Sky Mavis partners with Google Cloud to secure blockchain networks

Sky Mavis has teamed up with Google Cloud to become a validator for its blockchain gaming network and enable it to scale securely and sustainably.

Sky Mavis runs the popular Axie Infinity game, which uses non-fungible tokens to authenticate unique digital items.

Back in March, Sky Mavis reported that the Ronin Network supporting Axie Infinity was hacked. Thieves stole 173,600 in Ethereum cryptocurrency (worth $594.6 million) and $25.5 million in US dollars, stealing a total of $620 million.

Now, at the AxieCon event in Barcelona, ​​​​Sy Mavis said that it will make a multi-year collaboration with Google Cloud to strengthen the security of Ronin and advance its vision of building a game universe with coherent, immersive and rewarding experiences.

Google Cloud will become an independent enterprise validator for the Ronin network, joining a validator node pool that includes Animoca Brands, DappRadar, Nansen and more. By running and monitoring a validator node on the Ronin network, Google Cloud will contribute to its collective security and governance, while taking on the role of validator uptime monitoring.

Ronin is a blockchain network built using the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) launched by Sky Mavis in February 2021 to speed up transactions and drastically reduce gas fees for the rapidly growing user ecosystem, thereby allowing millions of in-game microtransactions. to happen seamlessly.

It operates on a Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus model, where validators are chosen based on their credibility and are responsible for verifying, voting and maintaining a record of transactions on the blockchain. As part of Sky Mavis’ shift towards decentralization, it proposes new validators and puts them up for voting. The current network then requires at least 70% of its existing validators to approve a proposal.

In the past, Sky Mavis has set up a temporary backdoor to handle multiple transactions. Sky Mavis accidentally left the backdoor open and hackers exploited it to steal the cryptocurrency and cash.

“Validators have the important duty of ensuring that transactions on Ronin are processed correctly. They also act as important ecosystem partners and mentors,” says Aleksander Larsen, COO of Sky Mavis, in a statement. “Google Cloud, which sits at the intersection of being a recognized contributor to the developer community and having deep technical expertise in blockchain infrastructure and running validators, was naturally one of the best choices. Google Cloud has been our strategic cloud provider since 2020, so welcoming them now as Ronin’s latest and 18th validator is a big deal for us, especially as we push towards our initial goal of having 21 independent validators securing the network.”

By building core offerings such as Ronin, its proprietary Axie Infinity game titles and Mavis Hub – a launch pad for new blockchain games – on Google Cloud’s scalable, secure and sustainable infrastructure and low-latency network, Sky Mavis aims to establish Ronin as the standard. NFT scaling solution for gaming and open up more opportunities for users to turn their time and effort into real value. This means that third party game developers can register with Sky Mavis to publish their games.

With Sky Mavis actively providing resources and support to help community developers create and monetize compelling experiences on top of Axie Infinity and Ronin, Google Cloud will enable scalable distribution of community-built games and other experiences created through Sky Mavis’ partnerships with major game studios. Given that a Ronin transaction is already engineered to be more energy efficient than a transaction on a Proof of Stake blockchain, Sky Mavis’ decision to run its platforms on the industry’s cleanest cloud will further reduce the ecosystem’s overall environmental impact, the company said.

Sky Mavis has also chosen Google Cloud for its content delivery network’s advanced load balancing and caching capabilities, to deliver smooth and reliable experiences to users anywhere on any device – including those who earn income through Axie Infinity but live in rural areas with intermittent online connection.

“From our time in the Google for Startups Cloud program to where we are today, Google Cloud and our partner Searce have given us the right support in every phase of our growth journey – whether it’s managing fluctuating traffic so that 2.3 million Axie NFT owners enjoy fair platform experiences or introduce new mechanisms to drive sustainability across our digital nation,” said Trung Nguyen, CEO of Sky Mavis. “We are very much looking forward to our next phase of collaboration with Google Cloud and Searce, especially with their clear commitment to our industry and desire to support us and the wider community with relevant opportunities for born-in-Web3 applications.”

Google Workspace

Sky Mavis aims to hire 100 more people over the next 18 months. To continue to attract world-class talent and allow its centralized team of engineers in Vietnam to easily connect, create and collaborate with their colleagues around the world, Sky Mavis has adopted Google Workspace.

Built on Google Cloud, Google Workspace brings together applications such as Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, Chat and more into a single, integrated workspace, with built-in access management, device management, data protection and data encryption, to establish a secure hybrid work environment.

Having tripled the size of its global team in the past year to accelerate the product roadmap and support the growing volume of user-generated games and content in the ecosystem, Sky Mavis also enables its engineers to maximize their talent and make meaningful contributions to their user community.

“After a comparison of all options, we chose Google Cloud because of a number of core differentiators,” Viet Anh Ho, CTO of Sky Mavis, said in a statement. “One particular area is Google Cloud’s open source legacy and managed Kubernetes service. Engineers at Google actually invented Kubernetes, so it’s only natural for Google Cloud to have the best features for auto-scaling and automated application deployment. These free our engineers to break new ground and delight users with cohesive and immersive experiences – all without disrupting active gameplay. In addition, the Google Cloud services we use are already battle-tested on Google products such as Search and YouTube.”

From introducing new battle systems, balance changes and seasonal leaderboards to opening a marketplace for trading Axie NFTs and launching co-created blockchain games on Mavis Hub – these are among the hundreds of development updates that Sky Mavis releases on a regular basis. At the same time, the company must ensure that it synchronizes game states in real time during multiplayer sessions and matchmaking players of similar skill levels. By automating application deployment and orchestration of game servers – with zero downtime – using Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), the technical teams can avoid manual backend configurations and focus on building engaging features and products.

“Sky Mavis is a powerful example of how the cloud can enable blockchain technologies to deliver innovation and value creation for individuals,” said Ruma Balasubramanian, managing director, Southeast Asia, Google Cloud, in a statement. “With Searce as our implementation partner, we look forward to working with Sky Mavis to accelerate the product roadmap and expand the Ronin network with secure infrastructure at its core. We are also excited about the opportunities that may emerge from this latest collaboration – whether are entertaining experiences for users or new business models in game distribution.”