What is Immutable X?

GameStop chose Ethereum scaling solution Immutable X for its NFT marketplace. Find out why in our “What is Immutable X?” guide.

COVERED:

What is Immutable X?
Who Created Immutable X?
How it Works?
What is IMX?
Concerns

WHAT IS IMMUTABLE X?

Immutable X is an Ethereum-based blockchain platform, which has been specifically designed for NFT-based projects and token-driven video games. It is a layer 2 (L2) scaling protocol for NFTs on Ethereum. It enables transactions at lightning-fast speeds, with low computing power and a lower environmental impact. It enables instant trading and zero gas fees for trading and minting, in addition to added security features inherited from Ethereum. It takes hundreds of thousands of transactions on its own blockchain and then commits them to Ethereum through rollup.

Videogame retailing giant GameStop along with its huge marketplace as a platform for buying and selling in-game assets has partnered with Immutable X for its non-fungible token(NFT) marketplace. Both these companies have also established a fund worth $100 million that is focused on NFT gaming to support creators of NFT content. This fund is in the form of Immutable’s IMX tokens that will support the developers who are willing to launch their gaming NFT projects on the marketplace.

WHO CREATED IT?

Immutable X was created by an Australia-based company called Immutable. Robbie Ferguson is the co-founder and current CEO of Immutable. The purpose behind Immutable X is to tap into the massive potential of blockchain-based gaming, and NFTs, by offering a unique L2 solution to the problems faced by the Ethereum network. Gods Unchained, which is a popular trading card game, is the first game to utilize Immutable X to launch on Ethereum.

Robbie Ferguson explains the vision behind Immutable X, and its partnership with Gamestop by saying “Until now, developers have been challenged to create in-game items that players can truly own due to prohibitive (Ethereum) gas fees. By building on Immutable X, GameStop is seeking to tap into Ethereum’s dominant and open ecosystem of NFTs, creating massive opportunities for participation and liquidity. This is a huge leap forward for the gaming industry and blockchain”

Recommended: Here’s The Latest On Ecomi Moving To Immutable-X

HOW IT WORKS

Immutable X is a blockchain specifically built to accommodate the transaction of NFTs on Ethereum. It promises faster transactions with zero fees. It achieves its purpose by utilizing StarkWare’s zero-knowledge rollups (ZK-Rollups). It uses zero-knowledge proofs to conduct transactions on GameStop’s NFT marketplace. Basically what this allows is for third parties to validate transactions without them knowing every single bit of the data. It is the main reason behind the network’s increased scalability and decreased gas fees without compromising user custody.

The project employs the use of ZK-Rollups, L2 Scaling. This means that a large number of transactions are batched together into one single transaction. Each individual transaction can then individually be verified by smart contracts. However, as the name indicates, ‘zero knowledge’ of the complete transaction data is required in order for the transaction to be validated. This greatly reduces the computational power and storage required to validate blocks, thus massively enhancing scalability. Immutable X allows more than 9,000 NFT trades, mints, and transfers per second.

Immutable is also the developer of the digital card game “Gods Unchained” and “Guild of Guardians” which are NFT-based games and use the “play-to-earn” model. NFTs represent in-game items. An NFT behaves like ownership for a particular digital item. This allows the player to trade their items outside an approved marketplace, as they have the real ownership of their in-game items. A popular example of this concept is the Ethereum-based game, “Axie Infinity.” It has monsters and land plots as tradable NFTs. The in-game economy is run by NFTs and cryptocurrency that can be converted into real money for the players.

Similarly, Gods Unchained incorporates Immutable X in its operation as the players can buy and sell their digital goods. Immutable X has its own marketplace known as the Immutable X exchange. Furthermore, the NFTs created by the players can be sold on other marketplaces as well.

WHAT IS IMX TOKEN?

IMX is the native token of the Immutable X protocol. Users can stake, vote, and pay transaction fees via IMX tokens. 20% of the protocol fee must be paid in IMX tokens. Likewise, the tokens that are received as a part of the fee capture mechanism are sent to the staking reward pool, thereby rewarding the qualified stakers proportionally.

The users who hold IMX tokens also have the right to vote on token-related proposals through decentralized governance. These proposals may include certain topics like how to allocate token reserves, voting on developer grants, daily reward activation, or changes in token supply. However it should be noted that Immutable X is not a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) yet, and the final decisions about the future development of the project remain with the team.

At the time of writing, IMX has a circulating supply of more than 225,684,001 tokens. The maximum and total token supply is 2,000,000,000 IMX tokens, which makes it a deflationary currency.

Concerns

Immutable X’s utility and purpose lie within the field of NFTs. NFTs have seen a huge boom in 2021, and the future role of NFTs in many different fields is undoubtable. That also means that there is huge competition in this space. Companies like Enjin, are already well-established in the NFT space. It remains to be seen whether or not Immutable X will be able to carve out a place for itself in the NFT space.

The other important function of Immutable X is to provide a scaling solution for Ethereum. Although it may seem to be a useful, and purposeful solution to the problems faced by the users on Ethereum, the only question is, till when? Ethereum is working on its upgrade to Ethereum 2.0, and if the update successfully solves the problems faced by the network, then scaling solutions like Immutable X, and Polygon may be out of business.

Where To Buy IMX?

You can purchase IMX through KuCoin exchange, similar to how you would buy another cryptocurrency. You can either place a market buy or a limit buy. With a limit buy, you determine the price you are willing to pay, and your order gets filled once the token price reaches your limit price. If you want to get your hands on the token quickly, you can place a market order, where you agree to pay the current price and have your order filled almost immediately. If you are interested in purchasing IMX, you can do so by visiting KuCoin.