Everything you need to know about the Ronin chain and PIXEL airdrop

Ronin is by no means an object to be underestimated.

Author: Revelo Intel

Translation: DeepTechFlow

Although NFT and gaming markets are quite different, their rise is less pronounced compared to the risk curve of cryptocurrencies and DeFi assets. Part of the reason is that NFT valuations continued to rise in 2022 and then began to decline after other cryptocurrency markets. It is reported that many development studios that raised funds at high valuations in 2021 finally plan to launch their products later this year, as game development cycles are relatively long. $MAVIA (up 26% in 24 hours) is an example of a recently launched game whose token issuance was successful, resulting in a significant price increase and sustained trading volume on DEXs like Hyperliquid.

Today, we will introduce you to Ronin, one of the top gaming chains, which recently announced details of the $PIXEL airdrop for $RON holders. This move makes the chain worth paying attention to, even for those who are not very interested in the gaming industry.

NFT and gaming projects only began to receive attention in the later stages of the bull market cycle in 2021, and started to decline later than other crypto assets. For example, the peak prices of BAYC's coin-based and U-based were both in 2022, and this week, its position as the largest NFT project was surpassed by Pudgy Penguins. Institutions such as Defiance Capital and Delphi Digital have invested manpower and funds in the gaming industry.

Background of Ronin

Ronin claims to be a blockchain built for gamers. This EVM sidechain was developed by the Sky Mavis team (the team behind Axie Infinity), including its own wallet infrastructure through the Ronin wallet. Some of the top games on the chain now include Pixels, as well as Apeiron and Axie Infinity, both developed by the Sky Mavis team. This may be an example of blockchain developers initially providing content and users to attract other developers.

Those unfamiliar with the gaming industry may not know much about Ronin. Nevertheless, this chain is by no means an object to be underestimated. It is one of the top 5 chains in this category, with some impressive daily active user (DAU) data, which may be more prosperous than other chains. Although there are indeed bot operations in crypto games, the risk-return ratio of this behavior may still not compare to other opportunities, such as airdrop opportunities on platforms like Starknet and zkSync, where individuals can manually set up multiple wallets or use software to complete some transactions and deposit processes.

Background of Pixels

While Axie Infinity was widely considered the top P2E (Play to Earn) game and industry standard, Pixels is now the most popular project on Ronin. The project raised $2.4 million from investors including Animoca Brands, and completed another $4.8 million financing round a few weeks ago, attracting a large following.

To understand Ronin and the airdrop, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of Pixels. It is a pixelated farming simulator where players exchange digital crops, items, etc. by completing various tasks. The land of these farms can be bought and sold as NFTs, with the floor price having soared to the current 1.59 $ETH.

This game is very simple and not a high-quality or AAA game. Nevertheless, it has received significant attention because users will now be able to earn and withdraw exchangeable $PIXEL tokens, which have recently been launched. The $PIXEL token was launched on the Binance Launchpad with the most deposits, and the team also held a Twitter space with Mario Newfa. Whether you love it or hate it, this can bring a lot of attention to the game and Ronin.

$PIXEL Airdrop and Its Impact

Ronin recently announced that $RON holders will receive a distribution of 20 million $PIXEL, which will be distributed in two phases, with the first phase taking place at the Pixel TGE (2.20) and the second phase a month later, each time with 10 million tokens.

The snapshot was taken on February 8 and rewards are distributed in a tiered manner:

1 RON: 183.34 PIXEL
55 RON: 675.75 PIXEL
684.64 RON: 2,315.77 PIXEL
8317.4 RON: 3,955.11 PIXEL

The introduction of the airdrop may attract a wave of speculators who may not pay much attention to the chain or the game.

As Ronin focuses on gaming, the DeFi functionality on the chain may still be weaker than on other chains such as Arbitrum and Solana. Nevertheless, similar patterns have begun to emerge, such as DeFi projects ensuring airdrop quotas for users staking through the platform rather than the native network.

Price movements of PIXEL and RON have surged since this information was made public. Currently, the annual interest rate for staking RON is over 15%, with a withdrawal period of 3 days.