Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network to migrate to Ethereum next month, unlocking lower inflation and new builder rewards

Ronin, the gaming-focused blockchain built by Sky Mavis to power titles like Axie Infinity, is migrating to Ethereum on May 12, the team said this week.

The move will end a four-year run as an independent sidechain and bring major upgrades to its ecosystem.

The migration will cut RON inflation from over 20% to under 1% and expand treasury inflows. Ronin also plans to roll out Proof of Distribution, a system that automatically rewards builders based on their contributions.

Proof of Distribution will reward contributors based on a measurable impact, including gas spend, user growth, and trading activity. Meanwhile, treasury inflows will expand via staking allocations, sequencer revenue, and increased marketplace fees.

The result is a more efficient, secure, and incentive-aligned network for both builders and users, according to Ronin.

The migration requires approximately 10 hours of downtime, during which no on-chain activity will be possible, as noted by the team. Node operators must upgrade before the scheduled hardfork at block #55577490.

What made Ronin independent in the first place

When Sky Mavis, the Vietnamese studio behind Axie Infinity, began developing Ronin in late 2020, Ethereum’s layer 2 options were still in their infancy.

With mainnet gas fees becoming prohibitive for the game’s growth, Sky Mavis officially launched the Ronin mainnet in February 2021 to provide the high-throughput, low-cost environment necessary to onboard millions of players.

The move fueled Axie’s massive expansion through early 2022, but independence came with a price. In March 2022, the North Korean-linked Lazarus Group exploited the Ronin bridge and drained roughly $625 million in assets, one of the largest hacks in crypto history.

The Ethereum ecosystem looks nothing like it did six years ago. Layer 2 solutions are battle-tested, data availability costs have plummeted, and the OP Stack processes millions of transactions daily across multiple chains.