Ronin Ditches Standalone Sidechain for OP Stack Ethereum L2 on May 12 — RON Inflation Drops Below 1%!

Ronin is making a structural leap on May 12, migrating from its independent gaming sidechain — operational since 2021 — to a full Ethereum Layer 2 built on the OP Stack. The transition will require roughly 10 hours of downtime, but the payoff is significant: annual RON token inflation collapses from over 20% to below 1%, a deflationary shift that meaningfully changes the token's supply dynamics.

The move also reframes Ronin's security story. The network was the victim of a roughly $625 million bridge exploit in March 2022 — one of the largest cross-chain hacks in DeFi history — and anchoring to Ethereum's consensus layer via the OP Stack is a direct answer to the trust deficit that event created. Inheriting Ethereum's security model is the clearest signal yet that the team is building for longevity, not just gaming traffic.