This post I aim to complete the homework from professor @allbert, and I will choose a project from the Polkadot ecosystem to review in detail, I choose the REN project.
The main reason for choosing this project is because REN is a protocol aimed at solving blockchain problems such as interoperability and privacy, which are very much needed in blockchain. In addition, REN developers are also trying to provide liquidity that can be operated between blockchains and other decentralized projects so that they can mutually benefit each other.
As we know that liquidity is indispensable in the crypto trading market. The main drawback of the DEX-type market is liquidity, with less liquidity the market will be stuck and hampered can also make the price of an instrument beyond reasonable limits. This is what the founders of REN are trying to overcome.
Another reason I chose this project, is because REN has the ability to integrate with other blockchains and promote new and old dApps and DEXs. Also the compatibility within the REN network is able to function to integrate naturally with existing and new smart contracts, regardless of which blockchain they are created on. In addition, this script reacts to events occurring in different chains and forwards payments to different blockchains.
And there are many other advantages of this project that made me admire it and choose it. This project is very relevant to the world in terms of the progress of blockchain technology today, because there are not many projects that have the capability of REN projects. Although currently wrapped tokens can be used on various blockchains, there are still very few platforms or tokens that can be sent cross-chain like the REN platform.
REN stands for Republic Protocol, which is a platform that uses smart contracts to allow users to transfer crypto assets to various Blockchain networks. This has the advantage of eliminating the risk of wrapping and unwrapping.
REN was founded in 2017 by Taiyang Zhang and was first announced in January 2018 under the name Republic Protocol, where Zhang described decentralized dark pools as the first use case. REN is an open protocol that aims to provide liquidity and interoperability across various Blockchain platforms.
REN is a complex platform with many use cases, but ultimately designed to help DeFi projects overcome entry and funding barriers. Users can lock crypto assets such as BTC in the REN software, then print RenBTC tokens which are ERC-20 tokens. This will allow the DeFi project to incorporate the Bitcoin (BTC) crypto asset as a plugin (RenBTC) into its platform.
We can access the REN platform at Renproject.io. I have accessed them and will try to briefly review their platform.
Like most crypto project platforms, in the main menu we can see various information about this project. The screenshots above are the main display of the REN Platforms, here we can see a list of platforms that have collaborated with the REN project. We can "Integrate RenVM" to be able to store various crypto assets on the REN platform and also "Bridge Assets to Ethereum" to move other crypto assets to Ethereum. Not only that, if you scroll down again there will be various information about this platform, how to move tokens, and much more.
The REN platform has also released a list of coins/tokens that can be transferred to the Ethereum blockchain and the Binance Smart Chain. This is the main menu of this platform, to find more information about this project we can look at the bottom menu of Renproject.io.
For community information, developers, blogs, and the REN project itself, we can use the menu as shown in the screenshot above.
In this menu we can get various information such as explanation Darknode Docs, group Telegram Announcement, and group Telegram Community, and the last menu help.
In this menu, all the information related to the development of the REN platform. So we can find REN platform scripts on github, and also Docs which contains various information about decentralized application developers using RenVM, and lastly there is Wiki which is a complete description of the REN project and its development.
In this menu we can only find medium REN accounts, so all updates or other information will be updated there.
In this menu we can find RenBridge which is the main advantage of this platform.
There are several registered tokens that we can send directly to various blockchains.
There is also a roadmap menu, where we can see firsthand the details of the plans prepared by the team and currently being worked on in this quarter. Next up is gitbook which contains various information about REN resources and documentation. Finally there is Brand Kit / Logos, here we can find all Ren logos, promotional images, diagrams.
The Ren project is a DEX dark pool, therefore the REN token is a means to pay transaction and computation fees in the Ren protocol, it is almost the same as most blockchains. Following Ren's rebranding as a DeFi interoperability protocol, the REN token is currently working to operate Darknode. Darkpools itself is an OTC marketplace where investors can anonymously buy large amounts of assets.
The Ren platform also allows for decentralized and trustless exchange of cryptocurrency assets across the blockchain using REN's central platform called the Ren Virtual Machine (RenVM). RenVM works by using the Darknodes network, which is the provider of the computing power needed to identify and process cryptocurrency orders across the chain.
The REN token itself has two main functions, the first is to pay a trading fee for each order made in RenVM. While the second function is to pay bonds to Registrants, smart contracts that manage Darknodes in the REN ecosystem. The REN smart contract ensures the decentralization and stability of the RenVM protocol. If we want to run Darknode, then we have to pay 100,000 REN to Registrar.
In addition, there are 12 Application Ideas that use RenVM, this can be confirmed based on official information from the REN medium. Among the 12 ideas, one of them is "Cross-Chain Decentralized Exchanges (DEX)". You can find this information at medium.com/renproject, as it is not possible to cover everything in this post.
The REN project has also collaborated with various real-life platforms. Many platforms have joined them, such as AAVE, Dexlan, Dexwallet, Ddai, and matic. These are just a few of the platforms I mentioned, but in fact REN has collaborated with dozens of other projects.
The REN team is planning to build Ren Labs, which Ren Labs will take on all developments such as continuing to develop RenVM into its own L1 so that it can support all application layers. Ren Labs will also focus on developing RenVM-independent applications that can be built directly on top of RenVM using the project's assets directly, eliminating the need to issue RENs.
Not only that, there are 4 main points that will be further developed by REN. Everything will be done by Ren Labs in the near future although it is not stated in detail for the exact time. This future development is planned to be completed in early 2022, during which the REN team tries to become the leading platform for bridging cross-chain blockchains.
Based on information from the REN medium, they are working hard to make RenVM into their own L1, meaning they want all projects to be able to integrate with RenVM and store private keys securely because it is decentralized.
The REN team also plans to grow the application ecosystem by developing new applications in RenVM, Ren Labs will take on this task by creating applications that are wholly owned by the application such as economy, governance, community, but built on RenVM.
And there are still several other projects that will be developed by Ren Labs, but have not been explained in detail by the REN team so it is very difficult to explain. Several projects are also rumored to be cooperating with REN.
Before I buy REN tokens, I do a technical analysis of REN tokens first. There are several indicators that I use to see the movement of the Ren market and also the current trend. Here is the full analysis I did.
The first analysis I did was using the Bollinger bands and RSI indicators to see market conditions. As seen in the screenshots above, the price/candle of the REN token seems to be rallying above the middle band which is a signal that the market is in a bullish trend. Likewise with the RSI indicator which displays a line between the middle which indicates the market is not overbought or oversold.
Then I added the Fibonacci retracement to determine the resistance and support levels at the same time to establish the right entry point.
In the screenshots above, it can be seen that the REN price is above the 50% level of the Fibonacci retracement, if the price has broken above the 50% level pointing upwards, it is possible that the price will continue to rally until the 0.0% level which is a resistance point. We can also confirm that REN is in a bullish trend, I will try to enter the market immediately to place a buy order before the price reaches the resistance point.
Buy REN
1. CoinMarketCap.com
2. Huobi App
3. Renproject.io
**4. Labs.renproject.io
The polkadot ecosystem has indeed grown so rapidly that many projects have used the polkadot ecosystem to create their own blockchain with a new version and different missions and visions. This is indeed very necessary because between one blockchain cannot interact with another blockchain, polkadot projects are able to become a bridge to send tokens across chains.
REN is a very good project with developments that continue to be updated from day to day to meet the needs of today's market. They even developed RenVM which is highly decentralized so that all user data such as private keys and others are stored securely.
Thanks to professor @allbert for giving us excellent homework so that we can keep updating our knowledge about new blockchain projects.