THORChain / Kujira Merger - $RUJI Progress and Thoughts
I’m still trying to wrap my head around this merger between THORChain and Kujira—it’s the first time I’ve followed two crypto projects coming together so closely. And, I've been a holder of $KUJI since they launched their Cosmos-chain after the Terra collapse, as well as a holder of $RUNE since the last cycle.
My closing thoughts can be found after the short intro to what is going on with the Merger. In short:
Why not 0 stars? Because it saves Kujira from dying. Why not 5 stars? Because I don't know if it's good.
For background on why this is happening, check out my previous post: https://cyrator.com/post/kujira-kuji-progress-review-by-cyralyst-66b583f4744a94396f7e82a6?ref=63a95e41d35a79c96db8553c
RUJIRA will serve as an applayer ontop of THORChain.
Thorchain and Kujira are merging to form RUJIRA, a new layer that combines Thorchain’s bridging power with Kujira’s dApp infrastructure. Thorchain is great for cross-chain swaps, especially with native Bitcoin, but developers can't build apps on it. Kujira, on the other hand, allows full dApp deployment and offers tools like FIN and ORCA.
RUJIRA will bring a range of DeFi services—order books, lending, money markets, and more—to the THORChain network. It will operate using the IBC-CosmWasm framework, with 50% of fees shared with the THORChain base layer. Kujira’s core apps will be relaunched exclusively under RUJIRA, becoming the go-to for DeFi services on THORChain.
The migration will happen within six months after the PILOT sale, at which point Kujira’s original layer 1 will downscale to only handle token issuance.
Why I am not entirely sold on this idea?
What makes this merger interesting (and a bit risky) is that while THORChain doesn't have much to lose, Kujira is taking a huge gamble. But, given that Kujira was on the verge of dying, this might have been their best, if not the only option, to secure a future.
From THORChain’s perspective, this move makes sense—they want to expand their use cases. Instead of building something from scratch, they’re essentially acquiring Kujira, which is a cheaper option for JPThor considering the money he put in ($3m).
The technical details of RUJIRA are still unclear, which raises concerns about how smoothly the migration and integration will go. There’s also a risk of fragmentation between the THORChain and Kujira ecosystems, especially when it comes to governance, security, and user adoption. And, what will existing applications feel? Do they have enough bandwidth, and resources to relaunch their applications? Will their users follow?
There are also things like fragmented usage of the tokens. Why would they not just merge this? It would make the most sense from a UI/UX perspective.
Whilst some of the community members are excited about this idea, there are plenty who are confused / uncertain about the future (me included). Therefore, I give this progress review a 3-star rating. Show Less
3
