The post THORChain Faces Crisis as Key Developer Steps Down Amid North Korean Scandal appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

A developer from THORChain, known as Pluto, has announced his departure from the decentralized liquidity protocol following a contentious decision involving North Korean-linked transactions. The controversy emerged after a vote by the network’s validators to block these transactions was swiftly overturned, raising concerns about the platform’s governance and resilience to regulatory challenges. Validator Pushback and Rising Scrutiny Pluto confirmed his resignation in a social media post, stating, “I will no longer be contributing to THORChain.” Despite stepping down, he pledged to ensure a smooth transition by remaining available until his responsibilities are fully handed over. **Moving on from THORChain** Validators, developers, members of the community: effectively immediately, I will no longer be contributing to THORChain. 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… — Pluto (9R) (@Pluto9r) February 27, 2025 This move marks the culmination of a dispute over how the protocol should handle transactions tied to North Korean hackers. The decision to reverse the vote on blocking North Korean-linked transactions has not only led to Pluto’s resignation but has also prompted other validators to consider stepping back. TCB, a prominent validator warned that if the platform doesn’t quickly adopt measures to prevent such illicit flows, more contributors may leave. In their statement, TCB highlighted the scale of the issue, noting that the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking collective, had funneled significant amounts of stolen cryptocurrency through THORChain. This situation has brought increased scrutiny from both validators and external authorities. I was part of the 3 validators that voted to halt $eth trading on @THORChain I’ve been having discussions with @Pluto9r, @ol3gpetrov, @zachxbt and others about blocking the flows from ByBit hack I hope we get a resolution before a validator resumes trading@ol3gpetrov is……

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Filed under: News - @ March 1, 2025 4:13 am