The Ronin network has a small but complete ecosystem containing all the common elements of decentralized finance. Originally designed for Axie Infinity, Ronin’s use has expanded to include DeFi projects and other games.
In May, Ronin expanded the DeFi sector, especially due to inflows into the MetaLend project. For a month, the project grew its total value locked (TVL) by 30%, while Ronin as a whole also recovered some of its value in the past two quarters.
April marked a watershed for the Ronin network, with new active wallets returning for all use cases.
In addition to DeFi, Ronin grows with the addition of third-party games, expanding the portfolio from the selection of Axie Infinity games. Adding new projects is helping Ronin recover after the 2022 hack, where the Ronin bridge lost around $600M worth of tokens.
Ronin Expands Beyond Games Specialization
In its initial stage, the Ronin network was a tool for the assets of the Axie Infinity game. Ronin was created to achieve cheaper transactions and trading for Axie NFT and the AXS and SLP token transfers. The Katana DEX was also launched to serve the game community.
Now, Ronin has a native wallet and many more functions to connect to the wider Web3 space. Ronin users can add Coinbase pay, expanding the potential audience to another 90M users, based on Coinbase’s statistics.
Ronin itself boosts daily active users with gaming challenge events, tournaments, or by using a play-to-airdrop model for otherwise free games. All activities combined result in significant daily active wallets growth.
Additionally, Ronin offers an app-based integration to the Katana exchange, which now offers easier access to a wider selection of small-scale and riskier tokens. The Katana exchange has a turnover of around $4.2B in 24 hours, though liquidity is limited to the small selection of top tokens.
RON Token Close to $1B Valuation
The RON token is now trying to recover its $1B valuation and possibly return as one of the successful unicorns in crypto space.
RON has been successful in 2024, becoming one of the rare tokens to peak during the latest bull market. RON reached its all-time high in March, trading at $4.40. About two months later, RON is still holding onto some of the gains, trading at $2.80 for a total valuation of $913M.
RON also has limited daily volumes of around $13M, but even activity at $100M is enough to cause a significant rally. The current market conditions see RON as potentially bullish if interest in Web3 and gaming returns.
The RON token also benefitted from a new trading pair. At the end of April, RON was listed on the HTX exchange, in a new pairing with USDT.
Axie Infinity Gamers Drive Attention to Ronin
Ronin has the advantage of gaining attention when users return to Axie Infinity, one of the most high-profile games during the 2021 play-to-earn boom. The game is now showing signs of heightened interest, with more than 38K daily active players and more than $1B in value turnover.
Users on Ronin are also reviving the NFT trade related to the Axie games, lifting turnover and interest in Axie metaverse land plots.
Axie Infinity recently marked the highest player activity in the past 12 months, while also reaching 60K transactions per day on the Ronin blockchain.
Additionally, the Wild Forest game aims to boost activity, by organizing play-to-airdrop events. Joining the game also requires usage of the Ronin network.
In addition to gaming, Ronin is also working on a blockchain-based ID, one of the hot use cases for Web3 in 2024. Ronin offers a .ron naming service, creating specialized addresses similar to the Ethereum Domain Name Service.
RON Tokens Locked for Staking
RON is also growing in scarcity due to staking around 20% of the total supply. Staked tokens already exceed 209M, while only 1B RON will ever be created. Around 145K Ronin wallets have delegated their tokens.
The circulating free supply of RON is only around 322M tokens, and usage for fees, gaming, and trading is growing.
