Ronin L2 hard fork completes as gaming chain returns

Ronin L2 migration completed May 12, ending four years as a sidechain after a 10-hour network shutdown.

The Ronin L2 hard fork executed at block 55,577,490 on May 12, transitioning the gaming blockchain from an independent EVM sidechain into a full Ethereum Layer 2 built on Optimism’s OP Stack. Sky Mavis co-founder Jihoz announced in the lead-up that the network would enter “hibernation” for approximately 10 hours while the upgrade completed, with no action required from users or players.

Ronin joins Base, Celo, and Fraxtal as purpose-built chains that have chosen to operate under Ethereum’s umbrella through the OP Stack. “Four years ago, we launched Ronin because Axie Infinity needed a faster and more efficient network,” the team said when first announcing the migration. “The time has come to plug back into the mothership.”

What changed in the hard fork

RON token inflation falls from over 20% annually to below 1% under the new Proof of Distribution model, which redirects 90 million RON tokens previously earmarked for passive staking toward the Ronin treasury. Marketplace fees also rise from 0.5% to 1.25%, with sequencer profits from the Layer 2 flowing into the treasury.

EigenDA handles off-chain data availability for the new chain while Ethereum provides settlement and finality. Partners including Optimism, Conduit, Boundless, and EigenLayer supported the migration, with Ronin now composable with Ethereum’s broader DeFi ecosystem.

Any node running older software was cut off once the new chain activated. Ronin confirmed that all games on the network, including Axie Infinity and Pixels, suspended on-chain activity during the downtime and resumed immediately upon completion.

Why the migration happened now

The move addresses the structural concerns that made Ronin vulnerable to the $625 million Lazarus Group bridge exploit in March 2022, the largest DeFi bridge hack in history. Operating as an independent sidechain with only nine validators created a centralised security model that Ethereum Layer 2 settlement directly resolves by inheriting the base chain’s security.

Governance also shifts to token-weighted voting under the new structure, giving RON holders direct input over treasury decisions, buybacks, and DeFi initiatives. Ronin also plans to deploy Uniswap v3 as its canonical DEX post-migration, backed by a $1.5 million liquidity incentive program to bootstrap DeFi activity on the upgraded network.