A partnership between web3 gaming platform Immutable and Ethereum scaling blockchain protocol Polygon Labs is aiming to transform gaming.
Together, games building on Immutable and Polygon received close to $2 billion in investor funding in 2022, making this a partnership that is widely expected to have a significant impact.
Immutable’s platform products and Polygon’s zero-knowledge technology will together look to accelerate digital ownership for gamers worldwide.
“Billions of dollars of skins are sold each year with no rights for players – we’re changing that so players are in control, and ownership is the expectation,” said Robbie Ferguson, Immutable president and co-founder.
Polygon’s zkEVM technology claims to significantly lower transaction processing times and fees.
“By combining the #1 web3 gaming platform – currently serving hundreds of game studios and millions of players – with Polygon’s zkEVM technology, we are building an Ethereum-centric gaming ecosystem that is poised to take web3 mainstream and bring digital ownership to millions of people around the world,” added Ferguson.
Polygon Labs, a development and growth team, works with legendary studios and publishers such as Final Fantasy creator Square Enix as well as eSports teams and streamers like Cloud9 and Dr Disrespect.
Polygon has experienced an enormous increase in usage with a 94% increase in activity from 2021 to 2022.
Immutable has also experienced massive growth, with more than 140 new titles built on the platform including brands such as DC Comics, TikTok, Marvel, Warner Bros Discovery Sports, and IP from Disney and Star Wars through Ecomi.
Last month it partnered with gaming giant Unity to provide millions of game developers seamless access to Web3 gaming.
“Partnering with Immutable is a monumental step forward in our mission to empower developers and enable users to truly own their in-game assets. By leveraging Immutable’s top world-class gaming platform, game development becomes seamless, allowing for the creation of rich and unique gaming experiences” said Ryan Wyatt, president of Polygon Labs.
Cryptocurrency shorts
Pixelcraft Studios, the creator of metaverse game Aavegotchi, has raised $30m in a multi-year token sale with no venture capital or investor participation. The studio will receive 25% of the funds while the protocol’s decentralised autonomous organised (DAO) treasury will receive the remaining $22.5m.
Indian social gaming startup WinZO has announced a $50m fourth fund to invest in the global gaming ecosystem.
Twitter’s Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index, which produces a score for overall market sentiment by combining data such as volatility, market momentum and volume, social media and Google Trends, is well into the ‘greed’ zone and currently stands at 68 – its highest level since Bitcoin’s all-time high of over $69,000.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – a potential Republican presidential candidate – proposes to ban Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) in the state with legislation which “will protect Florida consumers and businesses from the reckless adoption of a centralised digital dollar which will stifle innovation and promote government-sanctioned surveillance”.
TONcoin.Fund, an incubator and accelerator for The Open Network (TON) – which aims to unite all blockchains and Web2 internet into one open network – has raised $1.5m seed funding for Megaton Finance, an automated market maker decentralised exchange (AMM-DEX).
Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the 22,900 coins is at $1.16 trillion at the time of writing (7am UK), a 0.8% decrease in the last 24 hours.
For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.