risk to prevent adding fees on top of THORChain swaps to pay for the website. The cost to swap on THORChain has to stay as low as possible to compete and encourage people to get off centralized exchanges. Houdini doesn’t compete with THORChain for swap volume, as THORChain has public and permissionless swaps, whereas Houdini has private and permissioned swaps.

53 scam websites were found. All of these sites have a URL that is spelled slightly different than the official website. They were all reported to the registrar, Cloudflare, webhost, and Google Safe Browsing. However, only 6 have been taken down. In the past, all requests to take down scam websites have been approved. We are not sure why the remaining 47 sites still persist and have to try re-submitting the information to take them down again.

Please be mindful of typing in the THORChain website URL to access it. Use a bookmark instead.

SEO/AEO

It was discovered that AI was describing THORChain as a “Liquidity Protocol” instead of a “Decentralized Exchange”. This is because the THORChain Gitlab, Github, docs, Medium, various websites, etc. had Liquidity Protocol in the description of THORChain. On the platforms we control, any reference to Liquidity Protocol has been deleted and replaced with Decentralized Exchange. Third party websites were contacted and asked to cooperate with us to update their descriptions. If you ever come across the term Liquidity Protocol, please let the marketing team know so we can get it changed.

Total THORChain search clicks grew 15%, average click through rate (CTR) went up 61%, and the average position moved up slightly, despite a 29% drop in impressions.

The average position measures what google search page we show up on. Under 10, and we show up on page one, so the lower the better. The goal is to reach an average position of 5.

Non-THORChain search clicks grew 8%, average click through rate (CTR) went up 50%, and the average position moved up slightly, despite a 25% drop in impressions.

The main non-THORChain related terms we are trying to rank for showed an 87% increase in the quarter, albeit on modest nominal numbers. What matters is the trend is up. On terms like this, the competition is fierce so it will take time to find what works and continue to improve.

Blog clicks tripled from 160 to 492, with 131 blog posts earning clicks versus 23 last quarter. The new pages like /tcy (0 to 100 clicks) and /faq (5 to 47) added visibility. Monero-related search clicks grew 86%. Mobile traffic grew 20%.

Growth was broad geographically, with clicks up in 109 of 231 countries, including the US, Brazil, Nigeria, and Indonesia.

The most noticeable progress during the quarter was the improvement in AEO. We started the quarter with 342 impressions/day and ended with 920 impressions/day, a 169% increase. These impressions are when THORChain shows up in a Google search AI overview.

Google just started tracking these impressions in June, therefore the numbers are not complete for Q2, making a proper comparison from Q2 to Q3 not possible.

Good progress was made on making the websites AI friendly.

There are numerous sites that will review a URL to test it for AI compatibility. At the beginning of Q3 we were basically failing all of these tests. Today, we are in a much better position.

On Ora.ai THORChain is ranking in the top 0.5% of websites that they track.

The homepage is perfect on Agent Ready however STO still needs some work.

According to CheckAEO, THORChain is in the top 6% of all the crypto sites they’ve reviewed. The test results for thorchain.org are the same as for swap.thorchain.org.

You may recall David Johnston from Morpheus joining us on the podcast. He recommended using Agents First to test websites.

Research Platforms

Several initiatives were undertaken during the quarter to increase THORChain’s visibility and establish a clearer narrative about the protocol and what it offers:

• The THORChain investor relations dashboard on DefiLlama went live. Ongoing work was done to make sure the information on DefiLlama is accurate. The dashboard has a referral link on it so we can track how many people go to swap.thorchain.org.
• Two spotlight articles were published in the DefiLlama newsletter as part of a year-long campaign, where one spotlight article will be published per month. These spotlights are also available on the DefiLlama website which help with SEO/AEO and public relations. You can look up the THORChain spotlights on this link. These spotlights have a referral link in them so we can see how many people go to swap.thorchain.org.
• In August, DefiLlama and Forgd partnered to launch a universal token rating system. It will continuously verify whether a token project's real-world market performance aligns with its public disclosures. This is free to do, so we will work on getting THORChain added to the Forgd website.
• The THORChain investor relations dashboard on Blockworks is done. You can view it on this link. This is a result of the Blockworks acquisition of Messari. In Q4, the Messari dashboard will cease to exist as the migration of the company finishes.
• Blockworks also has the open source Token Transparency Framework (TTF) which standardizes how crypto projects report material information. The goal is to resolve information asymmetry in protocols so they can be compared on a more apples-to-apples basis. This is also free to do, so we will work on getting THORChain added to the TTF.

Public Relations & Marketing

• MarketAcross was hired at the end of May to help with public relations after the exploit in May. They provide advice and coordinate press releases and journalists to publish articles about THORChain. The majority of their work landed in the third quarter. Here is a breakdown:
  • Articles: 30
  • Press Releases: 19
  • Reddit Posts: 2
  • Twitter Posts: 8
  • Podcasts: 2
  • Total Pieces of Content: 61
  • Estimated Views: 1.23M
  • Audience: 81.3M
  • Link to MarketAcross Recap Report
• The articles provided by MarketAcross are the most valuable because they are voluntarily written by journalists. These articles don’t have a “sponsored” tag on them which is the key. Anything with a sponsored tag on it, such as a press release, gets zero SEO value. A sponsored article may still get AEO value as they aren’t as discerning at the moment, however we expect that to change in the near future.
• We entered into a partnership with BSC News to promote THORChain on their X account and newsletter. This is a month to month agreement and is being tracked with a referral link to measure the results.

S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index

Pantera Capital introduced a new Digital Asset Index based on protocols that generate revenue. We want THORChain included in this index as it would provide excellent exposure to the RUNE token and arbitrary buy pressure as funds are created around the index.

We looked into getting THORChain added to the index, however the protocol doesn’t meet the requirements yet. The main hurdles that need to be crossed are RUNE having over $500M in market cap and being on the Artemis research platform.

Artemis is like Blockworks and TokenTerminal. Right now, we are prioritizing the TokenTerminal integration first, and Artemis second, because TokenTerminal has more reach. Since we have to wait for the RUNE market cap to go up anyway, there is no rush to get on Artemis right now.

We contacted Lukka to ensure they cover THORChain price data and they already do.

THORChain Blog

Work continued on making the blog more SEO-friendly and easier for AI tools to discover, through three actions:

• Cleaning up tags: the team tagged older articles and updated tags on more recent ones.
• Updating evergreen content so it reflects how the protocol works today, since search engines and AI assistants favor recently updated pages and would otherwise keep citing outdated figures and features
• Fixing broken links that had built up over time, mostly from deprecated endpoints, deleted tweets and retired Medium pages.

This quarter, 58 pieces were published on the blog: 33 articles and 25 podcast recaps.

• July: 20 posts (11 articles, 9 podcast recaps)
• August: 22 posts (13 articles, 9 podcast recaps)
• September: 16 posts (9 articles, 7 podcast recaps)

Podcasts

The team continued to host podcasts regularly, publishing 26 episodes this quarter, and has received positive feedback from both the community and ecosystem projects, which gain valuable exposure from appearing on the show.

• Protocol Update on Thursdays: 13 podcasts
• Ecosystem Spotlight on Saturdays: 13 podcasts

Newsletter

The weekly newsletter is still in its early stages. When the team launched it in May, it had barely 30 subscribers, all from the opt-in campaign. It now has 70, more than double. Growth is slow but steady, and the newsletter gives THORChain a direct line to its most engaged readers, independent of social media algorithms.

Social Media

X

After the exploit and the chain halt, Q3 began with the summer, usually a quieter season in crypto. Still the team was able to maintain impressions and likes at higher levels than in Q1 and Q2. Only engagement didn’t follow.

Activity picked up in September as people returned from the summer break. The team kept building on the privacy narrative, and the launch of Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL) gave the community plenty more to discuss. In the last days of September, the Bitget exploit put THORChain in the headlines and brought a sharp rise in attention to the protocol.

LinkedIn

On LinkedIn, the strategy stayed in line with Twitter, but with fewer posts and a stronger focus on institutional and educational content. Impressions, reactions and members reached have trended upward overall this year, and new followers continue to come in. All of this growth is organic, showing that consistency pays off.

• July: 4,711 impressions, 152 reactions, 19 comments and +14 followers
• August: 4,993 impressions, 244 reactions and 15 comments and +16 followers
• September: 3,964 impressions, 162 reactions and 10 comments and +25 followers

Reddit

The team started posting on r/THORChain in April 2026, with two goals: giving AI models more THORChain content to draw on and keeping the Reddit community informed. Results are encouraging. Visitors grew 54% from July to September after the halt period and September is back to levels seen last year.

• July: 2,800 visitors.
• August: 3,365 visitors.
• September: 4,312 visitors.
• Engagement rate: 10-20% on half of the posts and 20-35% on the other half

YouTube

YouTube views grew over the quarter, reaching 25,095 views, or around 8,400 per month (up from 7,600 in Q2). Watch time came in at 2,600 hours, or around 870 hours per month (down from 1,060). The channel gained 86 subscribers and is now close to 2,000.

Instagram

On Instagram, podcast shorts remained the main format. Performance declined for a second consecutive quarter: views fell 21% to 4,866, while reach and content interactions both fell 26%, to 2,800 and 137 respectively. The team is discussing how to do better.

TikTok

On TikTok, podcast shorts also remained the main format, as the platform is built for video clips. After a record Q2, performance cooled: video views fell 22.5% to 18.1K, likes fell 33% to 342 and profile views fell 15% to 66. Even so, views remain around 50% above Q1 levels, and the account now has 123 followers. The team is discussing how to do better.

Facebook

On Facebook, podcast shorts continue to be posted alongside blog articles and other key content, and the podcast is still livestreamed on the platform.

After Q2’s sharp jump, views eased 19% to 9,222, but engagement kept growing: watch time rose 11% to 18h23m and content interactions rose 11% to 78. Unique viewers fell 57% to 3,629, which points to a smaller but more engaged audience.

The top-performing clips covered Monero, revenue sharing and the ADR29 vote.

RSS

Via RSS, the podcast reached listeners in 48 countries and 173 cities this quarter. The United States remains the largest audience with 37% of downloads, followed by Japan (24%) and Australia (7%). Listening is spread across platforms: web browsers account for about a third of downloads (Chrome, Firefox and Safari), followed by Apple Podcasts (20%), Spotify (15%) and Overcast (12%).

Founder’s Voice (Chad Barraford)

We continued posting regularly on Chad’s LinkedIn, based on interviews, at a pace of around two posts per week. During the security incident, posting was paused as Chad’s focus shifted entirely to restoring the network.

The objective of this channel remains the same: building visibility and authority for Chad Barraford as the main thought leader for THORChain.

As in the previous quarter, posts on AI, Bitcoin and broader crypto reflections performed best. One of the best-performing posts, on Bitcoin maximalism, generated 7,100 impressions.

THORChain Community Discord is Retired

The THORChain Community Discord has been shut down. We would like to thank Baloney Bones and the moderators of THORChain Community for all their hard work on building the community and supporting it over the years.

The THORChain Community Discord was acting as the help desk for swap.thorchain.org, which is now replaced with the support chatbot on the website.

The THORChain Dev Discord is the only official THORChain Discord server now.

Marketing Financials

The marketing fund has been in existence for about a year now. Following is a breakdown of all the expenses, income, and balances over the past 12 months.

Balances as of September 30, 2026

• RUNE: 87k ($61k)
• USDC & USD: $187k
• Total: $248k

We try to sell RUNE when the price is overbought.

We aim to maintain a high cash balance to cover at least a few months in costs should trading be halted and revenue stops. Our current burn rate is about $43k/month. Our estimated average income over the past year is $51k/month. When the ADR for the marketing fund was written, 5% of network fees worked out to about $100k/month. Therefore we have not been able to be as aggressive as we initially intended.

We save up cash to pay for 1-off and large ticket items, such as KOLs and research platforms. We don’t want to be committing to deals we aren’t 100% sure we can pay for.

What’s Coming in Q4

We have been saving money to pay for marketing the Monero integration. We all believe it has high potential for driving volume to THORChain and we want to put as much resources towards promoting it as we can.

We intend to re-engage with MarketAcross for another 3 months. The cost of paying for distribution is the same, if not cheaper, than doing it on our own. The most important thing we get is access to journalists who write articles on their own volition, without adding a sponsored tag to the article. These we can’t pay for, as it is relationship based, and MarketAcross has those relationships. They were helpful in working with journalists after the exploit to get articles corrected and clarified too. Since we are so close to Monero launching, we don’t want to re-invent the wheel right now on how we are doing public relations.

Once the Monero pool has been stable for a few weeks, we will look to engage with some KOLs to help promote it.

STO is getting closer to being done, as features are concerned. The next major features we are planning to add will be more browser wallets, integrating Rujira, and refining the swap widget for affiliates.

We are going to review all the social media channels and come up with a better content strategy.

Thank you

This work has been a team effort across many THORChain contributors, partners, and community members. The goal is not short-term hype, it’s building long-term trust and compounding visibility.