Blockchain gaming and NFT firm Enjin has launched its long-awaited Efinity parachain on Polkadot this week. The Efinity project is four years in the making and will welcome projects like Age of Rust, Lost Relics, and Microsoft’s Azure Heroes. Moreover, it aims to be the foundational layer to metaverse and blockchain gaming.
Within the Polkadot ecosystem, Efinity is a parachain. Polkadot parachains allow individual projects to create their dedicated blockchains at scale, a workaround to NFT-based platforms that often congest their network with high volumes of transactions. The move allows Enjin to start allocating resources, funding, and support for projects looking to launch NFT projects at scale.
Four years ago, Enjin introduced Efinity as a concept when the NFT industry and technology were evolving rapidly and yet to find mainstream appeal. Since then, not much has been seen or heard from the project until the first major funding came in July 2021, when it raised $19 million in a private token sale led by CRYPTO.COM Capital, DFG Group, and Hashed—followed by a $20 million public token sale through CoinList.
Arguably, Polkadot positions itself as a serious competitor to the Ethereum network through its interoperability. Along with other vital features, the Polkadot parachain platform is a compelling choice for Enjin and NFTs with Efinity. In a significant milestone for the Enjin ecosystem and the more expansive NFT space, the Efinity parachain is now live on Polkadot.
Gaming space heats up
Enjin’s announcement comes at the same time as rival platforms begin to find traction of their own. Avalanche recently announced a $290 million fund to promote NFT and DeFi dapps on its subnets, the first of which is the leading GameFi platform DeFi Kingdoms.
Additionally, Enjin says it has plans to release beta versions of its NFT.io marketplace and native wallet by the end of March. Other projects confirmed to be expanding to Efinity include Lost Relics, Dvision Network, SwissBorg, MyMetaverse, Age of Rust, and the PlayNFT Twitch plugin.
Blockchain gaming keeps growing
According to the latest DappRadar x BGA Blockchain Game Report, In February, 1.1 million Unique Active Wallets (UAW) connected daily to a blockchain game on average, accounting for 49% of the usage in the broader blockchain industry.
Despite recent global events and a shift in attention from blockchain games in the short term, game trends and patterns signal a bullish outlook. Additionally, Investments keep flowing into blockchain games and infrastructures, with $720 million raised in February and Animoca Brands becoming a leading player.
More important is perhaps that top play-to-earn and GameFi dapps have been retaining – and even expanding – their player’s base. The game category is under constant development and expansion. While trends might not be as solid as two months ago, observing a growing number of game dapps with a substantial audience is a strong growth indicator.
Why Polkadot?
Polkadot was conceived by Dr. Gavin Wood, co-founder and former CTO of Ethereum, and was designed to support the vision of a fair, secure, decentralized, and resilient web where users are in control. An idea that has now become known as Web 3.0, built on the following core principles:
- True interoperability
- Economic and transactional scalability
- Easy blockchain innovation
- Energy efficiency
- Security for everyone
- User-driven governance
Enjin is betting big on Polkadot and has chosen it as the technology stack to deliver their ambitious plans and achieve the primary goal of providing the world’s 3.1 billion gamers a home on the blockchain.
What is Efinity?
Efinity is Enjin’s decentralized vision for the foundational layer of the metaverse. The first version of Efinity focuses on core functionality and chain stability. Creators can mint up to 2,200 tokens to separate wallets per transaction, with batch transfers allowing similar numbers per transaction.
As mentioned, Efinity was fueled by the dream of providing the world’s 3.1 billion gamers a home on the blockchain. Enjin needed the blockchain to be scalable enough to support mainstream games and be infinitely expandable to deliver such a project. At the same time, it required a cross-chain system that could host any cryptocurrency or NFT out-of-the-box without the need for smart contract deployment. With Polkadot, users can move their assets onto Efinity without asking the creator’s permission.
Over 160,000 NFT creators already use the Enjin Platform, with over 100 projects committed to building on Efinity, and more to be announced. Moreover, those early adopters will be the first to receive access to Efinity via the new Enjin Platform.
Transaction fees are low to allow the team and early adopters to run tests and benchmarks without compromising security. For example, a standard NFT transfer should currently cost 0.016 EFI, or about $0.50. However, these figures will change after the first few upgrades to the chain runtime code.
What is Enjin?
In a nutshell, Enjin is software that gives developers the ability to create and manage virtual goods on the Ethereum blockchain. The core idea is that Enjin can help reduce the high fees that plague the transfer of virtual in-game goods and collectibles on the blockchain. Central to the platform is ENJ, Enjin’s native cryptocurrency, and each in-game item created on Enjin is assigned a value in ENJ.
Enjin has released software development kits (SDKs), allowing users to create digital assets on Ethereum and integrate them into games and apps. Each minted asset is customizable to fit the platform and recorded in a smart contract, giving the items the advantages of cryptocurrency: speed, cost, and security.
Efinity has already been live on Polkadot’s Rococo test network since the beginning of March—and as of today, it’s officially live as a parachain on Polkadot.
The above does not constitute investment advice. The information given here is purely for informational purposes only. Please exercise due diligence and do your research. The writer holds positions in various cryptocurrencies inc BTC, ETH, and RADAR.
