Ren was a cross-chain protocol. Its network, RenVM, let users lock an asset such as bitcoin on its home chain and receive a 1:1 pegged token such as renBTC on another chain. That network, Ren 1.0, no longer runs. In November 2022 the team stopped new mints after Alameda Research, Ren's owner and main funder, collapsed alongside FTX. The team then told holders to redeem before the bridge closed in December 2022. In April 2023 the remaining locked bitcoin, about 437 BTC, went to wallets of the FTX debtors. A community-run successor, Ren 2.0, was announced in November 2022. In November 2024 the team said "Ren v2 is coming", without giving a launch date.
The latest: Ren v2 announced
- 26 November 2024. The Ren team posted its first update since January 2024: "Ren v2 is coming." It said a seven-person team was working on the project and expected v2 to have a "bigger and more sustainable impact on DeFi than Ren v1" (Cryptonews). The post came hours after a large trading venue said it would delist REN on 10 December 2024.
- 2025. More trading venues stopped supporting REN. One platform turned off purchases on 12 March 2025, according to its own help-centre notice.
How RenVM worked
Ren's own technical wiki describes RenVM as "a Byzantine fault tolerant (BFT) network that enables universal interoperability between blockchains." The network was run by machines called Darknodes. They used secure multi-party computation (MPC) to act as a shared custodian, so no single node held the full private key. The wiki credits key handling to Ren's RZL MPC algorithm, which "can generate and manage ECDSA private keys without ever exposing them."
RenVM supported three transaction types:
- Lock-and-mint. A user locks an asset on its origin chain. RenVM returns a "minting signature" that authorises minting a pegged token on a host chain, for example BTC to renBTC on Ethereum.
- Burn-and-release. The pegged token is burned on the host chain and the original asset is released on its origin chain.
- Burn-and-mint. A pegged token is moved from one host chain to another without touching the origin chain.
Darknodes and the REN token
To run a Darknode, an operator had to bond 100,000 REN. The bond could be slashed for malicious behaviour or for causing asset losses (Ren wiki). Darknodes earned fees from the transactions they processed.
How decentralised it really was
RenVM launched in phase "sub-zero" on 27 May 2020. In that phase a group of nodes called the Greycore, run by Ren's core developers, was "the only group of nodes responsible for consensus and execution" (Ren wiki, Phases). In September 2020, Decrypt and The Block reported that the bitcoin backing renBTC sat in a wallet controlled by this small node set. The team answered that it was decentralising in planned phases. Ren later opened Greycore membership to outside parties on testnet in 2021. Phase zero, which the wiki calls the phase in which RenVM "will become fully decentralised," has no dates on that page.
Timeline
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| January 2018 | Announced as Republic Protocol, founded by Taiyang Zhang (CEO) | Secondary reviews |
| 2019 | Rebranded to Ren | Secondary reviews |
| 27 May 2020 | RenVM mainnet launches in phase sub-zero | Ren wiki |
| 2 February 2021 | Ren team joins Alameda Research | CoinDesk, The Block |
| June 2021 | Direct RenVM bridge to Solana live (renBTC and other assets) | Ren ecosystem update |
| 18–20 November 2022 | Ren announces Ren 1.0 wind-down and Ren 2.0. Minting disabled, burning kept open for 30 days | CryptoSlate, citing Ren's blog and posts |
| 8 December 2022 | The Block counts 1,130 renBTC (about $19.2 million) on Ethereum at risk | The Block |
| 18 December 2022 | Redemption deadline reported by Decrypt (other reports say 20 December) | Decrypt |
| 23 December 2022 | Snapshot vote to mint new REN to fund Ren 2.0. Weighted result estimated at 180 million REN (about $10.8 million) | The Block |
| 12 April 2023 | About 437 BTC (about $13.11 million), described as Ren 1.0's total locked liquidity, sent to FTX debtors' wallets | Decrypt |
| 26 November 2024 | Team posts "Ren v2 is coming" | Cryptonews |
What happened to renBTC holders, step by step
Follow Ren from the November 2022 shutdown to the November 2024 v2 post to see when redemption closed and where the last locked bitcoin went.
- 18–20 November 2022Ren 1.0 wind-down announceddone
After Alameda Research, Ren's owner and main funder, collapsed alongside FTX, the team disabled minting, kept burning open for 30 days and announced a community-run Ren 2.0. It told holders to bridge back to native chains as soon as possible.
- 8 December 2022renBTC still on Ethereumdone
The Block counted 1,130 renBTC (about $19.2 million) on Ethereum at risk.
- 18 December 2022Redemption deadlineuncertain
Decrypt reported 18 December as the redemption deadline; other reports say 20 December. Pegged tokens not burned before the bridge closed lost their working redemption route.
- 23 December 2022Vote to fund Ren 2.0done
A Snapshot vote on minting new REN to fund Ren 2.0 had a weighted result estimated at 180 million REN (about $10.8 million).
- 12 April 2023Remaining bitcoin sent to FTX debtorsdone
About 437 BTC (about $13.11 million), described as Ren 1.0's total locked liquidity, went to wallets of the FTX debtors.
- 26 November 2024"Ren v2 is coming"announced
The team posted its first update since January 2024, saying a seven-person team was working on v2. It gave no launch date.
This timeline follows only the shutdown and the v2 announcement: it does not show whether Ren 2.0 has launched or whether any unredeemed renBTC can still be recovered.
Why Ren 1.0 shut down
The cause was funding, not a protocol exploit. The Block reported that Alameda funded Ren quarterly. When Alameda and FTX filed for Chapter 11 in November 2022, that funding stopped. The team said its remaining money would last only until the end of 2022.
It warned: "As compatibility between Ren 1.0 and 2.0 cannot be guaranteed, holders of Ren assets should bridge back to native chains ASAP, or risk losing them."
Holders who redeemed in time got their underlying coins back. Pegged tokens that were not burned before the bridge closed were no longer backed by a working redemption route.
REN token facts
- Standard: ERC-20 on Ethereum. The contract is still named "Republic" on Etherscan.
- Total supply on that contract: 999,999,632.8 REN (Etherscan).
- Mining: REN cannot be mined. It was used to bond Darknodes and to pay network fees.
What Ren shows about bridge risk
- A pegged token is a claim, not the asset. renBTC was worth one BTC only while RenVM could release the bitcoin it held.
- Custody design matters more than marketing. RenVM spent its whole life in a phase where the core team ran the signing nodes.
- Funding is a dependency. The technical design stayed the same. The project stopped because its main funder went bankrupt.
