THORChain’s Beginners Guide – Part 1

The crypto ecosystem has grown more than any one could have anticipated a decade ago. We’ve got thousands of projects and communities across different sectors. So, knowing which project to invest in could be a challenge because not all project have the spotlight on them.

Here at AltcoinBuzz, we love to make reviews of different projects in the ecosystem, giving you a glimpse of projects you might not know about and answering frequently asked questions. For this article, we’ll make a review of THORChain.

What is THORChain?

THORChain is a decentralized liquidity protocol that enables its users to swap assets between different blockchains. If you’ve been around for a while, you must have heard about automated market maker (AMM) model. AMM is arguably one of the biggest innovations of decentralized finance.

AMMs are easy to understand. Their job is simple. They allow users to deposit cryptocurrencies to a liquidity pool. So, participants funds carry out trades with the pooled crypto serving as the trading pair.

For example, DeFi protocols such as Balancer and Uniswap use liquidity pools to allow users swap assets in a pee-to-peer manner. But, most AMMs allow trades to occur in a single network like Ethereum. Now, here’s where THORChain comes in. It offers a way out in the form of a decentralized exchange (DEX) based on the Cosmos software development KIT. (SDK).

RUNE’s Use Cases

RUNE is THORchain’s native coin, which powers the THORchain network. So, RUNE is the second token that users will deposit in the liquidity pool to execute trades against. This drives its value and utility on the network. Rune is also used to secure THORChain, pay fees and offer governance rights. We can summarize RUNE’s use cases as:

1. Settlement.
2. Security.
3. Governance.
4. Incentives.

How to Buy RUNE?

You can buy RUNE on exchanges such as Binance. To buy RUNE on Binance, you have to follow the following steps:

1. Log in to your Binance account and select [Trade]. You can choose either advanced trading or classic mode to buy RUNE. 

2. Type “RUNE” on the search bar to see the trading pairs available . Let’s use the RUNE/BUSD or RUNE/USDT pair.

3. Move to the [Spot] box and fill in the amount of RUNE you want to buy. For this piece, we will use a Market order. So, select [Buy RUNE] to confirm your order. Then your purchased RUNE will be credited to your Spot Wallet.

How to be a THORChain’s Node?

THORNodes service the THORChain network. Each THORNode comprises different independent servers in a cluster. Furthermore, all THORNodes operate and communicate in alliance to produce a cross-chain swapping network. So, running a node isn’t a small feat. Although node operators receive good compensation, there’s also some skill required, costs and of course, risks involved. Watch this clip before running a node. There are two options to set up a node. So, to set up a node, you have two choices:

• Set up manually (recommended only for expert)
• Set up via Kubernetes (recommended)

This document gives you a step-by-step breakdown of how to set up your node.

We have another article with more answers about THORChain coming up pretty soon. Watch out for that.

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