The Ronin Chain
Axie DAO validator nodes and Sky Mavis's Ronin validator nodes were both compromised on March 23rd, 2022, causing the loss of 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5M USDC from the Ronin bridge. Sky Mavis identified the hack, and a proper timeline of the event is recorded here.
As a result of the hack, there were heavy outflows of funds from the Ronin ecosystem, and a general wary of operating on the Ronin blockchain.
However, in crypto, we often see projects make comebacks, and we believe Ronin and the entire Axie Infinity community might be making a comeback. What should you be looking at to take advantage of any potential comeback?
The Ronin NFT Marketplace
After the Ronin Hack, prices of the Axie Infinity on both the Ethereum and Ronin Non-Fungible Token(NFT) marketplaces fell steeply. On the day of the hack, the average price of Axie Infinity was $45.6, and there were trading volumes in excess of $1m across Ethereum and ronin. Fast forward a short while later, on the 30th of December 2022, the price of Axie Infinity was $3.92, and the average volumes recorded were about $35.6K
However, recent activities across Ronin and Axie Infinity NFT marketplaces have been uptick.
At the start of the year, Jeffrey Zirlin, one of the co-founders of Axie Infinity, noted that Ronin has more than 1.8 million users, compared to the Ethereum chain, with 1.9 million users.
Examining the NFT market activity generated from Ronin over the last 30 days, we can see a steady climb in user activity, with the average price of an Axie NFT ranging between $10 to $50, and daily volumes between $60k and $250k.
There has also been a steady climb in buyer activity over the past 30 days.
Smooth Love Portion(SLP) Becoming Deflationary
One of the key challenges with the dual token model of Axie was that the SLP token was highly inflationary, and prices were sinking terribly due to inflationary pressure.
However, as noted by Jeffrey Zirlin, the SLP token has become deflationary, with a total of 55,611,887 tokens minted and 269,989,689 SLP tokens burnt.
With SLP increasingly becoming deflationary, we can likely see a rebound in the price of SLP, and this could ripple through the Axie NFT eco-system, causing price increases.
RON Token Price
Over the last month, we can also see how sharply the Ronin token ($RON) has bounced off lows, making a new 1-month high of $1.1, a more than 250% increase from its 1-month low of $0.3. It is possible that the token price continues to appreciate, as the ronin chain generates more activities and regains traction.
Final Words
Ronin chain has been in heavy focus from the Sky Mavis team, with hopes of building the first play-to-earn game that can operate on it own blockchain. At the height of its popularity, Axie Infinity Shards (AXS), the governance token for the game, had more than $35bn in trading volumes, with more than 40% of that generated from the Philippines.
With the recent upsurge in activity on the Ronin chain, we at Fifty Finney see a potential chance for another phase of growth for the Axie Infinity game, with more games planned for launch on the Ronin chain. We also urge you to do your own research before making any investment.
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