Ronin is perhaps the most resilient blockchain in crypto — a gaming-focused sidechain that survived both the largest hack in DeFi history and the collapse of its primary game’s economy. Built by Sky Mavis specifically for Axie Infinity, Ronin launched in early 2021 to solve Ethereum’s high gas fees that were making Axie unplayable for its core audience of Filipino players earning $10-20 per day.
The March 2022 Ronin bridge hack — $625 million stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group — could have been a death blow. The attacker compromised 5 of 9 validator nodes (including 4 controlled by Sky Mavis and 1 by Axie DAO), gaining enough consensus to authorize fraudulent withdrawals. The hack went undetected for six days. Sky Mavis raised $150 million from Binance and others to reimburse affected users, and the bridge was redesigned with significantly more validators and security measures.
After the hack, Ronin pivoted from being “Axie’s chain” to a general-purpose gaming blockchain. The Ronin ecosystem expanded to include Pixels (a farming/social game that became the most-played blockchain game by daily active users in 2024), Lumitera, Wild Forest, and dozens of other titles. The Mavis Hub (Sky Mavis’s game launcher) and Katana DEX provided ecosystem infrastructure.
Ronin’s RON token powered the chain’s gas fees and staking. By 2024, Ronin consistently led blockchain gaming metrics: more daily active addresses than any other gaming chain, more transactions, and a growing lineup of games. The chain’s survival proved that in gaming, distribution and community matter more than a single catastrophic event. Ronin had the players (initially from Axie, then from new games), and players attract more games, which attract more players. The virtuous cycle that almost died in March 2022 was alive and growing two years later.
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