Layer 2 Protocol: Immutable X

By using Immutable X, users can trade Ethereum NFTs instantly with confirmations within seconds, have huge scalability (9,000 transactions per second), and pay no gas fees. Immutable X wants to make it easier to trade traditional digital assets and mint NFTs.

Rather than competing with the Ethereum blockchain, Immutable X is a layer 2 scaling solution that leverages the power and security of it. Here is what Immutable X has to offer its users.

Security: #

When users join this protocol, no action is required of them, it’s very simple and they can use their existing digital wallet. Your existing wallet generates the private key needed to power this protocol. Hence, you can use popular wallets such as MetaMask, or any other solution you wish.

Liquidity: #

What is blockchain liquidity? With the blockchain, it is always possible to buy and sell assets at a reasonable price. This is made possible by Immutable X. In addition, Immutable makes it possible to create virtual fungible markets based on any subset of a token’s characteristics, thereby maximizing liquidity. 

You can search for assets using single terms, such as Rare, Quail, or just VeeFriends NFT, if you have a Rare Quick Quail VeeFriends NFT. 

At the same time, you can list your assets on all the different markets based on those specific traits.

By listing your assets on all of these markets simultaneously, you can achieve the highest price and most liquidity. You can now buy exactly what you want at the cheapest price and with maximum liquidity, if you’re a buyer.

Scalability: #

If you want scalability on the blockchain, you are either sacrificing overall security, or you are moving away from decentralization.

As a result, Immutable X and StarkWare have teamed up to enable massive batching of trades off-chain, with users signing in, and being put on-chain in a single proof that essentially compresses those trades into a single transaction at a fixed gas cost, which Immutable X pays.

Immutable X users pay zero gas fees for trading NFTs, and you pay zero gas fees as a developer as well.

The issue with Side-chains #

There is a problem with side-chains in that they are not decentralized. As few as five central operators use their own consensus algorithms in many of these systems. The security properties of decentralization are usually loosened to achieve throughput. 

As a result, if World of Warcraft was to bring their community to the blockchain, it would need to be secure. Without security, asset theft may happen. Ultimately, your assets are only as secure as the consensus mechanism at the side-chain. Therefore, Immutable X sits on top of the Ethereum mainchain; it’s simply more secure.

How does Immutable X work? #

X is immutable because it uses a ZK Rollup, which takes thousands of off-chain trades, creates a proof that these trades were all valid (owners of the assets signed the trades), and publishes that proof on chain, where it is verified by a smart contract.

During this process, user assets on the chain are held in the smart contract and released only after a valid proof containing the assets has been published.

The use of Immutable X for buying, selling, and creating NFTS has several advantages. The following are some of the top reasons why you may want to use Immutable X:

• Peer-to-peer trading with no gas fees
• You can set your own trading fees
• Private keys are kept by users
• Thousands of transactions per second (TPS)
• L2 decentralization
• Ethereum blockchain is used to secure the transaction
• 100% carbon neutral

How much does Immutable X cost? #

Immutable X is free to use regardless of whether you are a developer or a consumer. However, outside applications are still able to charge their own fees by default. As a result, Immutable X can always support these use cases on different platforms.

This sounds great, but how about trading NFTs on other platforms like OpenSea or Rarible? Immutable X gives users the flexibility to trade wherever they want and whatever they want.

At this point, Ethereum is the blockchain that is most decentralized, has the most developer and community support, and is the chain from which nearly every ICO is derived.

In the end, Immutable X created a solution that does not compete with Ethereum but instead is built on top of it, ensuring that users can still take advantage of all the benefits of Ethereum’s main chain.