Ronin, the Layer 1 blockchain developed by Sky Mavis, experienced a significant 149% year-over-year increase in DeFi TVL, reaching $147 million in Q3 2024.

There are several factors influencing this growth. One of the major catalysts was, however, the price surge of the RON token.

Ronins DeFi, NFT Demand Grows

According to Messaris latest report, Ronins DeFi TVL rose from $59 million in Q3 2023 to $147 million in Q3 2024. The figure was boosted by a 30% increase in the RON token price and wider ecosystem adoption. At the same time, native token TVL fell by 36%, from 128 million to 82 million tokens, indicating less participation.

This could be because of fewer token-locking incentives, a shift to gaming and NFTs, and a preference for holding RON tokens. RON holders increased by 11,611%, reaching 527,000 in Q3 2024, with a 20% growth from Q2.

Interestingly, Katana DEX holds a dominant 99% share of the total DeFi TVL on the Ronin network, while the next two largest protocols, Sablier Finance and MetaLend, contribute just 0.0029% and 0.77%, respectively. As the main decentralized exchange on Ronin, Katana drives liquidity and token swaps for assets like RON, AXS, and SLP. While Katanas TVL dropped 9% QoQ from $165 million in Q2 2024 to $150 million in Q3 2024, it saw a 154% YoY increase, rising from $59 million in Q3 2023 to $150 million in Q3 2024.

Throughout the year, Ronins daily NFT buyers generally outnumbered sellers, indicating a preference for holding. In Q3 2024, both buyers and sellers grew by 17%, with the former rising from 4,400 to 5,100 and the latter from 3,700 to 4,300. This growth followed a record-high in June this year, fueled by the Coinbase Learn campaign and Ronin Carnival, which featured Axie Infinity missions, a $1 million competition from Apeiron, and free trials from 0xScope. These events led to peak engagement with 28,000 buyers and 20,000 sellers.

Zooming out, Ronins daily transactions grew 24% QoQ in Q3, rising from 1.8 million to 2.2 million. This growth was driven by new games and partnerships. However, average daily transaction fees fell 20% QoQ, dropping from $7,000 to $5,000, likely due to Ronin focusing on expanding its ecosystem.

Compared to Q3 2023, daily transactions skyrocketed by 2,300%, from 90,000 to 2.2 million, and transaction fees rose 4,000%, from $134 to $5,000. Active addresses also grew by 23% QoQ, while new addresses increased by 22%.

Ronins Security Woes

Known for being the victim of the most costly DeFi hack, Ronin was breached in 2022 when an attacker used inadequate private key security to authorize a fraudulent transaction, draining $624 million from the cross-chain bridge.

In August 2024, the platform suffered another attack, losing $12 million due to a smart contract flaw introduced by a recent upgrade.