Ren protocol warns users to unwrap tokens or risk losses as upgrade looms

The developers of bridging platform Ren protocol have warned users to unwrap their tokens and bridge them back to their native chains “ASAP,” or risk losing them, according to a Twitter thread from the team.

1) Important notice ⚠️

As announced previously, the Ren 1.0 network is shutting down due to the events surrounding Alameda

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! https://t.co/20vpGBc8W0

— Ren (@renprotocol) December 7, 2022

The team stated that mints on Ren will be disabled “shortly,” meaning that it will be impossible to deposit any assets onto the platform to bridge to other networks. In 30 days, “burns” or withdrawals will also be disabled.

The company behind the project, RenVM, had previously stated on Nov. 18 that they would be releasing a new version of the protocol, Ren 2.0, “in parallel” with the shutdown of the current one. This implied that the current bridged assets might still be usable after the shutdown of Ren 1.0.

However, this new announcement makes clear that current assets may not be usable in the newer version of the platform, so users may get these assets stuck in the platform if they don’t withdraw them soon.

Ren protocol users have relied on it to bridge assets since 2017. But in February, 2021, RenVM was acquired by Alameda Research. This led to a funding shortfall after Alameda filed for bankruptcy in November.

Related: Alameda Research invested $1.15B in crypto miner Genesis Digital: Report

In the Nov. 18 post, the team explained that they had decided to speed up the move to Ren 2.0 because of this funding shortfall.

The new announcement caused confusion on social media as some users wondered if the Ren token itself was in some kind of danger. One user asked “If we hold tokens on cex do we need to do something?” and another worried aloud “I’m confused My REN token is in ledger dose the update effect me too?”

One frustrated Ren holder replied by asking the team to issue a clarification, stating that the announcement has led to “panic selling.”

The team has not replied to these individual tweets. But in the announcement thread, it did issue detailed instructions to users on how to check to see if they have bridged assets they need to withdraw.