Ronin is an Ethereum-linked Sidechain built by Sky Mavis in 2021 specifically to power Axie Infinity — one of the biggest play-to-earn gaming breakthroughs in crypto history — allowing millions of players (mostly in Southeast Asia) to transact with in-game assets cheaply and quickly without Ethereum’s gas fees. RON is the native Gas and Governance Token of the Ronin chain. Ronin became infamous in March 2022 when North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group exploited its bridge for $625 million in ETH and USDC — the largest DeFi hack ever at the time — prompting a full security overhaul. Despite the hack, Ronin recovered and expanded its DPoS validator set, and the network now hosts multiple games beyond Axie.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | RON |
| Price | $0.09 |
| Market Cap | $69.48M |
| 24h Change | +0.3% |
| Circulating Supply | 772.40M RON |
| Max Supply | 1.00B RON |
| All-Time High | $4.45 |
How It Works
Sidechain model:
Ronin is not a rollup but a Proof Of Stake sidechain with its own validator set, connected to Ethereum via the Ronin Bridge:
- Assets (ETH, USDC, AXS, SLP) are locked on Ethereum, minted on Ronin
- Fast block time (~3 seconds), very low fees (~$0.00001 per transaction)
- Historically required only 5 of 9 validator signatures to approve bridge withdrawals (exploited in 2022 hack)
Delegated Proof of Stake:
RON holders can delegate to validators; validators earn RON block rewards and a share of network fees.
Ronin Waypoint:
Sky Mavis’s unified Web3 identity and wallet system for gaming, built on Ronin, intended to simplify onboarding for mainstream users.
Ecosystem expansion:
After the Axie Infinity peak, Ronin opened to external game studios (Pixels, Apeiron, etc.) as part of a broader gaming chain strategy.
Tokenomics
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Max Supply | 1,000,000,000 RON |
| Initial Circulating | ~26% at launch |
| Block Rewards | Decreasing schedule |
| Validator Staking | Minimum 250,000 RON |
| Bridge | Ronin Bridge (Ethereum ↔ Ronin) |
Use Cases
- Gas fees — RON pays transaction fees on the Ronin chain
- Staking — Delegators stake RON to validators for yield
- Governance — RON holders vote on network upgrades
- Gaming — Core currency for in-game economies on Ronin-based games
History
- 2018 — Sky Mavis founded; Axie Infinity launches as an Ethereum game
- 2021 — Ronin sidechain launches to handle Axie’s surging transaction load
- 2021 peak — Axie Infinity hits 2.5M daily active users, $1.3B monthly revenue; RON ecosystem booms
- Mar 2022 — $625M Ronin Bridge hack — Lazarus Group (North Korea) exploits compromised validator keys; largest DeFi hack at the time
- Apr 2022 — Sky Mavis raises $150M led by Binance to reimburse hack victims; rebuilds validator set (expanded to 22)
- Jun 2022 — Ronin Bridge relaunches with enhanced security
- 2023 — Axie Infinity V3 “Origin” redesign; Pixels migrates to Ronin; ecosystem rebuilds
- 2024 — Ronin positions as a multi-game chain; Waypoint unified identity system launches
Common Misconceptions
“Ronin is an Ethereum Layer 2.” Ronin is a Sidechain — it has its own consensus and does not post transaction data to Ethereum for security. It is less trust-minimized than a true Rollup.
“The Ronin hack meant Axie is dead.” Sky Mavis reimbursed all affected users and rebuilt the bridge. Axie and Ronin continued operating; user counts eventually stabilized and new games joined the chain.