You might have heard about ‘Ronin’ at least once if you’re into DeFi. But what is the Ronin Network, exactly? In simple terms, the Ronin Network is a dedicated Ethereum sidechain created for gaming. It hosts some of the most popular crypto games like Axie Infinity, Pixels, Kaidro, and Wild Forest.
Players on Ronin enjoy full control over their in-game assets (think items, land, characters), which they own as Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ronin network.
In-game currencies (like $AXS in Axie Infinity) also run on the chain as regular crypto tokens. Key economic events in the games (buying, selling, and exchanging assets) are settled directly on the blockchain.
You’ll see Ronin described as an ‘Ethereum sidechain’ because it uses the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) – the same computing engine on Ethereum. This means both blockchains operate similarly, supporting smart contracts, dApps, and DeFi scalability.
Ronin, however, provides faster and cheaper transactions to support online gaming economies. In fact, Ronin was launched to overcome Ethereum’s infamous network congestion and slow, costly transactions.
Sky Mavis, the studio behind Axie Infinity, created Ronin in 2021 as a faster, more efficient alternative to Ethereum. It instantly became a pioneer for high-performance crypto gaming.
While Ethereum struggled to support real-time in-game trading, affordable microtransactions, and smooth NFT transfers, Ronin solved this with near-zero costs and fast processing. A subsequent 2023 upgrade sped block finalization even more, from 45 seconds to 6 seconds.
Since introducing its 2023 Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) mechanism, Ronin has also brought utility to $RON, the network’s token, which is now used for delegated staking and holder rewards.
RugDoc’s Diagnosis: Ronin is more than just a gaming ecosystem and failing to realize its potential can result in missed opportunities.
Today, Ronin records ~600K monthly active addresses, reflecting strong on-chain activity across its ecosystem. The network also hosts several top-performing Web3 games, its own Katana DEX, NFT marketplaces, and a growing list of dApps.
We’ll break down all of these ecosystem features and explain how the Ronin Network works in more detail.
How Does the Ronin Network Work?
The Ronin Network uses the EVM to run smart contracts and support Ethereum token standards like ERC-20 (for $ETH and other Ethereum tokens) and ERC-721 (for NFTs).
Support for ERC-20 and ERC-721 standards means the network allows the seamless movement of in-game assets across Ronin, Ethereum, other EVM chains, and major NFT marketplaces. This gives players flexibility over where they store, trade, or use their assets.
Ronin running on the EVM also means that the network operates much like Ethereum. Developers can more or less deploy the same Ethereum smart contracts on Ronin, making it considerably easier to build and scale blockchain games.
So, why not just deploy games on Ethereum? The Ronin Network brings a few upgrades to the blockchain gaming space:
- Smoother, faster gameplay: The EVM lets Ronin process smart-contract actions like minting (for example via in-game crafting) or marketplace trades. But Ronin runs faster and cheaper than Ethereum, with near-instant settlement for players.
- More accessible in-game economies: Unlike Ethereum, Ronin isn’t congested, which means players pay very low gas fees, even during peak network activity. After all, games are meant to support micro-transactions and high trading volume.
- Easier deployment for devs: No need for a new programming language. Devs can migrate existing Ethereum contracts to Ronin with minimal tweaks. Better yet, Ronin’s low fees cut the need for convoluted batch actions or in-game system limitations.
So how does Ronin deliver this speed and efficiency? The secret is in its validator setup, which works a bit differently from Ethereum’s Proof of Stake (PoS).
Ronin first introduced a Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus, later replaced by Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS). Click the tabs below to learn more.
Proof of Authority (PoA)
Proof of Authority (PoA) works by allowing a small group of pre-approved, trusted validators to produce blocks and validate transactions.
Using a smaller group of pre-approved validators reduces the need for large validator pools and computational power needed in competing models, like Ethereum’s PoS, making on-chain operations faster.
These pre-approved validators use their real-world reputations as their ‘stake.’ And because the validators’ identities are publicly known, this incentivizes honest network operations, keeping the blockchain secure and efficient.
Starting in 2021, the Ronin Network operated under this PoA model. The network creators, along with a group of trusted partners (Binance, Animoca Brands, and Delphi Digital, among others), validated on-chain transactions and produced blocks.
The PoA mechanism worked well, resulting in faster block production, quicker block finalization, and lower fees on Ronin compared to Ethereum.
Since the model used pre-approved validators, the approach did not require intensive computation, and transactions were verified and added to the blockchain with minimal competition among validators.
However, this level of blockchain centralization proved fallible. The Ronin Bridge was hacked in 2022, when a group of attackers gained control of five validator keys and authorized withdrawals to steal more than $600M worth of $ETH and $USDC.
This was one of the largest bridge exploits in history and a wake-up call for the network’s creators.
Following this event, Sky Mavis decided to shift to a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) model with three primary objectives: expanding the validator architecture, ensuring tamper-proof security, and decentralizing the network.
Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)
Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) is a blockchain consensus where holders delegate their tokens to a limited group of validators, which are chosen by token holders through vote.
Within this new consensus, more holders can potentially become validators if they meet a set of rules and receive enough votes from other token holders.
Given its limited number of validators and community voting, DPoS is a middle-ground between PoS (high validator counts) and PoA (too much centralization). This setup makes DPoS fast and efficient, but also more decentralized for added security.
In 2023, Ronin upgraded to a DPos model, introducing utility to Ronin’s token, $RON, which now powers the ecosystem. Within this new consensus system, $RON token holders can support the network and earn rewards by staking.
‘Staking’ here simply means delegating your $RON to an approved validator, and the validators with the highest total stake get elected to produce blocks. Holders periodically earn a share of a validator’s rewards.
But can you trust Ronin validators? Typically, yes, and here’s why – the network has built-in failsafes, like taking away a portion of the validator’s stake if they act maliciously (e.g. by going offline or double-signing). This system fosters a trustworthy, honest community.
Overall, switching to DPoS has made Ronin a more efficient, secure, and decentralized gaming blockchain. And every $RON holder is now an integral part of the network’s security.
Who Built the Blockchain? – Ronin’s Sky Mavis Team and Investors
The Ronin chain was built by Sky Mavis, a Vietnamese Web3 gaming studio renowned for its Axie Infinity title. The company was founded in 2018 and specializes in building play-to-earn games and developing blockchain technology to support crypto gaming ecosystems.
Sky Mavis’s core team includes:
- Trung Nguyen (Co-Founder & CEO): Before entering crypto, Trung founded Lozi (a Vietnamese food app) and worked as a software engineer for fintech startup Anduin Technologies. In 2018, he co-founded Sky Mavis and created Axie Infinity after being inspired by CryptoKitties, one of the world’s first blockchain games.
- Aleksander Leonard Larsen (Co-Founder & COO): He’s an outspoken advocate for NFT gaming and virtual economies, and a major investor in blockchain projects like Nansen and Yield Guild Games. He oversees business operations at Sky Mavis and helped raise $150M+ to reimburse players after the 2022 Ronin hack.
- Jeffrey Zirlin (Co-Founder & Growth Lead): Zirlin played a critical role in scaling Axie Infinity into one of the highest-grossing blockchain games of all time, thanks to his focus on player-owned economies and community growth. He also helped build the Ronin Network and subsequent blockchain games alongside the Sky Mavis team.
Since its inception, Sky Mavis has raised $311M across five funding rounds. The first 2019 fundraising round, although the smallest, played a pivotal role in laying the foundation for Axie Infinity and developing its infrastructure, which later evolved into the Ronin network.
During this Seed Round, the company secured $1.5M from backers like Animoca Brands, 500 Startups, Hashed, Consensys, and Pangea Blockchain Fund.
Subsequent Series A, B, and C rounds throughout 2021–2022 raised $7.5M, $152M, and $150M, respectively. New investors joined the project, including Libertus Capital, Collab+Currency, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and Dialectic, among others.
Alt text: List of Sky Mavis investors.
Caption: Image source: ICO Drops
During its April 2022 Series C Round, Sky Mavis also secured its first major investment from Binance, which led the fundraising round and marked one of the largest strategic commitments to support Ronin’s recovery and future growth. The company later partnered with Binance again in 2023, anchoring its position among major blockchain ventures.
Other noteworthy partnerships include Google Cloud joining Sky Mavis as an enterprise validator in 2022, bolstering the network’s validator set and security framework.
Sky Mavis’s most recent partnerships include Earn Alliance in 2024 and Coins.ph in 2025.
Earn Alliance is a leading Web3 gaming community platform. This collaboration will integrate Ronin ecosystem games directly into the Earn Alliance platform, expanding the visibility of Sky Mavis’ titles and bringing Ronin games to a broader global audience.
Coins.ph, a leading crypto wallet provider in the Philippines, will help Ronin make strides in crypto payments. The provider is integrating with Ronin to bring PHPC stablecoin payments directly into the Philippines’ QRPH national QR payment standard.
The Ronin Ecosystem
Ronin started as a simple sidechain for moving Axie Infinity off Ethereum. However, the network’s speedy DPoS consensus and EVM compatibility later led to more games, decentralized applications, and use cases like NFTs, DEXes, and DeFi tools.
Let’s dive deep into everything this gaming ecosystem has to offer today.
Blockchain Games on the Ronin Network
Sky Mavis’s first release was Axie Infinity, a Pokémon-inspired, turn-based play-to-earn game that became a breakout success. Axie initially operated on Ethereum before moving to Ronin in 2021.
After the network migration, the game’s total user base grew to 1M within 7 months and later surpassed 8M at its peak.
Since the groundbreaking success of Axie Infinity, the Ronin network has become home to several more games, including Pixels, The Machines Arena, Tribesters, Axie Champions, Wild Forest, Fight League, and Apeiron. Pixels, in particular, was another viral success; this farming game hit 1M daily active users in 2024.
Caption: A selection of blockchain games hosted on the Ronin sidechain.
These titles together have helped the network nurture a large and thriving player base, as shown by Ronin’s recent blockchain data analytics.
Although network activity has fluctuated over the years with new game releases and airdrop events (with the biggest peak seen in 2024), Ronin has maintained over 270K daily active users throughout 2025. The biggest recent recorded activity was in January (654K) and July (717K).
The network also continues to attract new partnering studios, recent examples including Moku (creator of Grand Arena), ARPG (Fableborne), and Homeland Interactive (Fishing Frenzy).
NFTs and Digital Ownership on Ronin
An inevitable part of blockchain gaming is true digital ownership of in-game assets, and that isn’t possible without NFTs. These digital assets give players control over their earned items, making crypto marketplaces a core part of Web3 gaming ecosystems.
That’s why the Ronin network supports NFTs and related trading platforms directly. The Ronin Market (formerly Mavis Market) and Axie Infinity’s Marketplace are two such major examples.
Caption: An example of trending NFTs seen on the Ronin Marketplace.
These marketplaces are built around creator royalties, letting NFT creators earn ongoing income every time their NFT is resold. The royalty percentage goes between 0–10% of a sale’s value, as chosen by the creator.
One standout example of Ronin’s NFTs at work is the ‘Spark Suits’ collection from Kaidro, an anime-inspired action RPG developed by Gadget-Bot. The collection featured 9,999 NFTs, put on public sale on April 9, 2024.
According to Kaidro’s official recap, the public Spark Suits sale (2,400 NFTs) sold out in under 10 seconds, while the full collection quickly climbed to the top ranks of the Ronin marketplace. The team reported raising 2M $RON from the drop, and later airdropped 15,000 free Spirit Guardian NFTs to Spark Suits holders.
Across all Kaidro NFT collections (Spark Suits, Spirit Guardians, and Kaidro Journals), the project generated over $1.2M USD worth of $RON in trading volume on the Sky Mavis marketplace.
Kaidro’s instant public-stage sellout demonstrated high demand for Ronin crypto assets and the network’s ability to handle large drops smoothly. It was another pivotal moment to strengthen creators’ trust in the network.
And, since early 2025, any dev can build on Ronin without prior approval from Sky Mavis. Ronin became permissionless, giving broader access for creators. This not only lowers the barrier for new game studios and NFT-based projects to launch on Ronin but also helps expand the ecosystem beyond legacy titles.
To further build its NFT ecosystem, Sky Mavis launched a $10M grants program in January 2025 to support new games, NFT projects, and dApps on Ronin, reducing entry cost and risk for creators.
DeFi and Liquidity on the Ronin Network
According to a Q3-2025 report by Dappradar, Ronin saw a 55% increase in active wallets/day to about 419,000. This level of activity shows Ronin’s well-equipped to power its own DeFi ecosystem – starting with Katana, its native DEX, alongside other tools.
Katana – Ronin’s Native DEX
Ronin supports DeFi trading through its native exchange, the Katana V3 DEX. This DEX handles roughly a third of Ronin’s $27.03M TVL and facilitates on-chain liquidity, fast, smooth token swaps, and farming via liquidity pools for cryptos like $USDC and $WETH.
Beyond stablecoins and wrapped assets, Katana offers staking pools for on-chain assets and gaming tokens such as $PIXEL, $AXS, and $YGG. This allows players to monetize in-game rewards by earning trading fees on their tokens.
Because the system relies on smart contracts and multiple liquidity pools, Katana works as an Automated Market Maker (AMM), meaning you can swap tokens immediately without an order book.
Thanks to this, Katana enables Ronin gamers to instantly cash out, swapping in-game currencies like $AXS or $PIXEL for stablecoins at near-zero cost.
Katana’s Impressive Milestones
While Katana was initially built to let players swap tokens like $AXS, $SLP, and $RON, the DEX has since achieved several milestones:
- It rocketed to the top soon after launching. When it launched in late 2021, Katana surged past Raydium and Uniswap just one week after its debut.
- Katana has proven its resilience. The DEX holds $21M+ in total value locked, with $67M+ in monthly trading volume. Katana has maintained good liquidity depth, providing low slippage and smooth swaps for ecosystem participants.
- It introduced $RON staking in 2023. Ronin rolled out a formal program to reward liquidity providers and bootstrap DEX liquidity. This shift toward incentives meant deeper DEX pools, more network security, and support for long-term DeFi activity.
- In 2024, Katana upgraded to V3. The upgrade introduced concentrated liquidity pools and customizable fees. The network also wound up the 2023 rewards program to reduce $RON emissions and shift toward a more sustainable DeFi model.
Today, Katana remains an essential marketplace plumbing for Ronin’s game economies and continues to facilitate liquidity and fast, cheap asset swaps for players within the network. It’s the engine that enables high-volume on-chain trading, elevating the experience for blockchain players and developers alike.
The Ronin Bridge – Cross-Chain Transfers to Ethereum
The Ronin Bridge connects the Ronin Network and Ethereum, allowing players to move crypto assets between the two blockchains.
Some of these transferable assets include $ETH and ERC-20 tokens ($WETH, $USDC, $AXS, $RON) for in-game and marketplace transactions. ERC-721 assets include Axie NFTs, Farm Land NFTs from Pixels, character skins from the Machine Arena, and numerous other game items.
You may withdraw all ERC assets back to Ethereum when you want to trade, cash out, or store them elsewhere. Thanks to Ronin’s fast block times, transfers settle quickly, and the bridging costs far less than native Ethereum transactions.
Decentralized Trading Platforms on Ronin
Beyond Katana, the Ronin network now offers players a wider range of decentralized platforms and tools for managing on-chain assets – no need to leave the network.
A popular example is Ronin Strategy, which turns any NFT collection into a self-running ‘perpetual machine.’ It automatically buys floor NFTs, sells them at a profit, and reinvests trading activity without any manual intervention on your part.
This platform honors the original collection creators with a 1% fee split, paying them directly for every trade, and leaving them with a sustainable passive income.
Caption: A few examples of DeFi platforms on Ronin.
Next, we have Compound, the first-ever lending protocol on Ronin. It unlocks a full DeFi layer where you can lend, borrow, earn yield, and use tokens without leaving the ecosystem.
Here, you can lend or borrow several major tokens, including $WETH, $RON, and $USDC. You can also use these tokens as collateral or lend them out to earn interest.
Then there is Sablier, the payment-streaming protocol Ronin uses to enable real-time, continuous token payments. With Sablier, creators and contributors no longer have to wait for manual payment distribution as they have instant access to their earnings.
Ronin Wallet: Your Gateway to Web3 Gaming
The Ronin Wallet is a decentralized, user-friendly crypto storage for gamers using the blockchain or holding in-game assets. It lets you manage crypto tokens, view NFTs, and access various Ronin-based dApps on both the browser and mobile.
The wallet is tailor-made for gaming, so, beyond helping players collect and trade assets, it also includes a ‘Discovery’ feature that lets you securely browse popular games on the network.
Caption: Image source: Ronin’s official website
And you’re not locked into one single ecosystem. You can also use the wallet to connect across multiple other networks beyond Ronin, particularly EVM-compatible ones like Ethereum, Base, Polygon, BSC, and Arbitrum.
As for security, the wallet uses standard email or social logins, so account safety depends on your password strength. You can also enable two-factor authentication (2FA) and optional Multi-Party Computation (MPC) to protect your app and keys.
In 2024, the app reached 19.6M installs, while the ecosystem recorded 3.29M active users, making it one of the most widely adopted DeFi apps for blockchain gamers.
The $RON Token Explained
Ronin ($RON) is the native token of the Ronin Network and plays a key role within the ecosystem. Its utility includes:
- Paying for NFTs and in-game assets,
- Covering gas fees (on swaps, transfers, and dApps),
- Letting you become a node validator (if you stake directly),
- Earning rewards through delegated staking (if you stake through a validator),
- Enabling network governance rights (if you’re a validator or stake through one).
For blockchain creators, $RON is also the default gas token for minting NFTs or launching new cryptos on the network.
$RON was launched in early 2022 and had reached a $1.33B market cap at its peak in 2024. As with anything in altcoin crypto space, though, the coin has since cooled off and now sits at a $120M+ market, trading at $0.167.
Looking at $RON’s tokenomics, the coin’s maximum supply is capped at 1B. The creators have allocated 55% to token holders (25% for staking rewards and 30% for community incentives). 30% goes to Sky Mavis (the founding studio), and 15% to Ronin’s ecosystem fund.
The emission is scheduled to end 9 years (108 months) after the initial issuance, with roughly 4–5 years left before the full 1B $RON supply unlocks.
Today, 72% of $RON’s supply is already unlocked (roughly 721M tokens). For the remaining tokens, the issuance decreases every quarter as part of its long-term supply design.
With a clearly defined supply curve, most tokens already in circulation, and the price already down from its peak, the million-dollar question remains: What about the bread and butter for $RON holders? How can you earn using $RON?
In short, you do it by either providing liquidity to the network or by participating in the blockchain’s staking programs to collect rewards.
For instance, you can partake in Ronin’s Delegated Proof-of-Stake model, where you delegate your $RON tokens to a validator of your choice.
Think of it like second-hand staking. You put your $RON towards a validator’s total staking share. The platform selects the best validators based on their total stake and performance. If your chosen validator wins a block, you earn a share of their block rewards and fees.
You can also become a validator yourself by registering via the validator dashboard and staking at least 250K $RON. As a validator in the Ronin Network, you can earn network rewards and commission from those who delegate tokens to you.
Beyond delegated staking, you can also earn rewards by supplying liquidity on the Katana DEX. You have the option to deposit token pairs (like WETH/RON or USDC/RON) and earn a portion of trading fees.
Although rare, you may also earn airdrops, staking boosts, and other rewards when you farm $RON via DeFi activities or from new web3 gaming-partner launches. In 2024, for example, $RON stakers collectively earned 20M $PIXEL tokens as a reward campaign.
Learn More: How to Farm $RON and Earn Rewards – Quick Guide
What is the Ronin Network? – A Brief View
Without Axie Infinity, there wouldn’t be a Ronin Network. Sky Mavis originally created this sidechain to offer a faster, cheaper layer for Axie. The game assets and economy were soon moved from Ethereum to Ronin to resolve Axie Infinity’s scaling, UX, and cost issues.
Over the years, the network rolled out several upgrades and moved from a PoA to a DPoS model, increasing decentralization and strengthening the network’s security following the 2022 Ronin Bridge hack.
The introduction of the $RON token and staking has also attracted more node validators and has been a major step to support on-chain liquidity.
Fast-forward to today. What was created as a solution to scale Axie is now a thriving ecosystem and a major Web3 gaming hub with more tech developments pending.
In a recent blog post, the creators of the network have announced that Ronin is ‘coming home to Ethereum,’ as the chain is going to evolve into an Ethereum Layer-2 (L2) by next year. Sky Mavis attributes the reason behind this upcoming shift to Ethereum’s improved scaling options, speed, roadmap maturity, and lower gas costs.
Ronin Network now plans on positioning itself as the gamification layer of Ethereum that will power P2E engagement across the ecosystem. That said, one cannot deny the fact that the Ronin network is already a mature Layer 1 blockchain on its own.
Today, it still boasts millions of users, deep liquidity, strong DeFi support through the Katana DEX and Ronin Wallet, and an expanding roster of Web3 games, NFT platforms, and dApp integrations.
FAQs
1. What is the Ronin Network?
The Ronin Network is a gaming blockchain that uses the Ethereum Virtual Machine and a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) model. This means it supports smart contracts, staking rewards, and dApps like NFT marketplaces, DEXes, and, of course, games. Launched in 2021, Ronin was originally created to host the popular game, Axie Infinity.
Today, the network features several top titles beyond Axie, like Wild Forest and The Machines Arena.
2. Who created the Ronin Network?
Sky Mavis, a Vietnamese blockchain gaming company, created the Ronin Network in 2021. The company launched the network as a scalable, low-cost ecosystem to host its first breakout blockchain game, Axie Infinity (which initially ran on Ethereum). Key team members behind the development and growth of the Ronin Blockchain include Trung Nguyen, Aleksander Larsen, and Jeffrey Zirlin.
3. What is the $RON token used for?
$RON is the native token of the Ronin Network and is used to pay fees and secure the blockchain. Players and creators use $RON for gas fees (for example, when paying for transactions or minting new NFTs). Node operators and liquidity providers can stake $RON directly or delegate their tokens to support the blockchain and earn passive rewards from block and gas fees.
4. Is the Ronin Network secure?
Yes, the Ronin Network is secure thanks to its Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) mechanism – a community-driven consensus algorithm. DPoS secures the network by allowing $RON holders to delegate their tokens to trusted validators (including industry giants like Google Cloud and Binance).
Validators adhere to strict rules. If validators misbehave or go offline, they are penalized, which significantly reduces the chances of attacks and keeps the network stable and decentralized.
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