Ren (REN)

REN (REPUBLIC PROTOCOL) is an open protocol that allows confidential transfer of values ​​between any chain of blocks. On its basis, completely secure financial applications can be created.

Ren's history begins with its two founders: Taiyang Zhang and Loong Wang. They were classmates at the Australian National University and worked together at the same starting point after their graduation.

Founders Zhang & Wang

Soon after, they started their own software development company. Around this time, Zhang was asked by a friend to program a trading algorithm for his cryptocurrency hedge fund. This hedge fund became known as Virgil Capital, with Zhang as a co-founder.

While working at Virgil Capital, Zhang noticed that there was no support for over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency trading. More importantly, there was absolutely no way for investors to buy large amounts of cryptocurrencies without disrupting the markets.

This is because all transactions are public on the blockchain, including OTC purchases. Automated applications such as Whale Alert draw attention to these large transactions, leading to price volatility for speculative traders.

Whenever someone moves a large amount of cryptocurrency from a wallet to an exchange, it is often interpreted as an intention to sell that asset. Conversely, a large wallet-to-wallet exchange or wallet-to-wallet transaction may signal that this investor believes the cryptocurrency is valuable and worth holding (or buying).

OTC trading is almost exclusively for wealthy investors who want to buy an asset without creating a scene. The openness of cryptocurrency blockchains like Bitcoin makes this impossible without the use of centralized third parties.

When Zhang heard about Ethereum, he decided that it would be the best platform to build what would eventually be the solution to the OTC problem: the Republic Protocol.

Considering that Wang had extensive experience in coding distributed database technologies, even creating his own coding language for blockchain-like technologies, Zhang invited him to work on the project. Wang immediately realized that there was another problem in the cryptocurrency space: the lack of blockchain interoperability.

Old Republic Protocol branding

In December 2017, the Republican Protocol was officially founded by Zhang and Wang. He aims to make over-the-counter trading of cryptocurrencies trustless and create a protocol for the interaction of individual cryptocurrency chains.

Recognizing that crypto trading was no less private on exchanges due to things like order books, the Republic Protocol also made it a goal to make crypto possible without these telltale indicators. All they needed now was some money.

In 2018, the Republic Protocol launched two rounds of Initial Coin Offering (ICO) for the Republic Token (REN). The first was a private ICO that took place at the end of January 2018 and raised $28 million. The second ICO, this time public, took place a few days later in early February and raised a modest $4.8 million.

Investors who participated in these ICOs were able to buy REN for just over 5 cents per token. Just over 56% of REN's total supply of 1 billion was sold. As you may have guessed, REN is built on the Ethereum blockchain and is an ERC-20 token.

Before we dive into Ren, we need to briefly explain what a "darkpool" is. Darkpools are over-the-counter markets where investors can purchase large amounts of assets anonymously.

They exist both in the old and in the cryptocurrency markets. However, in both cases, you must trust that the centralized party providing this service will actually keep your transactions anonymous and secure.

Ren enables the decentralized and secure exchange of cryptocurrency assets across blockchains using its Ren Virtual Machine (RenVM) central platform. RenVM does this by using a network of "dark nodes" that provide the necessary processing power to identify and process cross-port cryptocurrency orders.

This is done using a complex algorithm called Shamir's Secret Sharing Scheme, which fragments orders in such a way that the Dark Nodes do not know the quantity or purpose of the cryptographic object being transacted.

What exactly is RenVM? And how does it achieve interoperability without centralization or trust? This blog post describes RenVM in more detail, discussing some of the lower level parts that make RenVM work.

First, let's introduce RenVM and what it can do, and then walk through the interaction process. For the purposes of this blog, we will use Ethereum’s ERC20 representation of BTC as an example, but the process is the same for all cross-chain assets. RenVM currently supports Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Zcash and can support any asset that uses ECDSA private keys (which is pretty much all of them). For reference, the RenVM Mainnet ERC20 name would be:

-renBTC to BTC on Ethereum

-renBCH for BCH on Ethereum

-RenZEC to ZEC on Ethereum

This makes RenVM Mainnet tokens different from zBTC/etc. tokens we use in non-production environments (Devnet, Testnet and Chaosnet).

Universal decentralized, untrusted and invalid custodian

The easiest way to imagine RenVM is to first think of a trusted custodian that holds your digital assets as they move between blockchains. You provide BTC to RenVM, it stores that BTC, and it mints that BTC as ERC20 (aka renBTC) on Ethereum at a 1:1 ratio to ensure that your renBTC is always backed by the same amount of BTC.

Let's look at an existing model that looks like: WBTC.

Under the hood, there is a slight technical similarity between WBTC and RenVM, but visualizing WBTC can help in understanding RenVM. With WBTC, the qualified entity transfers the BTC to the BitGo central custodian. They store it in cold storage, track the resulting cumulative balance, and then create a 1:1 representation of that BTC on the Ethereum blockchain as ERC-20 (aka WBTC). Merchants are then given the opportunity to sell WBTC on the open market. They usually take BTC, store it, and mint 1:1 WBTC on the Ethereum blockchain.

RenVM does the same, it takes BTC, stores it, and recycles 1:1 renBTC on the Ethereum blockchain, but on a much faster time scale.

BTC on the way to Ethereum, via RenVM

1. Exchange of values

Instead of storing BTC within a centralized or trusted storage system, RenVM stores BTC in a network of decentralized nodes (called Darknodes). Once RenVM receives BTC, it immediately generates a 1:1 ERC20 representation that individual users and DeFi applications can consume. An important subtlety is that this exchange of values ​​(minting and burning) is fluid; this can be done hundreds of times a minute, at any time and in any quantity without centralization, merchants, signers, or friction, allowing for seamless movement of cross digital assets (e.g. interoperability).

2. Compositionability

Another difference is that RenVM is composable (like DeFi lego blocks). It can be removed from end users and integrated directly into DeFi applications. By using specialized adapters, DeFi applications can provide users with cross-chain functionality without users having to worry about smoking/burning/packaging/deployment. Any person - or application - can use and integrate RenVM. The end result is that users can swap BTC for DEX, borrow/borrow BTC on a lending platform, or secure synthetic assets using BTC, and use only real BTC to do so. The user should never see renBTC, and in some cases even Ethereum itself.

3. Decentralized, untrusted and without access Closed

The ECDSA keys used in RenVM are completely secret even from the nodes themselves. RenVM generates and signs data with its ECDSA private keys using a secure multi-party computing algorithm. Neither party can prevent users from minting renBTC with BTC, burning their renBTC to recover BTC, or using their renBTC in any way they want.

These three main differences distinguish RenVM from any similar solutions that exist today due to universal compatibility.

Okay, I understand what RenVM is, but how do these crossovers work?

Any asset minted on Ethereum RenVM is ERC-20 with 1:1 backing. This means that if you have 1 renBTC (ERC-20) you can always exchange it for 1 BTC. This is dropshipping. RenBTC is not synthetic, it does not rely on a liquidation mechanism, and it is not the price of Bitcoin on Ethereum. This is a one-to-one representation of Bitcoin in Ethereum, which can be exchanged for BTC at any time and in any amount.

Minting BTC on Ethereum

Lock BTC in RenVM, then move to RenBTC on Ethereum

To access renBTC, you just need to send BTC to a Bitcoin address:

-Bob wants to use his BTC in DeFi, so he finds an application integrated with RenVM, and when requested, the application generates a unique bitcoin address (this is the address of a bitcoin script that can only be spent by one of RenVM's secret ECDSAs). private keys).

-Bob sends 1 BTC to the specified address and waits for 6 bitcoin confirmations. After 6 bitcoin confirmations are passed, RenVM immediately creates a signature to be minted using one of his private ECDSA secret keys, and Bob takes this signature and uses it to transfer 1 renBTC (minus the RenVM fee) to the wallet specified by the web3 wallet (for example, metamask)

*Note: These steps are usually performed automatically by the user interface and do not require any explicit action on Bob's part.

-Bob can now take this renBTC and use it in any DeFi application he likes. He can borrow, trade on Uniswap, margin trade, collateralize Dai and earn interest on his BTC. Notably, this renBTC is completely interchangeable and can be split into any amount and is indistinguishable from renBTC minted by others.

Buying BTC from Ethereum

Enter a Bitcoin address, write down renBTC and then BTC will be released to that address.

Redemption is as easy as minting and X renBTC can always be exchanged for X BTC. When Bob is ready to switch back to BTC, he burns his renBTC to buy back the same amount of real BTC:

1. Bob wants his real BTC back, so he finds an application integrated into RenVM, and when the user requests it, Bob provides his bitcoin address (the destination for the redeemed BTC). Once granted, it submits it as part of a burning transaction to Ethereum.

2. Bob pays a small amount of gas for a transaction in Ethereum, waiting for a short confirmation period for Ethereum. RenVM then sees that renBTC has been burned and releases the appropriate amount of BTC to its specified bitcoin address (minus the RenVM fee).

3. Bob now has real BTC in his wallet and he can do whatever he wants with it.

2019 marked a paradigm shift for Ren. At the start of the year, they changed their official name from Republican Protocol to Wren. This has been in tandem with a significant focus from decentralized dark pools to decentralized interoperability for blockchains.

Wang Founder:

“Our vision for Ren is a private and interoperable layer of liquidity for a decentralized world. Ensuring the free movement of value between blockchains in zero knowledge.

The rest of 2019 has been centered around the development of the first version of the RenVM mainnet called SubZero. This was done in two rounds of rigorous testing, starting with RenVM Testnet in August and ending with RenVM Chaosnet in November.

In both phases, the development team focused on improving the platform, gathering community feedback and even offering rewards to users who found bugs in the RenVM protocols (program bugs or exploits).

In the first quarter of 2020, Ren was fixated on two things: continuing their development and testing of RenVM, and creating the Ren Alliance, which is described as "a consortium of DeFi companies and/or projects."

There are over 50 members at the time of this writing, and many recognizable names can be found among her ranks, including Kyber Network, Matic, Polychain Capital, and IDEX.

The purpose of the Ren Alliance has three parts: to increase the usefulness, security and development of RenVM. In other words, Ren Alliance brings a healthy supply of new users, investors, and developers to the Ren project.

Ren (REN) is an open protocol built to provide interoperability and liquidity between different blockchain platforms.

Formerly known as Republic Protocol, Ren launched RenVM, its virtual machine mainnet, in May 2020, having completed a $34 million initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018.

The protocol’s native token, REN, functions as a bond for those running nodes which power RenVM, known as Darknodes.

Ren aims to expand the interoperability, and hence accessibility, of decentralized finance (DeFi) by removing hurdles involved in liquidity between blockchains.

Ren was founded by Taiyang Zhang, its CEO, in 2017. Initially called Republic Protocol, Ren was first announced in January 2018, with Zhang explaining its initial use case as a “decentralized dark pool.”

Zhang himself has existing experience in the cryptocurrency space, having also co-founded crypto hedge fund Virgil Capital.

Prior to that, Zhang co-founded Neucode, a software and web development startup, in 2014. Jaz Gulati, Neucode’s other co-founder, now works as a software developer for Ren.

Ren is a complex platform with multiple use cases, but it is ultimately designed to overcome barriers to entry and investment for DeFi projects.

As a plug-in, it allows DeFi projects to bring foreign cryptocurrency assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Zcash (ZEC) to their offerings. More broadly, users can in essence swap any token between any two blockchains without middle steps such as using so-called “wrapped” versions of tokens, for example Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH).

RenVM is a network of virtual computers making up a virtual machine. The machines powering the network which makes up RenVM are called Darknodes.

Ren charges various fees for internal operations, but most do not go towards direct profitability, instead being paid to miners. As an ERC-20 token, REN also attracts varying gas fees to power transactions.

REN has a fixed supply cap of 1 billion (1,000,000,000) tokens. Ren conducted a presale and public token sale in 2018, during which a total of 60.2% of the supply was sold to investors.

Ren has a reserve fund which was originally allocated 19.9% of the total supply, while another 9.9% was allocated internally to advisors, the team and its founders. Team tokens came with a two-year lock-up period, with a six-month lock-up for advisor allocations.

Another 10% of the REN supply is specifically intended for activities such as partnerships and development.

REN is an ERC-20 standard token.

RenVM is a byzantine fault-tolerant protocol that facilitates ECDSA threshold key generation and signing via secure mutli-party computation (sMPC). This allows RenVM to securely manage (ECDSA) private keys on different blockchains, making it possible to shift tokens between these blockchains (i.e interoperability).

REN is a freely-tradable token and has a presence on various major exchanges. Of these, Binance and Huobi Global have the largest volume as of October 2020. Pairs include cryptocurrency, fiat and stablecoins.

Formerly known as Republic Protocol, Ren launched RenVM, its virtual machine mainnet, in May 2020, having completed a $34 million initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018.

The protocol’s native token, REN, functions as a bond for those running nodes which power RenVM, known as Darknodes.

Ren aims to expand the interoperability, and hence accessibility, of decentralized finance (DeFi) by removing hurdles involved in liquidity between blockchains.

Ren was founded by Taiyang Zhang, its CEO, in 2017. Initially called Republic Protocol, Ren was first announced in January 2018, with Zhang explaining its initial use case as a “decentralized dark pool.”

Zhang himself has existing experience in the cryptocurrency space, having also co-founded crypto hedge fund Virgil Capital.

Prior to that, Zhang co-founded Neucode, a software and web development startup, in 2014. Jaz Gulati, Neucode’s other co-founder, now works as a software developer for Ren.

Ren is a complex platform with multiple use cases, but it is ultimately designed to overcome barriers to entry and investment for DeFi projects.

As a plug-in, it allows DeFi projects to bring foreign cryptocurrency assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Zcash (ZEC) to their offerings. More broadly, users can in essence swap any token between any two blockchains without middle steps such as using so-called “wrapped” versions of tokens, for example Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH).

RenVM is a network of virtual computers making up a virtual machine. The machines powering the network which makes up RenVM are called Darknodes.

Ren charges various fees for internal operations, but most do not go towards direct profitability, instead being paid to miners. As an ERC-20 token, REN also attracts varying gas fees to power transactions.

REN has a fixed supply cap of 1 billion (1,000,000,000) tokens. Ren conducted a presale and public token sale in 2018, during which a total of 60.2% of the supply was sold to investors.

Ren has a reserve fund which was originally allocated 19.9% of the total supply, while another 9.9% was allocated internally to advisors, the team and its founders. Team tokens came with a two-year lock-up period, with a six-month lock-up for advisor allocations.

Another 10% of the REN supply is specifically intended for activities such as partnerships and development.

RenVM is a byzantine fault-tolerant protocol that facilitates ECDSA threshold key generation and signing via secure mutli-party computation (sMPC). This allows RenVM to securely manage (ECDSA) private keys on different blockchains, making it possible to shift tokens between these blockchains (i.e interoperability).

REN is a freely-tradable token and has a presence on various major exchanges. Of these, Binance and Huobi Global have the largest volume as of October 2020. Pairs include cryptocurrency, fiat and stablecoins.

Ren (REN) is an open protocol designed to provide interoperability and liquidity between different blockchain platforms.

To learn more about this project, check out our detailed description of Ren.

Ren, formerly known as Republic Protocol, launched RenVM, its main virtual machine network, in May 2020, completing a $34 million Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in 2018.

The protocol's native token, REN, serves as a link to those running nodes that run RenVM, known as Darknodes.

Ren aims to expand the interoperability and therefore the availability of decentralized finance (DeFi) by removing barriers related to liquidity between blockchains.

Ren was founded by Taiyang Zhang, its CEO, in 2017. Originally called Republic Protocol, Ren was first announced in January 2018, with Zhang explaining its original use case as a "decentralized dark pool".

Zhang himself already has experience in the cryptocurrency space and is also the co-founder of cryptocurrency hedge fund Virgil Capital.

Prior to that, Zhang co-founded Neucode, a software and web development startup, in 2014. Jazz Gulati, another co-founder of Neucode, now works as a software engineer for Ren.

Ren is a complex platform with many use cases, but ultimately designed to overcome barriers to entry and investment in DeFi projects.

As a plug-in, it allows DeFi projects to bring foreign cryptocurrency assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Zcash (ZEC) into their offerings. More broadly, users can essentially exchange any token between any two blockchains without intermediate steps such as using so-called “wrapped” versions of tokens such as Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH).

RenVM is a network of virtual machines that make up a virtual machine. The machines that power the network that makes up RenVM are called Darknodes.

Ren charges various fees for internal operations, but most of them do not go to direct profit, but are paid to miners. As an ERC-20 token, REN also attracts various gas fees for electricity transactions.

REN has a fixed supply limit of 1 billion (1,000,000,000) tokens. Ren held a pre-sale and a public token sale in 2018, during which a total of 60.2% of the offering was sold to investors.

The price today is ₽29.19. with a daily trading volume of ₽4,353,220,476 We update our REN to RUB price in real time. Wren is down 1.23 in the last 24 hours. The current CoinMarketCap rating is #152 with an income capitalization of ₽29,115,235,277. The circulating supply is 997,564,051 REN coins and max. offer 1,000,000,000 REN coins.

Ren has a reserve fund, from which 19.9% ​​of the total was originally allocated, with another 9.9% allocated internally to consultants, the team and its founders. The team tokens came with a two-year lock-up period and a six-month lock-up period for advisor distribution.

Another 10% of REN's supplies are specifically dedicated to activities such as partnerships and development.

REN is an ERC-20 token.

RenVM is a Byzantine fault-tolerant protocol that simplifies ECDSA threshold key generation and signing using Secure Multiparty Computing (sMPC). This allows RenVM to securely manage private keys (ECDSA) across different blockchains, allowing tokens to be moved between those blockchains (i.e. interoperability).

The network is currently in a sub-zero phase on its path to decentralization, for more information on RenVM's path to decentralization please refer to Ren's Wiki.

REN is a freely traded token and is listed on various major exchanges. Of these, Binance and Huobi Global have the largest volume as of October 2020. Pairs include crypto, fiat and stablecoins.

Ren (REN) is an open protocol designed to provide interoperability and liquidity between different blockchain platforms.

To learn more about this project, check out our detailed description of Ren.

Ren, formerly known as Republic Protocol, launched RenVM, its main virtual machine network, in May 2020, completing a $34 million Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in 2018.

The protocol's native token, REN, serves as a link to those running nodes that run RenVM, known as Darknodes.

Ren aims to expand the interoperability and therefore the availability of decentralized finance (DeFi) by removing barriers related to liquidity between blockchains.

Ren was founded by Taiyang Zhang, its CEO, in 2017. Originally called Republic Protocol, Ren was first announced in January 2018, with Zhang explaining its original use case as a "decentralized dark pool".

Zhang himself already has experience in the cryptocurrency space and is also the co-founder of cryptocurrency hedge fund Virgil Capital.

Prior to that, Zhang co-founded Neucode, a software and web development startup, in 2014. Jazz Gulati, another co-founder of Neucode, now works as a software engineer for Ren.

Ren is a complex platform with many use cases, but ultimately designed to overcome barriers to entry and investment in DeFi projects.

As a plug-in, it allows DeFi projects to bring foreign cryptocurrency assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Zcash (ZEC) into their offerings. More broadly, users can essentially exchange any token between any two blockchains without intermediate steps such as using so-called “wrapped” versions of tokens such as Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH).

RenVM is a network of virtual machines that make up a virtual machine. The machines that power the network that makes up RenVM are called Darknodes.

Ren charges various fees for internal operations, but most of them do not go to direct profit, but are paid to miners. As an ERC-20 token, REN also attracts various gas fees for electricity transactions.

REN has a fixed supply limit of 1 billion (1,000,000,000) tokens. Ren held a pre-sale and a public token sale in 2018, during which a total of 60.2% of the offering was sold to investors.

The price today is ₽29.19. with a daily trading volume of ₽4,353,220,476 We update our REN to RUB price in real time. Wren is down 1.23 in the last 24 hours. The current CoinMarketCap rating is #152 with an income capitalization of ₽29,115,235,277. The circulating supply is 997,564,051 REN coins and max. offer 1,000,000,000 REN coins.

Ren has a reserve fund, from which 19.9% ​​of the total was originally allocated, with another 9.9% allocated internally to consultants, the team and its founders. The team tokens came with a two-year lock-up period and a six-month lock-up period for advisor distribution.

Another 10% of REN's supplies are specifically dedicated to activities such as partnerships and development.

REN is an ERC-20 token.

RenVM is a Byzantine fault-tolerant protocol that simplifies ECDSA threshold key generation and signing using Secure Multiparty Computing (sMPC). This allows RenVM to securely manage private keys (ECDSA) across different blockchains, allowing tokens to be moved between those blockchains (i.e. interoperability).

The network is currently in a sub-zero phase on its path to decentralization, for more information on RenVM's path to decentralization please refer to Ren's Wiki.

REN is a freely traded token and is listed on various major exchanges. Of these, Binance and Huobi Global have the largest volume as of October 2020. Pairs include crypto, fiat and stablecoins.

Formerly known as Republic Protocol, Ren launched RenVM, its virtual machine mainnet, in May 2020, having completed a $34 million initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018.

The protocol’s native token, REN, functions as a bond for those running nodes which power RenVM, known as Darknodes.

Ren aims to expand the interoperability, and hence accessibility, of decentralized finance (DeFi) by removing hurdles involved in liquidity between blockchains.

Ren was founded by Taiyang Zhang, its CEO, in 2017. Initially called Republic Protocol, Ren was first announced in January 2018, with Zhang explaining its initial use case as a “decentralized dark pool.”

Zhang himself has existing experience in the cryptocurrency space, having also co-founded crypto hedge fund Virgil Capital.

Prior to that, Zhang co-founded Neucode, a software and web development startup, in 2014. Jaz Gulati, Neucode’s other co-founder, now works as a software developer for Ren.

Ren is a complex platform with multiple use cases, but it is ultimately designed to overcome barriers to entry and investment for DeFi projects.

As a plug-in, it allows DeFi projects to bring foreign cryptocurrency assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Zcash (ZEC) to their offerings. More broadly, users can in essence swap any token between any two blockchains without middle steps such as using so-called “wrapped” versions of tokens, for example Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH).

RenVM is a network of virtual computers making up a virtual machine. The machines powering the network which makes up RenVM are called Darknodes.

Ren charges various fees for internal operations, but most do not go towards direct profitability, instead being paid to miners. As an ERC-20 token, REN also attracts varying gas fees to power transactions.

REN has a fixed supply cap of 1 billion (1,000,000,000) tokens. Ren conducted a presale and public token sale in 2018, during which a total of 60.2% of the supply was sold to investors.

Ren has a reserve fund which was originally allocated 19.9% of the total supply, while another 9.9% was allocated internally to advisors, the team and its founders. Team tokens came with a two-year lock-up period, with a six-month lock-up for advisor allocations.

Another 10% of the REN supply is specifically intended for activities such as partnerships and development.

RenVM is a byzantine fault-tolerant protocol that facilitates ECDSA threshold key generation and signing via secure mutli-party computation (sMPC). This allows RenVM to securely manage (ECDSA) private keys on different blockchains, making it possible to shift tokens between these blockchains (i.e interoperability).

REN is a freely-tradable token and has a presence on various major exchanges. Of these, Binance and Huobi Global have the largest volume as of October 2020. Pairs include cryptocurrency, fiat and stablecoins.

Ren (REN) is an open protocol built to provide interoperability and liquidity between different blockchain platforms.

Formerly known as Republic Protocol, Ren launched RenVM, its virtual machine mainnet, in May 2020, having completed a $34 million initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018.

The protocol’s native token, REN, functions as a bond for those running nodes which power RenVM, known as Darknodes.

Ren aims to expand the interoperability, and hence accessibility, of decentralized finance (DeFi) by removing hurdles involved in liquidity between blockchains.

Ren was founded by Taiyang Zhang, its CEO, in 2017. Initially called Republic Protocol, Ren was first announced in January 2018, with Zhang explaining its initial use case as a “decentralized dark pool.”

Zhang himself has existing experience in the cryptocurrency space, having also co-founded crypto hedge fund Virgil Capital.

Prior to that, Zhang co-founded Neucode, a software and web development startup, in 2014. Jaz Gulati, Neucode’s other co-founder, now works as a software developer for Ren.

Ren is a complex platform with multiple use cases, but it is ultimately designed to overcome barriers to entry and investment for DeFi projects.

As a plug-in, it allows DeFi projects to bring foreign cryptocurrency assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Zcash (ZEC) to their offerings. More broadly, users can in essence swap any token between any two blockchains without middle steps such as using so-called “wrapped” versions of tokens, for example Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH).

RenVM is a network of virtual computers making up a virtual machine. The machines powering the network which makes up RenVM are called Darknodes.

Ren charges various fees for internal operations, but most do not go towards direct profitability, instead being paid to miners. As an ERC-20 token, REN also attracts varying gas fees to power transactions.

REN has a fixed supply cap of 1 billion (1,000,000,000) tokens. Ren conducted a presale and public token sale in 2018, during which a total of 60.2% of the supply was sold to investors.

Ren has a reserve fund which was originally allocated 19.9% of the total supply, while another 9.9% was allocated internally to advisors, the team and its founders. Team tokens came with a two-year lock-up period, with a six-month lock-up for advisor allocations.

Another 10% of the REN supply is specifically intended for activities such as partnerships and development.

REN is an ERC-20 standard token.

RenVM is a byzantine fault-tolerant protocol that facilitates ECDSA threshold key generation and signing via secure mutli-party computation (sMPC). This allows RenVM to securely manage (ECDSA) private keys on different blockchains, making it possible to shift tokens between these blockchains (i.e interoperability).

REN is a freely-tradable token and has a presence on various major exchanges. Of these, Binance and Huobi Global have the largest volume as of October 2020. Pairs include cryptocurrency, fiat and stablecoins.