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Ronin (RON) the blockchain that powers Axie Infinity, is thriving even as the crypto fear and greed index and most cryptocurrencies retreat. RON, its token, surged in the five straight weeks, pushing it to its highest point since January last year. It has rallied by over 1,613% from its lowest level in 2023, giving it a market cap of over $1 billion.
Ronin’s surge is notable because it happened when other cryptocurrencies were falling. Bitcoin has pulled back from the YTD high of $49,000 to a low of $42,000. Similarly, altcoins like Solana, Avalanche, Injective, and Cronos have all retreated. The crypto fear and greed index has moved from the extreme greed area of 75 to the neutral point of 52.
For starters, Ronin is a major player in the blockchain industry that focuses on the gaming industry. It supports some of the best-known blockchain games like Axie Infinity, Axie Champions, The Machines Arena, and Bowled.
It is not clear why the RONIN price has surged since the gaming industry is not growing as fast as some analysts were predicting in 2021. A likely reason is that the number of active addresses in Ronin has been growing in the past few months.
According to Nansen, active addresses have jumped to over 660k, its highest level since November 2021. These addresses have soared sharply after dropping to less than 15,000 last year. The daily unique addresses stood at over 635k.
Not everything is going on well though. For one, data compiled by DappRadar shows that the number of Unique Active Wallets (UAW) in Axie Infinity has plunged by over 20% in the past 30 days to 70.5k. Transactions have nonetheless jumped by 23% to over 1.28 million.
Ronin’s surge has also been driven by the overall momentum as the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) continues. Historically, cryptocurrencies tend to rise when there is an existing bull run as investors attempt to follow the rally.
This is evidenced by the ongoing open interest in the futures market. Data compiled by CoinGlass shows that the total futures open interest has risen to a record high of over $23 million. This figure, however, comes from OKX, the only exchange offering its futures product.
Ronin token open interest
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