Kinguin isn’t the only platform that sees its future with Immutable X
Kinguin and Immutable X announced a partnership today that will see the web2 company build a new NFT marketplace on the layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution. Immutable X is already the blockchain of choice for many large brands as it offers zero gas fees, instant trades and carbon-neutral transactions.
Summary
- Kinguin is an well-established digital games and software web shop. It will now use the Immutable X network as it looks to build a future in web3.
- Immutable X is an Australian-based company that launched in Alpha this March. It’s a layer-2 scaling solution for NFTs on Ethereum that brings down costs and energy consumption associated with blockchain technology.
- Kinguin’s new NFT marketplace will focus on gamers, as the company looks to tap into the blockchain gaming industry. In 2022 already, investments worth $4.5 billion have poured into the sector.
Game marketplace Kinguin has announced that it’s building an NFT marketplace on the Immutable X blockchain. With 10 million customers and a decade of marketplace experience, it looks like a good move from Kinguin as the internet looks to evolve and take advantage of new technology.
Kinguin isn’t the only platform that views Immutable X as a network that offers the right environment on which it can build a good product. Other organizations, with huge reach in the entertainment, gaming and online industries, have also selected the layer-2 solution as their network of choice.
The new marketplace
Kinguin and Immutable X only made the announcement yesterday so not every detail has been fleshed out. But here’s what we know so far:
- This will be a marketplace for gamers. Given Kinguin’s web2 platform is already game-centric, it makes sense that its new web3 marketplace will have a similar offering. Kinguin will offer NFT gaming cards, in-game items, avatars and avatar skins for trading.
- The platform is a collaboration between Immutable X and Kinguin but will be powered by Stakeware. Starkware is a permissionless decentralized ZK-Rollup. In layman’s terms, this allows transactions to be bundled and executed off-chain. The batch of transactions is then delivered to the blockchain (in this case Ethereum) in a more efficient group. It reduces costs and energy.
- Kinguin will most likely leverage the list of blockchain games already built on Immutable X. These include Gods Unchained, Guild of Guardians and Highrise. Expect to see in-game items from these titles and more appear on Kinguin’s NFT marketplace from the start. Games like Ember Sword and Illuvium are just around the corner.
What is Kinguin?
Kinguin launched in 2013 as a third-party online platform where people can buy game and software codes at huge discounts. Other digital products are also available in a marketplace where Kinguin acts as the middleman, providing a space for trades to take place.
Products on Kinguin haven’t always come from the most reputable of traders. Especially during the platform’s early days, lots of items were stolen and resold. But as time has passed, the market has become more transparent. People are now more certain that they’re not buying misappropriated goods.
The Immutable X blockchain
Immutable X is one of the leading carbon-neutral layer-2s currently building on Ethereum. It announced on March 7th, 2022, that it had secured $200 million in Series C funding led by Temasek. Animoca Brands, a leading web3 VC, and Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent are also backing the network. The company is now valued at $2.5 billion; and lots of recognizable brands are making it their network of choice on which to build their products.
The current list of companies building on Immutable X represents a who’s who of major players in the web2 and web3 spaces. GameStop, TikTok, OpenSea, GreenPark Sports and Gary Vee (Vee Friends) are all creating products on Immutable X.
In addition to these projects, VeVe is also building on Immutable X as a way to scale its app and grow its user base beyond the 300,000 users it already has. The mobile-first digital collectible platform enables NFT trades for the likes of Marvel, DC, Disney, Star Wars, Givenchy, Coca-Cola and Pixar.
Today’s news that Kinguin is building on Immutable X comes at a good time for layer-2 network, coming amid the ongoing turmoil in the cryptocurrency and NFT market. The Immutable X native token, IMX, has suffered through the same tribulations this week as every other currency. But in the past 24 hours, the token is up 17.6% and in the past one hour alone, is up 3.1%.
Despite these good numbers, that may or may not be linked to the Kinguin news, the IMX token is down 39.5% over the past week and down 51.5% over the past 30 days.
