Introducing Ren 2.0
Today we are excited to introduce the next iteration of Ren in this emergent multichain world. Ren 2.0 is an open protocol, enabling novel multichain application development with EVM support — leveraging Ren’s robust bridging technology for a new world of opportunities.
Background
The Ren protocol has reached great technical maturity since it was first announced at the end of 2018. Initially supporting BTC, BCH, and ZEC on Ethereum mainnet, the protocol now supports a plethora of assets across smart contract chains such as Arbitrum, Polygon, Solana, and more. This multichain support enables interoperability between the largest and most active ecosystems throughout the crypto space. Adding to this, two significant upgrades were deployed recently:
- Support for direct bridging of renASSETS between smart contract chains, making it faster and cheaper than ever to bridge.
- Support for generic tokens being moved between those smart contract chains, such as stablecoins, and native assets like ETH.
In terms of adoption, the protocol has crossed $12 billion in all-time volume, and the ecosystem has key integration partners in Varen, ZeroDAO, and more, offering unique cross-chain services powered by Ren. Catalog will also prove to be a key liquidity bootstrapper for the Ren ecosystem as it starts to move through its phased rollout over the remainder of the year.
With integrations wrapped up for Optimism, Kava, and Moonbeam, we have begun gearing up for the next version of Ren — Ren 2.0.
Overview
Ren 2.0 will be the network that powers Ren ecosystem growth throughout this exciting new chapter we’re about to embark on. Its primary advancements will be decentralization and security, supporting generic application logic on top of Ren, an improved MPC algorithm that’s more scalable and able to support more signing schemes, and optimized tokenomics to further align incentives for ecosystem participants. These are extensive upgrades to our core technology. Hence, they will be deployed to a new network. The existing Ren ecosystem will continue to operate as is but should eventually migrate to Ren 2.0. This blog will provide an overview and roadmap for Ren 2.0.
Security
Ren 2.0 will be decentralized at launch, meaning anyone with enough REN to spin up a validator will be part of the execution nodes that secure and run the network. It will use the Flexible Round-Optimized Schnorr Threshold (FROST) signing scheme to allow for greater scalability with such a large and decentralized network. Usage of FROST allows for greater scalability as it significantly reduces network overhead during signing operations. Since it is an extension of Schnorr, there is also no restriction on the safety threshold. The implementation is currently in progress and can be tracked here.
There are also ongoing discussions around custodian fees (demurrage) which will be formalized through the governance process to align incentives better to secure the network.
Open source
The secret sauce that makes up Ren 1.0 was gradually open-sourced, like MPC, Shamir, Airwave, Hyperdrive, and the Multichain infrastructure. With Ren 2.0, all code will be open-sourced from day one, such as the new Darknode client and the new FROST signing scheme, opening Ren up to a larger community of contributors worldwide and evolving Ren into a decentralized public goods multichain infrastructure, governed by the RenDAO and node operators.
RenEVM
RenEVM is an Ethereum-based plugin for Darknode that allows arbitrary programs to be deployed on top of the Ren blockchain to leverage any asset supported by Ren. This will mean that Ren will not only support minting and releasing assets between blockchains but also smart contracts that can power any kind of application, cross-chain specialized or not. Native cross-chain trading, lending, and derivatives can all run on top of Ren and access liquidity from every blockchain Ren supports, creating a richer DeFi ecosystem for users.
RenEVM will use a proof of authority consensus model, allowing any participants from the pool of Darknode operators. Darknode operators will earn a share of the fees for all activity on RenEVM, incentivizing a large and secure network.
The native gas asset in this execution environment will be REN. In a similar design to Ethereum, we initially propose to have 50% of the transaction fees burned, to introduce deflationary pressure into the protocol. Detailed proposals on the tokenomics for Ren 2.0 will be published on the Ren Forum.
Check out the RenEVM progress here and join the Community to keep up with updates.
Roadmap
The first major components of Ren 2.0 to be released will be RenEVM and the FROST implementation. These are the key prerequisites for releasing Darknode 2.0. Both components are near completion, with the current focus being on testing.
Towards the end of the year, the new Darknode client that will power Ren 2.0 will be released on Chaosnet — a pre-production environment that will allow the community to purposefully put the network under stress and incentivize its corruption in real-world conditions.
As the Chaosnet is battle-tested and confidence on the security and liveness of the network reaches a sufficient level, the Ren 2.0 Mainnet rollout will begin. It will run in parallel with the current Ren 1.0 network initially, with limits on TVL that gradually will be lifted. When the Ren network operators, community and ecosystem have reached sufficient confidence about the safety and soundness of the new architecture, the networks will merge, completing the full transition to Ren 2.0.
With the transition to Ren 2.0, Ren will have undertaken its most extensive upgrades so far, laying the foundation for the Multichain future — a boundless and open space powered by a decentralized multichain infrastructure. If you are a builder and would like to know more and get involved, or just generally interested, join the Community!
Onwards and Upwards,
Ren Team
About Ren
Ren is an open protocol that enables the movement of value between blockchains.
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