Today games and NFT platform creator Enjin said that 50 projects had joined its NFT platform since it launched JumpNet two weeks ago. When it comes to NFTs the organization is best known for helping Microsoft with its Microsoft Azure Heroes, which launched well before the current NFT craze.
JumpNet is a Proof of Authority private blockchain which operates as a sidechain bridged to Ethereum. This avoids the high gas costs on Ethereum as well as the environmental stigma of wasted energy. Apart from Microsoft using JumpNet, two major cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and OKEx have also minted NFTs on JumpNet.
“Through close collaboration with Enjin, we succeeded in the carbon-neutral NFT life cycle test on JumpNet, which was the fastest in Korea,” said Joshua Kim, CEO of Ludena Protocol. “Thanks to JumpNet, our NFT roadmap, including Ludena World’s Metaverse and avatar Luna, can now be implemented swiftly without gas fees.”
Meanwhile, Enjin recently announced that it’s building a new protocol Efinity on the Polkadot blockchain network and raised $18.9 million in a private token sale.
While Ethereum is by far the most popular public blockchain, when it comes to NFTs, it has some specialist competition, particularly from Flow and WAX. In the last cryptocurrency boom in 2017/18, Ethereum encountered scaling issues and high gas costs, making transactions too expensive. This triggered the creation of both Flow and WAX.
Flow is the blockchain founded by Dapper Labs, which launched CryptoKitties during the 2017 boom. The game almost ground Ethereum to a halt. Dapper is the creator of NBA Top Shot which has grossed more than $500 million in transactions on the Flow blockchain. The company recently raised more than $300 million and is rumored to be in the process of raising even more.
Another core blockchain protocol is WAX which stands for the World Asset eXchange (WAX). One of the companies using its platform is Topps which owns physical and digital collectible rights for numerous sports, including Major League Baseball (MLB). The WAX team was originally associated with game company Valve, known for Steam, Half Life 2 and Counter Strike MMPG, but WAX split away. Hence its original mission was around in-game items and NFTs.
Meanwhile, ConsenSys also announced Palm, which like JumpNet is an Ethereum sidechain solution for NFTs that aims to sidestep high gas costs and energy usage. Damien Hirst is selling NFTs on Palm linked to physical art.