What is Immutable X: The Solution for NFT Trading on Ethereum

As non-fungible tokens (NFTs) become increasingly popular and NFT trading flourishes on blockchains, traders, NFT artists, and developers are all beginning to realize that high gas fees and congestion are making this path expensive and slow. Immutable X is a platform launched to address this issue. The Immutable X token, or IMX token, is the platform’s native crypto. The IMX token currently trades at $2.58 with a circulating supply of 235.3 million IMX for an Immutable X market cap of $516 million.

What Is Immutable X?

Immutable X is a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum with a particular focus on non-fungible tokens (NFTs). With a team specializing in NFT creation and management, Immutable X looks to facilitate the building and managing of NFT applications, NFT marketplaces, and blockchain games on Ethereum. It does this by providing a scalable solution which enables fast transaction speeds and no gas fees for NFTs, as well as the back-end technology to allow simple and fast NFT minting and management on the Immutable X marketplace. This means that NFTs not currently on Ethereum can be reminted quickly and cheaply onto the blockchain through Immutable X.

Immutable X was originally an Australian company known as “Fuel Games,” which was a platform responsible for some of the first successful blockchain games, including God’s Unchained. In 2019, Fuel Games rebranded as “Immutable” and began offering the technology for developers to create NFTs, NFT applications, and blockchain games on their Immutable X marketplace and platform. Despite this rebranding in 2019, however, it was not until April 2021 that “Immutable” became “Immutable X.” This came from the team’s recognition of Ethereum’s scalability issues, which in turn led it to a partnership with Israeli tech company, StarkWare. With this new partnership, Immutable X was able to create a fast platform to mint and manage NFTs on Ethereum with 0 gas fees, thereby rounding out its business proposition and providing a crucial service to NFT and NFT application developers.

Immutable X Marketplace

Immutable X has a truly valuable proposition when it comes to NFTs. Thanks to it having addressed Ethereum’s scalability issues, Immutable X offers:

• Easy-to-make Immutable X NFTs: The team behind Immutable X has a huge amount of experience in minting NFTs, with their previous blockchain game, God’s Unchained, minting 20 million NFTs in 3 days. Thanks to this, the team has the skills and knowledge required to make NFT creation as easy and quick as possible.
• Scalability for Immutable X NFTs: By partnering with StarkWare, all developers using Immutable X can benefit from fast speeds and no gas fees, while still benefiting from Ethereum’s security.
• Widely accessible Immutable X NFTs: The Immutable X marketplace and platform enables easy integration with other websites through its software development kits (SDKs), meaning that developers can easily access the code to build their NFTs on Immutable X and then use them on other platforms. Additionally, Immutable X’s use of the largest blockchain for decentralized applications (DApps), the Ethereum protocol, means that there is easy compatibility with all other DApps running on Ethereum.

In addition to its value proposition as a scalable NFT minting, trading, and management platform, Immutable X is a green platform. The Immutable X crypto, its platform, and entire ecosystem are partnered with Trace and Cool Effect to offset their carbon emissions. This aspect will be further enhanced when Ethereum finally removes its reliance on mining by launching its Ethereum 2.0 proof-of-stake (PoS) architecture.

Immutable X is a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum with a particular focus on NFTs. (Source: Immutable X homepage)

How Does Immutable X Work?

Immutable X benefits from the forward thinking and streamlined technology of its partner, StarkWare. By implementing StarkWare’s technology and making use of Immutable’s experience and knowledge in the NFT and gaming sectors, Immutable X has been able to increase its scalability, gaining transaction speeds of 9,000 TPS, thereby far outpacing other NFT minting and management platforms. Additionally, Immutable X aims to draw in users and partnerships through its carbon neutrality, low gas fees, easy-to-use interface, and more. It accomplishes this through the following:

• StarkWare ZK-rollup solution: To achieve its scalability, Immutable X uses StarkWare’s ZK-rollups, which take hundreds of transactions off the layer 1 mainnet, verify them on layer 2, and then roll them up into one transaction. Following this, the rollups use proof of validity to post this one transaction (with hundreds of transactions inside) onto the Ethereum mainnet. This means that instead of processing one transaction in a set period of time, Ethereum will use the same time to process hundreds of transactions. Through this, StarkWare’s ZK rollups can momentously increase speed and lower gas fees on the network.
• StarkEX: To further improve scalability, Immutable X uses the StarkEX layer-2 scalability engine, which uses “zero knowledge proofs” to prove information is true without ever revealing the information it is verifying. This means less processes, which streamlines the procedure and therefore scalability. Additionally, using StarkEX increases security as less information is revealed.
• Immutable X marketplace: Users can browse all the NFTs available on the platform, see their individual prices, and compare the Immutable X rarity features for each NFT. Users can also trade NFTs on the marketplace without custodial risk, allowing for greater ease and trust in the system. The Immutable X platform takes a 2% fee for each primary NFT trade on its platform; however, these are lower than other NFT trading platforms, including OpenSea’s. Additionally, the platform charges an integration fee, but in exchange offers benefits such as allowing users to set their own custom royalty fees.
• Shared global order book: Through this shared order book, orders made on one Immutable X integrated marketplace can be filled on another. This adds liquidity to both the platform itself and its integrated NFT marketplaces, allows for greater price visibility for users, and helps connect more NFT marketplaces, developers, and traders for a larger Immutable X ecosystem.
• IMX Link: An intermediary layer to connect any Ethereum wallet to Immutable X. Through this, any Immutable X user can mint, buy, or sell their NFT with added security. This link and the acceptance of the security message will become the user’s StarkKey, which in turn will be used as the user’s signature for any NFT trade on the platform.
• Immutable X crypto (IMX): IMX is the platform’s native currency and is used for fees, running the network, and developing the ecosystem.

The IMX market is growing every day. (Source: Immutable X market)

Does Immutable X Have a Token?

The IMX Token

The Immutable-X platform’s native token is the IMX token, an ERC-20 utility token run on the Ethereum network. There is a max supply of 2 billion IMX token with a token distribution as follows:

• 51.74% for the development of the ecosystem, including user rewards, developer grants, liquidity provision, marketing purposes.
• 25% for project developments.
• 14.26% is allocated to private sales.
• 5% is allocated to public sales.
• 4% is allocated to the ecosystem’s development-related initiatives, such as liquidity provision.

The IMX token has three main functionalities:

• Fees: 20% of all the fees paid on Immutable X are paid in IMX crypto.
• Staking: IMX holders can stake their IMX crypto in exchange for a percentage of the fees. In staking their IMX, users are contributing to the Immutable X ecosystem.
• Governance: As a decentralized platform, IMX holders have a vote in the platform’s governance proposals.

VeVe on IMX

A great example of how Immutable X is increasing NFT usage on Ethereum is the recent move by NFT platform VeVe to Immutable X (and thus to Ethereum). VeVe is a marketplace for NFTs that specializes in partnerships with huge entertainment brands, including Disney, Marvel, DC Comics, Warner Bros, and more. With over 1 million monthly active users and NFT sales of over $2.6 million, the VeVe platform is a big partnership for Immutable X, while Veve on IMX has meant a leap toward progress for the VeVe platform. Speaking about the partnership, Immutable X co-founder, Robbie Ferguson, stated:

“VeVe switching to Immutable’s Ethereum-based scaling platform proves that scale, user experience, and carbon impact no longer have to be a trade-off with the security and liquidity of the world’s most popular blockchain. We’re thrilled to help create a scalable way for millions of people to use Ethereum’s open ecosystem.”

Previously operating on the GoChain blockchain as a G020 token, VeVe’s native OMI token migrated to Ethereum’s ERC-20 token on January 27, 2022. This happened thanks to Immutable X’s ability to offer the platform an improved interface, 0 gas fees, and increased scalability, speed, and security on the Ethereum blockchain. The Immutable X VeVe partnership on Ethereum has meant that there will be increased Immutable X NFT transactions on the blockchain, which in turn will attract more investors and developers to both Ethereum and Immutable X.

VeVe on IMX is not the only NFT platform partnership with Immutable X to bring more NFTs to Ethereum. Others include Moody Crows on Immutable X, Mutant Apes, Christmas Punks NFTs and more — all of which can be found on the Immutable X marketplace. Additionally, the dedicated Immutable X rarity platform, which is the most accurate NFT rarity tracker for the IMX platform, offers prospective buyers an insight into current and new NFTs to be launched on the IMX market.

VeVe’s partnership with Immutable X and Ethereum starts what is hoped to be a new era of NFT expansion on Ethereum. (Source: altcoinbuzz.io)

IMX Crypto Price History and Analysis

Immutable X started off on good financial footing, with Fuel Games/Immutable having raised $60 million in 2021 through a Series B funding round specifically for the launch of Immutable X, while its partner StarkWare had already been valued at $2 billion in November 2021. This combination of financial backing, revolutionary technology, know-how, and entering the NFT market at a time when NFT trading was seeing a spike of 21,000%, meant that the Immutable X token price saw a rapid surge. Following the Immutable X air drop and the release of the IMX token onto the market in late 2021, the price shot up to $5.13, while 20 days later, on the 26th of November 2021, IMX reached its all-time high of $9.50.

IMX token price graph Nov 2021 – March 2022. (Source: coinmarketcap)

In 2022, IMX has seen quite a different pattern, although its token price has remained above its initial launch value. Following its all-time high in late November 2021, IMX succumbed to the effects of the 2022 bear market, with threats of taxation and regulation on crypto assets driving its value down to lows of $1.11 at the beginning of March. Having said that, however, the Immutable X price saw some steady growth throughout the remainder of March, increasing from $1.11 to $2.58 in 21 days.

You can now trade IMX

What is the Future of Immutable X?

As the first layer-2 scaling solution for NFTs on Ethereum, Immutable X is filling a true gap and need in the market. NFTs have exploded in value and trading volume over 2021 and into 2022, and the world’s largest and most popular blockchain for DApps, Ethereum, simply cannot cope with the volume and consequently cannot offer reasonable gas fees. This is because Ethereum’s current proof-of-work (PoW) architecture is only able to process 10-15 transactions per second (TPS). Immutable X addresses these issues by offering scalability, with up to 9,000 TPS, and no gas fees when minting and trading NFTs. Additionally, it does this all while still retaining Ethereum’s security and compatibility across multiple DApps. Because of this, Immutable X is the leading layer-2 scaling solution for NFTs on Ethereum — something which makes it a magnet for NFT platforms looking for scalability, security, and lower costs.

Immutable X has strong financial backing, with the likes of Naspers, Nirvana Capital, and more. (Source: Immutable X homepage)

Immutable X has already seen big investment and sponsorship from the likes of Coinbase and Nirvana Capital, as well as a steady stream of NFT partnerships, including VeVe on IMX and Moody Crows on Immutable X. As partnerships continue to grow, the IMX price will undoubtedly continue to rise. Moreover, Immutable X may soon tap into a whole other sector, with its integration of TikTok NFTs on its platform. As Meta, or Facebook, looks to launch its Instagram platform into the realm of NFTs, as well as enter the Metaverse in a big way, a new door is opening in the NFT space. With Immutable X having made itself a solid platform on the world’s largest DApp and NFT blockchain, as well as the fact that it has experience in minting millions of NFTs in a matter of days, it’s a possibility that Immutable X will benefit from social media’s entrance into the space — something which would positively affect the Immutable X price.

There are two aspects that could threaten Immutable X’s success:

• Competition: As developers explore Immutable X’s technology, many will try to imitate it or expand upon it. If the IMX platform is not able to keep up with competition, the Immutable X price may ultimately suffer.
• Ethereum 2.0: As Ethereum becomes more scalable with the launch of its Ethereum 2.0, which will use the faster and cheaper PoS consensus mechanism, will Immutable X’s proposition become less important, and thus less attractive to partners and investors?

The future of Immutable X and its IMX token price is hard to determine, but as it stands, it offers leading technology and addresses a real issue in the NFT space. Moreover, its financial backing and possibilities to take on part of what will most likely be an explosion of NFTs as social media enters the space, means the Immutable X price should stay healthy.