Ren Protocol is a permissionless and trustless protocol that allows users to transfer tokens across different blockchains. Ren’s core product, RenVM is focused on building an interoperability solution for Decentralized Finance (DeFi).

It was formerly known as Republic Protocol and originally wanted to be a “dark pool'' decentralized exchange project. A “dark pool” is considered to be an exchange in which financial assets are first matched and then traded on an order book that is private. 

REN tokens were originally used to pay for transactional fees and used as a bond by those running the Darknodes. The protocol rebranded itself in 2019 and focused on being a DeFi interoperability solution. Ever since then, REN is mainly used as a bond to operate the Darknodes. Darknodes function similarly to a validator node on a proof of stake blockchain.   

One of the major benefits that RenVM offers to the Ethereum network and DeFi sector is liquidity. Currently, there are plenty of bitcoin sitting around in users’ wallets and not earning any returns. With RenVM, there is a value exchange bridge for users to convert their bitcoin into an ERC-20 token equivalent. 

This ERC-20 token representing bitcoin is known as renBTC and can then be used on a wide selection of DeFi applications on Ethereum which includes features like lending, borrowing, trading and more.