THORChain is in serious trouble, with RUNE dropping 9% in a week.

But that might just be the appetizer before the main course.

Analyst Ali Martinez thinks we're heading much lower – like another 70% lower.

The Horrid Chart

A textbook bearish flag just formed on the 12-hour chart – not good news for those who love THORchain.

RUNE already crashed through the lower boundary at $1.27, confirming the pattern, so this one is officially in play. 

Unless buyers step in to reclaim that level quickly, Martinez sees $0.38 as the ultimate price target.

That's a 69% haircut from current prices for anyone keeping score at home.

The North Korean Angle

This price action comes on the heels of a fundamental development that’s terrible news for any chain trying to rehabilitate its image.

A key developer nicknamed Pluto(9r) rage-quit the project after a controversial vote involving North Korean transactions.

He and two other validators tried to halt the Ethereum Network on THORChain to block North Korean hackers but got overruled.

Talk about decentralization coming back to bite you… when it means allowing rough state actors to launder stolen billions through your protocol, you might want to rethink your fundamental use case. 

Surprisingly, the situation is even worse than it sounds.

Blockchain detective Lookonchain discovered that the Bybit hacker used THORChain to launder $605 million – that’s a whopping 54% of the massive $1.5 billion hack flowing through RUNE's protocol.

The hacker is reportedly linked to North Korea's infamous Lazarus Group, putting THORChain squarely in the middle of an international crypto crime drama.

Current Market Pain

RUNE is currently bleeding out at around $1.20 – monthly performance is absolutely brutal, showing a collapse of around 50% in just 30 days.

The once-promising cross-chain DEX looks more like a falling knife that nobody wants to catch… unless you’re a North Korean hacker.

Volume is drying up faster than a puddle in the desert as traders move to safer assets that, you know, don’t implicitly endorse international crime. 

Could this actually be the bottom for RUNE?

Coincodex thinks we'll see a bounce to $1.40 within a month and possibly $1.66 in six months.

Some wildly optimistic analysts are still calling for $10 RUNE "soon" – though they don't specify which decade.

More conservative bulls see prices ranging from $1.78 to $2.97 through 2025 if the project survives.

Reading The Runes

Remember that even good projects can enter death spirals when controversies pile up, but the North Korean connection creates some serious regulatory risk that's hard to price in.

If you're still holding RUNE, watching that $1.27 level is crucial – reclaiming it could signal a potential reversal.

Otherwise, Martinez's $0.38 target suggests there's plenty more pain ahead before this saga concludes.