The Future of GameFi and Non-Custodial NFT Trading
Despite the immense popularity of non-fungible tokens, there have been numerous challenges that the NFT sector has had to contend with, the primary of which are scaling issues and high gas fees following rapid rise in NFT popularity.
Immutable X is a scaling solution designed with Layer 2 technology built on the Ethereum blockchain. This solution also provides instant trade confirmations along with exceedingly low gas fees.
TL:DR; 📰
- Immutable X is a Layer 2 technology built on the Ethereum blockchain that offers instant trade confirmations, scalability, and low gas fees.
- The Immutable X team is led by James and Robbie Ferguson and is supported by several venture capital funds.
- The Immutable X token, IMX, is used for fees, staking, and governance.
What is Immutable X?
The blockchain-based video game “Gods Unchained” developer Immutable created Immutable X as a next-generation protocol that offers scalable layer 2 solutions to the NFT industry.
Immutable X’s layer 2 zero knowledge-rollup solution offers users instant trade confirmation, enormous scalability, and no gas fees in a non-custodial manner. It also boasts speeds of up to 9000 trades per second without gas fees in a non-custodial way.
Immutable X focuses on the emerging GameFi sector.
- Besides gas-free minting, it strives to appeal to mainstream gamers through its custom wallet UX with integrated credit card payment.
- For builders, Immutable X offers expert support and simple APIs and SDKs to allow faster launching of new games.
- Furthermore, it provides a global order book, which instantly propagates NFTs to every marketplace in the blockchain’s network.
Immutable X : Team and Investors
James Ferguson, an entrepreneur named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, is the team leader of Immutable X.
Before starting Immutable X, he oversaw the software development team at a $1 billion eCommerce company. Robbie Ferguson, a Thiel fellow and Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur, supports his brother James Ferguson.
Several reputable cryptocurrency venture capital funds support the project, including Coinbase, Naspers, Nirvana Capital, Apex Capital Partners, Continue Capital, and Galaxy Digital.
The Immutable X Token – $IMX
The Immutable X ecosystem’s native currency is the ERC20 token known as IMX. The utility and governance token is a digital coin with a 2 billion total supply. By helping the cluster grow and develop, users can earn IMX coins by developing apps and trading NFTs.
The coin can be used to reward users and pay trading commissions. One can put their assets in staking pools to receive generous staking rewards. Owners of tokens can also vote and influence decisions that will affect how the native community develops. The number of tokens held determines the voting power as the voting rights increase with token volume.
The team offers incentives to traders, creators, and marketplaces to engage in the three core utilities for the IMX token:
- Fees: IMX pays 20% of the blockchain’s protocol fee. This can be done directly or through an automatic currency swap. This implies that users can interact with the platform without holding IMX.
- Staking: Users are classified as stakers if they own IMX on an L1 or L2, have participated in a recent governance vote, and either hold an Immutable X NFT or have recently completed a trade.
- Governance: IMX holders may vote on proposals for governance, including how token reserves are distributed, developer grants, whether to activate daily rewards and changes to the token supply. The protocol can use the appropriate decentralized governance procedures to add additional proposal categories.
The Immutable X Ecosystem
Some of the games that the Immutable X ecosystem includes are:
Gods Unchained
Over 450,000 players have signed up for the card game Gods Unchained, which uses strategy. The former game director of the enormously popular magic card game has developed it. The game’s fantasy backdrop and the requirement that players build card decks combining various strategies give it its distinctive appeal. The GODS token powers God’s Unchained.
Guild of Guardians
In the fantasy-action role-playing game Guild of Guardians (GOG), players assemble a group of heroes to conquer dungeon tasks and win prizes. Over 300,000 players have joined the game’s massive fan base, and more than $24 million worth of NFTs have been sold. Additionally, it has formed alliances with top game development companies like Ubisoft and The Sandbox. In 2023, Guild of Guardians is expected to debut.
Illuvium
Open-world RPG adventure game Illuvium (ILV) combines play-to-earn components with traditional gaming to create a AAA production. The gameplay is set in a fantastical world in which the Illuvials play a significant role. Illuvium, one of the ecosystem’s most promising projects, combines action gameplay with classic RPG collection games.
Planet Quest
Planet Quest is a sci-fi fantasy exploration game where players have to look for a unique element called Quantum. It is earned by completing adventures and challenges and can be used to trade and purchase in-game assets. Planet Quest boasts cooperative and competitive gameplay modes.
Undead Blocks
Players in the sci-fi fantasy exploration game Planet Quest must search for a unique element called Quantum. It can be traded and used to buy in-game items. It is earned by completing quests and challenges. Both cooperative and competitive gameplay modes are available in Planet Quest.
WAGMI
Wagyu Games created the high-quality multiplayer first-person shooter known as Undead Blocks. Players can level up their characters and earn in-game assets by selecting from a variety of weapon NFTs and killing zombies. The game, which will be playable on Mac, PC, and mobile devices, promises to create a vast network of assets that users can access and buy using the UNDEAD token.
Immutable X games collected the most extensive Web3 funding of 2022 – over $900M
According to a report by Delphi Digital, Immutable X games received the most considerable amount of Web3 funding in 2022. Exclusive Immutable X games and Immutable X-based multi-chain games received funding of about $300 million and over $600 million.
Immutable X overtook Solana and Polygon with these investments to become the most financially supported Layer-2 Web3 game ecosystem in 2022. Over the year, Immutable X expanded from five games to over 100.
The Immutable X Marketplace
Users can trade their NFTs on the Immutable X protocol using the Immutable X Marketplace. It ensures that developers and users have a marketplace. It makes it easier for new content creators to get started. Developers can use the Immutable X marketplace if they cannot build their marketplace platform.
- Like most other Layer 1 marketplaces, the marketplace allows users to check information like previous transactions and their trade history.
- However, the integrated shared liquidity system and global order book enables developers of third-party marketplaces to avoid the anxiety of worrying about a shift in the volume of trading on those marketplaces.
- Therefore, all orders placed on one Marketplace will be fulfilled on another, slowing optimal price discovery for digital assets and effective and efficient bootstrapping.
What makes Immutable X Different from Others?
As mentioned earlier, Immutable X is one of the first Layer 2 solutions to use zkrollups and focus only on non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Zkrollups are increasingly crucial as a scaling solution, and the platform is leading the way in contributing to the well-known Ethereum ecosystem.
The API abstraction layer has significantly popularized Immutable X
- It enables users to connect wallets without switching networks.
- REST APIs are used to streamline blockchain interactions. Through API calls, users can create and trade NFTs without dealing with smart contracts directly.
- To create NFT products like P2E games, developers can integrate ImmutableX’s SDKs, API, and wallet.
Immutable X creates a global order book
- This enables users to trade NFTs on any ecosystem that uses their sailing tools to provide a third-party NFT marketplace.
- This suggests that orders placed in one marketplace can be quickly filled in another, increasing the volume and liquidity of NFTs.
All Ethereum wallets are supported by Immutable X
- This allows traders to buy or sell NFTs across multiple NFT-supported wallets without switching assets between networks.
- To improve the NFT-specific wallet experience, the protocol offers a middle layer called “links.” Users can experience secure trading and NFT minting without any security risks.
During high-point trading hours on Ethereum, network congestion is a problem that the solution aims to fix
- High scalability enables quick and cost-effective processing of large volumes of transactions.
- Immutable X provides NFT users with a faster and more affordable solution.
- To improve the NFT-specific wallet experience, the protocol offers a middle layer called “links.” Users can experience secure trading and NFT minting without any security risks.
The Bottom Line
Immutable X has a fascinating application in a well-defined market. The blockchain industry’s growing GameFi market is expected to gain more attention as scaling solutions for Ethereum become available. Immutable X is in a strong position technologically by utilizing StarkWare, one of the well-known names in Ethereum layer-2 scaling. The list of reputable partner projects utilizing the blockchain proves this.
Not financial advice. This article is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.