Ethereum’s Layer-1 failed in the area of scalability, and that has led to the development of several Layer-2 projects. One of them is Ronin Network, a mainnet launched in February 2021 to cater to the needs of millions of gamers who were having issues with the congestion and high gas fee issue in Axie Infinity. This article is going to review the Ronin Network, how it works, and what makes it such a thriving innovation.

What is Ronin?

Ronin is an EVM-based blockchain built for developers who wish to build player-owned community games rather than centralized models. Ronin was developed as a way to support the growing online ecosystem.

What is the Ronin Network?

Ronin Network is an Ethereum-based sidechain developed specifically for blockchain gaming. It was created to aid game developers in building play-to-earn games with player-owned economies and high scalability. Ronin is home to Axie Infinity, one of the biggest play-to-earn games in the ecosystem.

The network was developed and launched in February 2021 by Sky Mavis, whose ultimate goal is for Axie Infinity and other future gaming releases to be seamless, faster, and more economical. The network has already achieved great success, amassing 5 million USD in total assets, and around 2 million users have downloaded its wallet.

History of Ronin

Ronin was developed by Sky Mavis, a tech-focused game studio created by Jeffrey Zirlin, a Yale graduate who worked on Sky Mavis for over four years, and Alexander Leonard Larsen, a blockchain specialist who was also a part founder of Axie Infinity.

The network was developed when the Loom network and its developers decided to optimize the network to function as an enterprise solution instead of focusing on user-friendly applications. This move did not sit well with the Sky Mavis team, and they later decided to end the partnership and develop their own blockchain.

The team’s decision to build an entirely new blockchain was so as to prevent the same issue with Loom from happening again. By building the Ronin network, Sky Mavis can ensure that the chain is fully optimized for Axie Infinity and can also modify the chain’s characteristics however they see fit.

How Does Ronin Network Work?

Ronin Network has amassed a lot of funds and generated an equivalent amount of buzz around it, with millions of users downloading its app. This is because of certain mechanisms that work behind the scenes to make it such a valuable network.

Proof-of-Authority Consensus

Unlike some other blockchains that make use of a proof-of-stake or a proof-of-work mechanism, the Ronin network makes use of a proof-of-authority mechanism. Proof-of-authority is an algorithm used with blockchains that ensures rapid transactions through a consensus mechanism that uses identity as a stake.

It is able to achieve such speeds due to its limited number of validators and relatively centralized system. The Ronin team has plans to shift to a Proof-of-Staked-Authority (PoSA) model, which combines a PoA and a delegated proof-of-stake. This combination will allow RON token holders to be validators as well, which will greatly increase the decentralization of the network.

Validators

The developers carefully select the Ronin network validators because they are essential to the network’s speed and effectiveness. This selection is based on the validators’ credibility, and unlike in proof-of-stake, where the validators stake tokens, the Ronin network validators put their reputations on the line.

Rather than the tokens they own, validators put their reputations on the line. Validators who stake their reputation risk losing it if they become bad actors or if they affect the network in a negative way. Some of the network’s validators include:

• Nansen
• Google Cloud
• Animoca Brands
• Binance
• Ubisoft
• Dapp.com
• Sparq Ventures
• NFT Bulwark, etc.

Delegators

A delegator is a member of the ecosystem that delegates their stake to the validator and earns certain rewards in the process. This gives delegators access to the network and they can earn rewards without the individual having the necessary skill set and expertise required to run a validator node.

Most delegators choose validators based on several factors like the overall performance of the validator and their commission rate. Once their validator is chosen, the delegator can then choose to either stake all available RON or set a certain amount to delegate.

Ronin Ecosystem

Source: Ronin

Ronin Wallet

The Ronin Wallet is the primary wallet built for the Ronin network. The standard RON, RRC20, and RRC721 are stored on the blockchain platform. The wallet is versatile and can be used for different tasks like the exchange of standard tokens and gaining access to the popular Axie Infinity, along with other dApps on the Ronin platform.

It can also be used to send and receive other cryptocurrencies and NFTs without paying ridiculously high gas fees. The non-custodial wallet is built to allow access only to the owner. Thereby granting the owner total control over the wallet and unrestricted access to the funds placed in the wallet.

Users are given a special seed phrase or private key that grants them access to the wallet. However, if the user were to ever lose the seed phrase, the user would lose access to the wallet since the seed phrase or private key is unrecoverable, even by the developers.

Katana (The Ronin DEX)

Each blockchain has its own decentralized exchange (DEX), a platform where users are able to exchange tokens with each other without any restrictions. Ronin network also has its own DEX called Katana.

Katana allows users to easily exchange tokens within the Axie Infinity ecosystem without having to leave the Ronin blockchain. This cuts down on the need to bridge assets out of the ecosystem and reduces friction when exchanging Axies tokens.

The Katana DEX has 3 major liquidity pools (SLP/WETH, AXS/WETH, RON/WETH). Users can decide to become liquidity providers by staking relevant pairing tokens. Katana liquidity providers are rewarded 0.25% of each trade that happens through the pool, proportionate to their pool share.

Ronin Bridge

Ronin Bridge is an Ethereum sidechain developed for Axie Infinity that allows users to transfer assets between the sidechain and the Ethereum mainnet. Users that wish to make use of Ronin Bridge need to have an Ethereum wallet like Metamask before they interact with the DEX.

It is currently the world’s third-largest bridge. It is only behind Polygon and Avalanche in terms of the total volume of assets transferred. This is because Ronin Bridge is an easy-to-operate DEX that facilitates rapid, two-way transfers of assets that take less than 15 minutes to complete.

Projects Built on Ronin

Ronin has a plethora of projects on its network, it’s almost hard to keep up with all of them, but here are a few popular projects that are worth taking a look at:

• Dexify ltd
• Smooth love potion
• Katana DEX
• WETH
• Axie infinity

What is the RON Token?

The RON token is the native token of the Ronin network, and it has a couple of uses on the platform, like payment of gas fees and securing the Axie Infinity and other games and platforms developed on the chain. It can also be used in the governance of the Ronin community and for staking through validators to earn rewards on Ronin.

RON Tokenomics

RON was launched through a pool on the Ronin network’s native Katana Dex and will be shared through an incentivized liquidity program. The total supply of the token is capped at 1 billion and will be reduced every quarter.

The token distribution is to be completed within 294 months and is distributed as follows:

• The community will get 30% of the total tokens in liquidity mining, content creation, rewards programs, grants, and hackathons.
• The developing and advisory team is to get around 30%.
• 15% of the total market supply goes to the ecosystem in form of grants, investments, applications, tooling to Ronin, and hackathons bringing game-changing content.
• The remaining 25% is to be distributed as staking rewards.

How To Buy RON Token

RON is available on Gate.io. To get RON, the first step is to create an account and complete the KYC process. Once you have added funds to your account, check out the steps to buy RON on the spot or in the derivatives market.

News On RON Network

Ronin network announces the onboarding of 16 new validators for its new testnet project Saigon, which allows developers to test and deploy smart contracts. It was launched in November 2022 by the Ronin team.

The Ronin network makes use of two kinds of validators; standard validators and governing validators. These two perform similar functions but have certain distinguishing features. Standard validators perform block validation and production while governing validators perform the same functions, plus the network’s decision-making processes.

The new validators are categorized as governing validators. Some of them include BLRD, DaooRadar, and AlphaLab Capital. Other validators joining the network include FirstStudio, SuraGaming, BigYak Axie Club, and DBS DAO.

The addition of new validators means the heightened security levels of the network and the different games built on the chain.

Conclusion

The Ronin Network is a highly capable scaling solution for gaming and has shown just how effective it is at handling massive amounts of transactions. Ronin’s development has given rise to a new era for Axie Infinity and the GameFi community as a whole. Its recent security issues pose a threat, but it is ready to bounce back and keep pushing forward.

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