On-chain games on Ethereum are limited by performance bottlenecks, and NFT and GameFi also require a two-tier expansion plan.
Original title: “Fundamental Insights Weekly#76”
Written by: Vivian
The popularity of NFT took over the baton of the DeFi wave last year, and the encryption community also entered the NFT Summer. However, Ethereum’s high gas fee, poor throughput, and low scalability have always made users and developers miserable. At the end of August, the gas fee of Ethereum was as high as 2000 gwei. More and more projects have been migrated to chains such as BSC.
According to the current dappradar data, DAU’s top-ranked chain game projects are basically released on the BSC chain with a lower gas fee. Among the top ten, only Axie Infinity is still on the ETH chain, but only on the specially built Ronin side chain.
Source dappradar
Immutable X: Ethereum Layer 2 is the first to focus on NFT expansion
Obviously, some of the existing limitations of Ethereum can no longer fully support the frenetic NFT and the upcoming GameFi boom. ImmutableX is a layer 2 expansion solution for NFT, GameFi and other digital collectible exchanges created by the team that developed God Unchained. Immutable X, as the first L2 solution developed for NFT on Ethereum, can provide users with:
Unlimited scalability
Instant transaction confirmation and high-quality user experience
Does not endanger the safety of user assets
Retain access to the Ethereum ecosystem and network effects
Minting and trading NFT with zero gas fee
Source: Twitter @immutable
How Immutable X works
When I mention Immutable X, I have to mention its core technology: ZK expansion plan. The ZK Rollup technology used by Immutable X was developed in cooperation with StarkWare, using StarkWare’s StarkEx validator. ZK Rollup is the abbreviation of Zero Knowledge Rollup, literally translated as zero-knowledge rollup or zero-knowledge cognition. It was first proposed by Barry Whitehat in 18 years. Rollup is the meaning of roll, where Rollup can be seen as “rolling up” thousands of off-chain transfers and generating an encrypted certificate, SNARK (SuccinctNon-interactive ARgument of Knowledge, concise non-interactive knowledge argumentation) or STARK (Scalable Transparent ARgument of Knowledge). This is also called Validity Proof, and it is in L1. Since the transaction data is in L1, this allows Rollup to have the security of L1.
ZK Rollup uses Validity proof, STARK or SNARK and a lot of complex mathematics to prove the validity of the transaction in Rollup (for more detailed technical analysis of ZK Rollup, please read Fundamental Insights Weekly#59 previously published by FL). The smart contract will disassemble and verify all transfers in a single transaction at L2, and only the Validity Proof can update the status of the transaction. Using Validity Proof means that once the proof is accepted on the chain, users can immediately confirm that these transactions are valid and unchangeable. There will be no delay when funds are transferred from layer 2 to layer 1, because ValidityProof verifies the funds . Users can withdraw money immediately. ZK Rollup technology thus optimizes the disadvantage of Optimistic Rollup with longer withdrawal time.
With ZK Rollup, when funds are transferred from layer 2 to layer 1, there will be no delay, because the validity proof accepted by the ZK Rollup contract has verified the funds.
In ZK STARK and ZK SNARK, ImmutableX has chosen the ZK-STARK encryption certification system, which enables users to share verified data with third parties or perform calculations without revealing data or calculations to third parties, so it is also called Zero Knowledge ( Zero knowledge) proof. Compared with ZK-SNARK, which requires one or more trusted parties, ZK-Stark avoids user privacy concerns. Through ZK Rollups technology, Immutable X has been able to achieve more than 9,000 NFT transactions, transfers and castings per second.
Source: medium@ImmutableX
In order to better meet the needs of gamers, the Immutable team also released the “Volition” system, allowing users to choose ZK expansion plans among Validium and ZK Rollup. The data availability of ZK Rollup remains on the chain, which meets the absolute security requirements of low-frequency large-value asset transfers. The data availability of Validium is kept off-chain, and it is characterized by high efficiency without data verification, which meets the light-asset and high-frequency transaction needs of game players.
The advantages of IMX compared to other side chains and expansion schemes
Image source: twitter @immutable
At present, there is no shortage of Polygon in the Ethereum ecology. Excellent sidechains and extension solutions such as Ronin have solved some limitations on the Ethereum main chain to varying degrees. What are the advantages of Immutable X? Side chains often have their own miners, their own consensus algorithms, and their own bridges to transfer assets between the main chains. Most of the current solutions more or less sacrifice the security and decentralization of assets to achieve the desired scalability. Because it is different from the consensus calculation of the main chain, the encryption community has been controversial about the security and de-neutralization of the side chain. The technical support of ZK Rollup makes transactions on IMX not need to leave the main chain of Ethereum through a bridge, so that users can have the same security as the main network.
Immutable ecology
Source: Medium @Immutable X
Immutable X, as an expansion plan for NFT, games and digital collections, has attracted many head projects of NFT and GameFi. As of June, in addition to the self-developed God Unchained, it has attracted the highly anticipated 3A game Iluvium, and the dungeon game Guild of Guardian, which has attracted 140,000 pre-registered players. In May of this year, Animoca Brands also announced that it will start casting NFT on Immutable X. In terms of NFT, ImmutableX also announced today that it will start in-depth cooperation with Opensea. ImmutableX has its own Marketplace, where NFTs of all projects on its chain can be freely traded on the Marketplace.
Introduction to Immutable X Star Project
God Unchained
The TCG game developed by Immutable is the first project to connect Immutable X. The overall style and gameplay of God Unchained is similar to Blizzard’s Hearthstone. As early as 19 years, God Unchained has welcomed tens of millions of dollars in financing
Illuvium
A 3A game developed by the SNX founder brothers. Illuvium is a high-profile open world RPG adventure game. Through the vast and diverse landscape, the main task of the player is to hunt and capture the god-like creatures called Illuvials, and to find the cause of the catastrophe that destroyed this land. The game is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter of this year. Although the game has not yet been launched, Iluvium has a fully circulating market value of US$5.5 billion.
Guild Of Guardian
The 3A-level RPG game developed by Stepico has attracted more than 140,000 players to register in advance. Currently, game-related NFTs are already on sale on Immutable X. The game is expected to be online in the first half of next year
Summarize
@FL : Ethereum’s existing scalability problems and congestion problems severely limit it, and also cause a large number of projects to migrate to other chains. Ethereum and users also need a solution that can increase transaction speed and reduce transaction fees while ensuring security and decentralization. Immutable X, as an Ethereum expansion solution focusing on NFT, provides a safe, reliable and efficient Ethereum L2 solution to the growing NFT community. At present, the Immutable X ecosystem is still in an early stage of development. Currently, the only online program is GodUnchain, and its market share is still low. Therefore, whether it can catch up with the popularity of NFT and GameFi remains to be seen.
Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, the articles published on this site only represent the author’s personal views, and have nothing to do with the position of ChainNews. The information, opinions, etc. in the article are for reference only, and are not intended as or regarded as actual investment advice.
