Everything You Need to Know About the Ronin Chain and PIXEL Airdrop

Author: Revelo Intel

Translation: TechFlow

Although NFTs and gaming markets are distinct, their upward trajectory has been less pronounced compared to cryptocurrencies and DeFi assets located further along the risk curve. Part of this is because NFT valuations continued climbing through 2022 before beginning their decline after other crypto markets turned downward. Reports indicate that many development studios which raised funds at high valuations in 2021 are finally planning to launch their products later this year, due to the long development cycles typical in game production. $MAVIA (up 26% in 24 hours) exemplifies a recently launched game whose token release achieved success, with significant price appreciation and sustained trading volume on DEXs like Hyperliquid.

Today, we'll introduce Ronin, one of the top gaming chains, which recently revealed details about an airdrop of $PIXEL tokens to $RON holders. This move makes the chain worth watching, even for those not particularly interested in gaming.

NFT and gaming projects gained attention late in the 2021 bull cycle and started declining later than other crypto assets. For example, BAYC reached its peak prices both in BTC terms and USD terms in 2022. Just this week, it was overtaken as the top NFT project by Pudgy Penguins. Institutions such as Defiance Capital and Delphi Digital have allocated personnel and capital into the gaming sector.

Background on Ronin

Ronin describes itself as a blockchain built for gamers. This EVM sidechain was developed by Sky Mavis (the team behind Axie Infinity), including its own wallet infrastructure via the Ronin Wallet. Some of the leading games currently on the chain include Pixels, Apeiron, and Axie Infinity—all developed by the Sky Mavis team. This could be an example of a blockchain developer initially providing content and users to attract other developers.

Those unfamiliar with the gaming industry might overlook Ronin. Nevertheless, this chain is far from insignificant—it ranks among the top five gaming chains and boasts impressive daily active user (DAU) metrics, potentially outperforming other blockchains. While botting does exist within crypto gaming, the risk-reward ratio may still be less attractive than opportunities elsewhere, such as airdrops on platforms like Starknet or zkSync, where individuals can manually set up multiple wallets or use software to automate certain transactions and deposit processes.

Background on Pixels

While Axie Infinity was once widely considered the number one Play-to-Earn (P2E) game and industry standard, Pixels is now the most popular project on Ronin. The project raised $2.4 million from investors including Animoca Brands and completed another $4.8 million funding round just weeks ago, attracting a large following.

To understand Ronin and the airdrop, one must first grasp the basics of Pixels. It’s a pixel-art farming simulator where players exchange digital crops and items by completing various tasks. These farms can be bought and sold as NFTs, with floor prices surging to 1.59 $ETH.

The game is simple and not a high-quality or AAA title. Nonetheless, it has garnered significant attention, especially now that users can earn and withdraw redeemable $PIXEL tokens, which were recently launched. $PIXEL debuted as the highest-deposited project on Binance Launchpad, and the team hosted a Twitter Space with Mario Newfa. Love him or hate him, this brought substantial visibility to both the game and Ronin.

The $PIXEL Airdrop and Its Implications

Ronin recently announced that $RON holders will receive a total allocation of 20 million $PIXEL tokens, distributed in two phases: the first phase occurred at Pixel’s TGE (February 20), and the second will take place one month later, with 10 million tokens disbursed each time.

Snapshots were taken on February 8 and rewards will be distributed on a tiered basis:

• 1 RON: 183.34 PIXEL

• 55 RON: 675.75 PIXEL

• 684.64 RON: 2,315.77 PIXEL

• 8317.4 RON: 3,955.11 PIXEL

The introduction of the airdrop may attract a wave of speculators who care little about the chain or the game itself.

Given Ronin's focus on gaming, its DeFi capabilities remain considerably weaker than those of chains like Arbitrum or Solana. Nonetheless, similar patterns are emerging—for instance, DeFi projects reserving airdrop allocations for users who stake via platforms rather than native networks.

Both PIXEL and RON prices have surged since these announcements. Currently, staking RON offers an annual yield of over 15%, with a 3-day withdrawal period.

Price movement of PIXEL before and after TGE

Recent price trend of RON

$2 million OTC volume for Pixel airdrop allocations via Whales Market

Key links:

Official PIXEL airdrop announcement

PIXEL funding information