THORChain Crisis: Core Developer Resigns Over Lazarus Group Ties

Pluto (9R) walked out in protest, opposing a decision that could have put an end to fraudulent trades linked to Lazarus Group, the North Korean hackers behind the Bybit breach. Though THORChain eventually reversed course, reinstating the swap freeze, Pluto (9R) had already chosen his path—leaving the project for good. 

I will remain available to Nine Realms as long as I am needed and to ensure an orderly hand-off of my responsibilities. It has been a tremendous honor to maintain this protocol and work alongside you all for the past 4 years,

Pluto (9R) stated.

As a core developer at Nine Realms, he had been instrumental in THORChain’s growth, consistently pushing for improvements. His exit leaves a noticeable void, and it turns out he wasn’t the only one dissatisfied.

Validator TCB, who supported freezing ETH swaps, also threatened to step down, stating that despite the industry’s talk of decentralization, a handful of corporate players hold real influence over THORChain’s governance—and they weren’t in any hurry to fix the issue.

It's my opinion that it's not decentralized enough to survive a regulatory attack, it's not a blockchain like eth or btc who have a huge larger validator / node base,

TCB remarked.

What’s happening here isn’t just a governance dispute or a handful of developers voicing their frustrations—it’s a $605 million money-laundering scandal. According to Lookonchain’s analytics, Lazarus Group has already funneled nearly half of its $1.5 billion haul through THORChain, underscoring how decentralized protocols remain a weak link in combating illicit finance.

While the FBI has urged crypto platforms to blacklist Lazarus-linked wallets, THORChain’s founder, John-Paul Thorbjørnsen, has pushed back. Though he denies any direct oversight of the protocol, he argues that THORChain itself isn’t facilitating crime—bad actors simply move assets swiftly through different networks before cashing out on decentralized exchanges.

Read on: Decoding the THORChain (RUNE) Protocol: A Comprehensive Review