Render Token

What is Render Network (RNDR)?

The Render Network is a leading provider of decentralized GPU-based rendering solutions, revolutionizing the digital creation process.

In-house rendering is a costly and hardware-intensive process, and much like processing and storage are being decentralized by prominent blockchain projects, Render democratizes GPU cloud rendering.

Render creates a much more efficient, powerful, and widely-scalable rendering network and works by simply connecting users looking to perform “render jobs” with others with idle GPU capacity.

Traditional render technology is difficult to scale, even using the cloud. However, Render can solve this problem by integrating blockchain technology as a decentralized system that tracks and manages render jobs.

When was Render Network Launched?

The Render Network was originally known as Render Token, and its whitepaper was published in August 2017. The project held its first public token sale two months later, then carried out a private sale in 2018, which priced 1 RNDR token at around $0.25.

Early adopters could use the RNDR beta testnet during this period, allowing GPU owners to work with artists to test the network. The full public launch of the platform came in April 2020.

Who are the Founders of Render Network?

The Render Network was founded by CEO Jules Urbach. He has 25 years of industry experience and is considered a pioneer in the fields of computer graphics, streaming, and 3D rendering.

Urbach is also the founder of OTOY, a 60-employee firm headquartered in Los Angeles and known for Academy Award-winning technology used by leading visual effects studios, artists, animators, designers, architects, and engineers. OTOY is also the company behind OctaneRender, which is used for rendering within the Render Network.

How Does Render Network Work?

The Render Network is the first network to transform the power of GPU computing into a decentralized economy of connected 3D assets.

The process is simple and begins with GPU owners making their GPUs available to the Render Network. They are called “Operators” and receive rendering jobs, which they complete using OctaneRender. The Render Network protocol calculates the RNDR tokens required to perform the jobs. Details are attached to a smart contract and sent across the network.

Known as “Creators,” the users requesting render jobs pay the Operators who are assigned to process their files using RNDR tokens. This is also facilitated via smart contract, as the Operator gets paid upon completion of the job. This system is sometimes referred to as a form of proof-of-work or even “proof-of-render.”

The Render Network receives a small percentage of the RNDR paid out in these transactions to maintain the network and facilitate the transaction.

What makes Render Network Unique?

Beyond the incapability of legacy render technology to scale, one of the biggest advantages of the Render Network is that it utilizes what it refers to as the “Sleeping GPU Network.”

GPUs are the most efficient rendering hardware, but they are also a standard component within every phone and personal computer. However, the GPUs on a vast majority of these devices are idle since, even during operation, they are not being utilized anywhere near their full capacity.

There’s also an argument that Render provides a better outlet for GPU power. Many blockchains use proof-of-work (PoW) consensus, and a significant subset of those rely on GPUs for mining. While there’s a good reason for ASIC-resistant GPU mining in blockchains, it does mean that the GPU’s power is going toward solving mathematical problems and not what it was specialized for—rendering.

This is where Render comes in, creating a network empowered by the very work that GPUs are designed to do: bringing creative visions to life.

It is very uniquely positioned to do so, given not only its founder’s credentials but also a network of well-positioned advisors. These include Sia.tech co-founder David Vorick, Brave Software (BAT) founder Brendan Eich, Bad Robot Productions Chairman J.J. Abrams, and Mike Winkelmann, better known as the artist “Beeple.”

How is the Render Network Secured?

The Render Network depends on the Ethereum blockchain both to record RNDR transactions and for the Solidity smart contracts that make the magic happen.

Ethereum is secured by proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus, where operators of validator nodes have to bond 32 ETH to the protocol to start producing and validating blocks. This bond sets the probability of producing a block and being rewarded, so many of Ethereum’s 500,000+ validators choose to deposit far more.

This hunt for more frequent block rewards also means validators have more to lose if they fail to perform. While missing out on block rewards due to downtime or poor performance is one thing, the ultimate punishment is slashing, where the validator’s bond is confiscated.

Between block rewards and slashing, most Ethereum validators are well incentivized to maintain liveness and behave according to the protocol.

What is the Use of RNDR?

RNDR is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain. As the core utility token of the Render Network, it is used by Creators to pay Operators for render jobs as described above.

These payments are held in smart contracts that work similarly to escrow and are released to Operators upon manual verification by the commissioning Creator.

How Much RNDR is In Circulation?

The Render Network has a circulating supply of over 250 million RNDR tokens out of a total maximum supply of just over 530 million.

How Do You Buy RNDR?

You can buy RNDR on various cryptocurrency exchanges, including most top-tier centralized exchanges. Since RNDR is an Ethereum-based token, it’s also possible to buy it on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and Balancer.

How Do You Store RNDR?

You can store RNDR tokens in any Ethereum-based wallet. Since it doesn’t have to be staked or actively used unless you’re an artist that needs frequent rendering done, a cold storage wallet like Ledger might be a great choice for RNDR.

It’s also possible to use popular browser-based hot wallets like Metamask or the GameStop Wallet, and most multi-asset wallets handle ERC-20 tokens like RNDR very easily.

Is RNDR a Good Investment?

The Render Network is backed by OTOY, a company with significant industry clout and proven credentials. This gives Render, as a blockchain project, a significant edge since they’re well aware of the ins and outs of rendering, along with the true needs of actual consumers.

As such, it's hard to deny that Render has its place. While technology advances at breakneck speed, so do the demands of everyday people. The video quality that would have been deemed unimaginably good ten years ago is scoffed at now, and things are accelerating exponentially.

The Render Network steps in as a way to bridge the demands of the industry with under-utilized capacity worldwide and also allows ordinary people to earn a little income by putting their GPUs to work.