NFT marketplace OpenSea plans to start supporting the use of the Layer 2 scaling solution Immutable X.
This was revealed in a press release, in which it was stated that as a result of the integration of Immutable X, OpenSea users would enjoy a “gas-free trading experience without sacrificing the security of the Ethereum network,” as declared by the head of product at OpenSea, Nate Chastain.
“We’re rolling this out not only to better support existing Immutable X projects but for future game developers and players on OpenSea who will benefit from this scaling solution,” Chastain mentioned.
What Is Immutable?
Immutable is an Australian company that aims to create a more accessible and seamless trading platform. It is supported by several important investors, such as Apex Capital Partners, Galaxy Digital, and Naspers Ventures.
Immutable X represents the first layer-2 scaling solution for NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain that has instant trade confirmation and high scalability. The company claims that it can provide more than 9,000 transactions per second while also asking for no gas fees. It is believed that the protocol will go live in April or May.
Layer 2 solutions are supposed to help scale applications and thus handle transactions off the Ethereum blockchain – in this context, it is called a Layer 1 network. In regards to NFTs, the tokens can become highly expensive to move or trade on-chain. Basically, the teams that are building layer 2 solutions aim to create minting and trading processes that are faster, trustless, and more scalable.
There is more than one solution, of course, and one of them is the NFT-specifics such as Dapper Labs’ Flow, but also sidechains such as Matic and Ronin, state channels, and plasma channels. Immutable X is viewed as being a “ZK-rollup,” which relies on validity proof. What this means is that once a cryptographic proof is accepted on-chain, users will get an instant confirmation that the transaction is valid and immutable.
Immutable has revealed in a blog post that, regarding NFTs, users will be allowed to withdraw instantly and nobody can attack the system, no matter how many funds are going to go through the system. ZK-rollups want to speed things up and increase the number of transactions that can be made in a certain time period.