Ren is a project with a strong focus on DeFi and blockchain interoperability. With the Ren, users will be able to transfer their digital coins between any blockchain with privacy.
Short history lesson and introduction to the project
The history of the project dates back to 2017, when it started as a Republic Protocol. In 2018 the ICO of the project took place, which ended in November with an impeccable result of 34 million dollars raised during the campaign. The current form of the Ren Project took shape in 2019, with the launch of the announced functionalities dedicated to the decentralized finance market (DeFi).
Already during the ICO, the project mentioned “decentralized Dark Poole for atomic cross-chain transactions” as its core business. For users, this means that they can trade any number of assets without revealing their data or transaction details. Yes, this fits perfectly with the profile of institutional investors, who are the main target group of the project.
The main function of the REN tokens is to pack dark nodes to confirm Dark Pool trades. This allows each user to host their own quasi- decentralised crypto exchange (about why quasi- a bit later), which has theoretically unlimited liquidity. As we know, the small depth of the market and the still (despite progress over the past months) complicated UX/UI of decentralized exchanges are their biggest drawbacks. The Rhine is the answer to these problems.
Project description
One of the main value propositions provided by the Rhine is to be a transaction layer enabling interoperability in terms of value exchange between any two blockchain infrastructures. In practice, this will enable users to exchange directly, for example between BTCs for ETHs. An additional benefit will be a certain degree of anonymity, although in a slightly different dimension than most projects offer.
It is worth noting that Ren is not exactly a blockchain, but rather a protocol for P2P communication (similarly to BitTorrent), using ERC-20 tokens as protection for nodes in the network.
How does Ren Protocol (RenVM) work?
Many projects, which have set themselves the goal of integrating all blockchain systems into one infrastructure (just as the Internet has integrated intranets), want to do so by means of their own blockchcaine protocol, which is to integrate the others into one large network. Ren has adopted a different strategy. Namely, he is adapting to external infrastructures, instead of requiring them to implement new standards.
According to Ren’s creators:
“Most current interoperability projects are creating a protocol that is a new standard that other blockchain developers must implement in order to join. RenVM takes a different approach, and it is the protocol that connects to the other blockchain.
The solution to the interoperability problem offered by the Ren project is RenVM. It allows any dApp, protocol or network to implement interoperable transactions into their system. Additionally, RenVM connects transactions in such a way that networks or even nodes (confirming transactions in the Ren network) do not know the details of the exchange parties. This is possible with 3 RenVM layers:
- The Zero-knowledge Layer (freely translated: Zero Knowledge Layer) allows you to store and transfer tokens from any blockchain without revealing balances or transfer volumes.
- The Interoperability Layer, which expands the capabilities of the first layer, allowing transfers between different blockchains while maintaining privacy.
- Dark Pool Layer, which provides private pairing of orders so that their details are known only to the owner.
Main features of RenVM
Shamir’s Secret Sharing
It’s a cryptographic algorithm for data security. In short, it makes the encrypted data divided into unique parts. Then network participants need to connect most of the parts together to reconstruct the secret.
Secure Multiparty Computation (sMPC)
This is a proprietary algorithm of the project’s creators, allowing the Darknodes to be operated without having to disclose incoming/outgoing queries from/to the script to anyone (including the nodes themselves).
Byzantine Generals problem solved
These solutions ensure that the network will be able to continue to function despite attempts by third parties to take it over. As the creators describe:
“The scripts are propelled, and the secrets remain encrypted.”
Hyperdrive
RenVM uses a fast and decentralised consensus mechanism. It is a modified version of Tendermint designed for sharding and sMPC.
Dark Pools
Despite its dark name, it is simply about private trading without disclosing the balance of the counterparties. It is worth noting, however, that Dark Poole are not anonymous in the way that most cryptic users would like them to (we return to the topic of quasi-decentralised exchanges). Because of the many frauds and murky transactions taking place on the Dark Poles, the SEC had to intervene and now all of them are obliged to carry out the full KYC process and follow specific AML guidelines. However, this is a different kind of privacy.
Despite the undoubted advantages of blockchain technology, such as privacy and at the same time full transparency, we do not always want the seller or buyer to know how many bitcoins we keep on our wallet. Imagine paying for coffee from your main wallet, where you keep all the money. By doing this in a physical store, the seller seeing what address you paid from is able to check the entire balance of the wallet from which he received the transfer, and additionally identify you as the person he saw with his eyes. Thanks to Dark Poolom Ren, parties paired in transactions remain private to each other and the protocol is compatible with SEC regulations for Dark Pools.
The first Dark Pool in the Ren network is RenEx set up by the project developers.
The Ren team has also entered into cooperation with the American company Wyre providing OTC services. The partnership aims to ensure that all KYC/AML procedures are in compliance with applicable law. So far, the transactions serviced by Wyre exceed the total amount of USD 3.5 billion.
Token REN and Darknodes
REN is an ERC-20 token based on blockchain Ethereum. Currently, REN tokens have 2 main functions:
In order to use the Dark Pool, traders must stake the correct number of tokens. This provides greater security for the network, as it makes attempts to attack it directly more expensive.
Another option is to place 100,000 RENs in Darknode. Thanks to this we take part in the distribution of profits from commissions charged by the network. Darknodes feed Dark Pools transactions based on the network.
RenVM users pay transaction fees through a smart Ethereum contract called Darknode Payment contract. Once every 4 weeks the smart contract distributes the commissions to all Darknodes as a stake reward.
There are two composites in the Ren network that make up the amount of transfer fees. The first one is Dynami Fees, which are a minimum of 0.1% of the transaction amount if you send funds between blockchain.
The second type of commissions in the network are Dai Fees, the size of which depends on the amount of processing power used to process transactions. They are used e.g. in case of NFT token transfer, where each token can have different value and is not interchangeable 1:1.
Ren team
Taiyang Zhang is the project CEO. He previously co-founded Virgil Capital, an international cryptographic trading company.
Loong Wang, who is a CTO, also has programming experience with programming languages such as SQL, Java and Haskell.
Many of the programmers in the team have graduated from the same university in Australia: The Australian National University.
In the consulting body, they sit among others: Dorjee Sun as CEO of Perlin Network and Loi Luu as CEO of KyberNetwork.
Despite the lack of high-profile names, the developers of Ren were selected as the 6th most active project on Github in a 12-month period. This is an impressive result for such a small team.
Token REN and Darknodes
REN is an ERC-20 token based on blockchain Ethereum. Currently, REN tokens have 2 main functions:
In order to use the Dark Pool, traders must stake the correct number of tokens. This provides greater security for the network, as it makes attempts to attack it directly more expensive.
Another option is to place 100,000 RENs in Darknode. Thanks to this we take part in the distribution of profits from commissions charged by the network. Darknodes feed Dark Pools transactions based on the network.
RenVM users pay transaction fees through a smart Ethereum contract called Darknode Payment contract. Once every 4 weeks the smart contract distributes the commissions to all Darknodes as a stake reward.
There are two composites in the Ren network that make up the amount of transfer fees. The first one is Dynami Fees, which are a minimum of 0.1% of the transaction amount if you send funds between blockchain.
The second type of commissions in the network are Dai Fees, the size of which depends on the amount of processing power used to process transactions. They are used e.g. in case of NFT token transfer, where each token can have different value and is not interchangeable 1:1.
Ren team
Taiyang Zhang is the project CEO. He previously co-founded Virgil Capital, an international cryptographic trading company.
Loong Wang, who is a CTO, also has programming experience with programming languages such as SQL, Java and Haskell.
Many of the programmers in the team have graduated from the same university in Australia: The Australian National University.
In the consulting body, they sit among others: Dorjee Sun as CEO of Perlin Network and Loi Luu as CEO of KyberNetwork.
Despite the lack of high-profile names, the developers of Ren were selected as the 6th most active project on Github in a 12-month period. This is an impressive result for such a small team.
