Ronin is an EVM-based blockchain developed for play-to-earn games. Ronin was developed by Sky Mavis, a play-to-earn game development studio, with the intent to decentralize blockchain games. One of the most popular games built on Ronin is Axie Infinity, which experienced a 300 percent month-on-month increase in NFT trading volume in its first month on the Ronin blockchain.
Besides Sky Mavis and the popular game Axie Infinity, other game studios have developed games on the blockchain. These include games studios Directive Games, Tribes, Bali Games, and Bowled.io.
In 2022, Ronin experienced an exploit on their blockchain, which resulted in a loss of around $625 million in USDC and ether. According to Ronin, the exploit was not technical but was a social engineering exploit in which malicious individuals gained access to private keys, which were used to develop fake withdrawals.
Within a year of the exploit, Ronin changed its validation method on their blockchain to ensure Ronin is more decentralized and less susceptible to a similar type of attack. The new system secures the blockchain through various users staking RON tokens to earn interest and maintain the operation of the network.
The Ronin ecosystem is developed around the EVM-blockchain developed for gaming, which is further optimized for near-instant transactions and nominal fees intended to enable more in-game transactions to occur near seamlessly. The Ronin blockchain initially used a proof-of-authority consensus, where trusted validators maintained the networks and verified transactions. However, due to concerns around the decentralization of PoA consensus methods, Ronin moved to a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) for validator selection, which allows any person holding enough of Ronin's native token—RON—to become a validator.
The RON token is the utility token of the Ronin blockchain ecosystem. The token enables users to pay for transactions on Ronin and is used for community governance and utility via staking, where validators can stake the coin to earn rewards. Validators on the Ronin blockchain are required to hold and stake RON to participate in validating blocks and are rewarded with newly issued RON. The rewards of these RON are divided among validators and delegators.
The Ronin ecosystem also includes several decentralized applications (dApps) that are built on the Ronin blockchain and intended to make building and playing the games on the Ronin blockchain easier.
Ronin Bridge is an application developed to transfer tokens between the Ethereum and Ronin chains and is a multi-signature bridge, which means it requires approval from multiple bridge operators before a transaction is executed. This is intended to improve the security and trustworthiness of these cross-chain transactions and to make it harder for malicious actors to make unauthorized changes.
The Ronin Block Explorer is, as it name suggests, is a block explorer application that allows users to access real-time blockchain information, such as transactions, blocks, addresses, contracts, and tokens. It allows users to review transaction history, track transaction progress, and find accounts and contracts.
The RON Staking dApp is an application that allows users—specifically RON token holders—to decide which validators to delegate their RON to, manage their stake, and claim rewards.
Ronin Safe is a multi-signature wallet built around Gnosis Safe. As a multi-signature wallet, it requires multiple keys to sign a transaction before it can be executed to ensure security, and this can be as simple as setting up multiple devices, such as a combination of wallets, to confirm transactions.
Katana is a decentralized exchange that allows users to trade tokens in the Ronin ecosystem, which offers several features, including Swap, which allows users to trade ERC 20 tokens; Pool, which enables users to deposit liquidity and earn market-making fees and additional RON rewards; Farm, where users can stake liquidity pool tokens to farm RON; and Analytics, which allows users to check earned fees.
