Ronin, a prominent blockchain network focused on gaming applications, has finalized a significant upgrade by integrating Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) into its Ronin Bridge. This pivotal Ronin Chainlink CCIP integration was officially confirmed on April 25th.
CCIP now serves as the foundational cross-chain infrastructure powering the Ronin Bridge. This strategic decision stems from a validator community vote in October 2024, which favored Chainlink over alternatives like LayerZero and Axelar. Consequently, Chainlink’s infrastructure now helps secure over $450 million worth of crypto assets on the Ronin platform.
Trung Nguyen, CEO and co-founder of Sky Mavis (the team behind Ronin and Axie Infinity), emphasized the significance of this migration. He stated it’s a vital step for Ronin’s growth towards becoming the premier secure and accessible gaming and consumer chain in Web3, offering developers essential cross-chain tools and users seamless asset bridging.
This infrastructure overhaul directly addresses past security vulnerabilities. The Ronin Bridge suffered a catastrophic exploit in 2022, leading to the theft of over $600 million in digital assets. Security concerns resurfaced in August 2024 when the bridge temporarily suspended operations following a suspicious $10 million withdrawal.
The adoption of Chainlink CCIP is a key measure to enhance the security surrounding bridged assets. Beyond CCIP, Ronin plans to explore other Chainlink solutions to improve user experience and drive adoption, including potential expansion into decentralized finance (DeFi).
With this upgrade, users can now transfer a range of supported tokens, including AXS, YGG, BANANA, as well as stablecoins like USDC and Wrapped Bitcoin, to and from the Ronin network using the new Chainlink CCIP-powered Ronin Bridge application.
Despite the successful migration, the tab for the older, now-deprecated Ronin Bridge remains visible. According to the Ronin Network team, this is maintained to allow users with outstanding withdrawal requests on Ethereum to complete their claims.