How bonding works

THORChain nodes must lock up RUNE as a security bond, and the network pays them rewards for it. As a bond provider you add your RUNE to our node's bond and earn a share of those rewards — without running any infrastructure yourself.

What is a bond provider?

Your bonded RUNE stays attributed to your address on-chain. The operator can never spend, move, or withdraw it — the protocol simply counts it as part of the node's bond. Each churn, the network pays bond rewards; the operator keeps a fee (10% for this node, set on-chain) and the rest is shared among providers in proportion to their bond.

The three steps

  1. 1

    Request whitelisting

    Tell us your THOR address, how much you plan to bond, and how to reach you — using the form on this site. This step is entirely off-chain and doesn't touch your wallet.

  2. 2

    The operator approves you

    Whitelisting is an on-chain action that only the node operator can perform, so every request is reviewed and actioned manually. We'll confirm through your contact details once your address is whitelisted. No site can automate this — be wary of any that claims to.

  3. 3

    You bond from your own wallet

    Once you have confirmation, deposit RUNE with the bond memo below — via Keplr right on this site, or manually with Vultisig. Your RUNE moves into the node's bond on-chain, attributed to your address.

Minimum bond: 1,000 RUNE. If you bond before you're whitelisted, the transaction is rejected by the protocol — wait for our confirmation.

The bond transaction

Bonding is not a normal send. It's a THORChain deposit transaction carrying a memo, made from your own wallet. Never "send" RUNE to the node address, and never bond from an exchange account.

Node addressthor15d8kkd36h85v56fe5yrqyt3p9rutnfc8ngmxp4
Bond memoBOND:thor15d8kkd36h85v56fe5yrqyt3p9rutnfc8ngmxp4

The amount field of the deposit is the RUNE you're bonding. Keep a little extra in your wallet for gas (~0.02 RUNE).

Using Keplr? The Bond page builds and signs this deposit for you.

Bonding with Vultisig — manual steps

Vultisig has no wallet-connect or dApp integration today, so there's nothing to "connect" on this site — you do these steps inside the Vultisig app itself.

  1. Wait until we've confirmed your address is whitelisted.
  2. Open the Vultisig vault that holds your RUNE (native RUNE on THORChain — not a wrapped or synthetic version), with a little extra for gas.
  3. Select RUNE and open the deposit / functions screen, then choose the Bond function.
  4. Paste the node address: thor15d8kkd36h85v56fe5yrqyt3p9rutnfc8ngmxp4
  5. If your Vultisig version asks for a raw memo instead, it must be exactly BOND:thor15d8kkd36h85v56fe5yrqyt3p9rutnfc8ngmxp4 — no spaces, nothing else.
  6. Enter the amount of RUNE to bond.
  7. Review the details on your paired devices and sign.
  8. Confirm the transaction landed on the node's explorer page.

Unbonding

You can withdraw your bond whenever the node is not Active (it rotates out at a churn, typically every few days). Unbonding uses the same deposit mechanism with the memo format UNBOND:<node-address>:<amount>:<provider-address>, where the amount is in base units (1 RUNE = 100,000,000). We're happy to walk you through it when the time comes.

Risks, plainly

  • Rewards vary with network activity and node performance — APY figures are estimates, not promises.
  • Serious node misbehaviour can slash the bond; routine slash points only reduce rewards. Our track record is public and on-chain.
  • Unbonding waits for the node to leave Active status, so your RUNE can be locked for days at a time.
  • Your RUNE stays yours, but its market price is your risk.

Ready to start?

Request whitelisting