Sky Mavis Co-founder Jeff Zirlin Spotlights Gaming Expansion in Ronin Ecosystem

Sky Mavis, the Web3 company behind the popular play-to-earn (P2E) game Axie Infinity, seems to be back in the spotlight after its EVM-compatible network Ronin has seen a surge in daily activity. 

What’s next for the Ronin ecosystem is giving developers the green light to build on a permissionless infrastructure with advanced zkEVM technology. Previously, Jeff Zirlin, co-founder of Sky Mavis, highlighted Ronin’s cautious approach towards onboarding new projects, stating that “curated is better at the beginning of an adoption cycle”. 

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Ronin zkEVM for Web3 Gaming

The company announced the launch of the Ronin zkEVM back in early June, stating that it would provide the groundwork for building scalable Web3 games.

Ronin zkEVM is a zero-knowledge (ZK) Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) layer-2 (L2) built with a Sky Mavis-modified version of the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK). Moreover, developers on Ronin will be able to create their own zkEVM L2s. This would enhance the scalability and efficiency of the Ronin network, turning it into a potential hub for Web3 games.

In a statement shared with CryptoBriefing, Zirllin said:

Right now, Ronin is about 10% full. So, let’s say we have another huge success where we’ll start to run out of cheaper and affordable blocks based on Ronin. Our approach will be to use the Polygon CDK to create the system where game developers can build their own layer-2 chains on top of Ronin.

Jeff Zirlin, co-founder of Sky Mavis

All in all, it seems the Ronin Network is growing. Data from its blockchain explorer shows an increase in several key metrics: total transactions stand at 845M, up 12.74% from 750M in June; total addresses are up 14% to 24M, and total blocks are at 37M.

The Rise of zkEVMs

There’s no way to explain zkEVMs simply, but here it goes. Zero-knowledge rollups have an incompatibility issue with the Ethereum Virtual Machine due to several technical factors. zkEVMs are then a special type of zk-rollup, a developing technology that strives to maintain compatibility with EVM while still using zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs).

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zkEVMs achieve this by mimicking the EVM to a certain point, allowing interaction with Ethereum-based smart contracts and decentralised applications while using Zk-rollups to scale the Ethereum network. 

Here’s an overview courtesy of Vitalik Buterin: