Ornella Hernandez

Digital collectibles startup Immutable is doubling down on its layer-2 blockchain scaling solution for NFTs in a bid to better enforce royalty payouts, the company said Friday.&nbsp;



It plans to expand how the unit, ImmutableX, works by including all Ethereum-based NFTs, plus other blockchains compatible with the Ethereum virtual machine (EVM), via a whitelist for smart contracts that honor royalty fees overseen by Immutable users, as well as a corresponding blacklist.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/nft-royalties-sometimes-they-work-sometimes-they-dont/">How NFT Royalties Work – And Sometimes Don’t</a>



The new setup includes NFTs stemming from popular blockchain-based games on the platform, such as the role-playing game Illuvium and trading card-focused Gods Unchained.



GameStop’s first NFT marketplace, meanwhile, went live on ImmutableX Oct 31., after debuting a public beta in July. The marketplace now offers in-game NFT assets from Web3 games built on ImmutableX.&nbsp;



Blockworks caught up with Alex Connolly, one of Immutable’s three Australia-based founders, at the NFT London conference this week to learn more.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Blockworks: Immutable has already implemented enforceable royalties. How are you taking this a step further?



Connolly: Immutable is expanding royalty enforcement to all NFT projects — games or not — on Ethereum, so users can choose to opt in or not if they want to protect royalties in this fashion.



Enforcing royalties has been a consistent challenge for games. It works on Immutable’s application-specific rollup, but as soon as you want to do an Ethereum drop with royalties — or a drop on any sort of EVM chain with royalties — then, suddenly, no one&#8217;s royalties are enforceable.



The way the ERC-721 token standard works makes it extremely difficult to enforce royalties on a public blockchain. And, basically, what we announced today was that we have a novel design for how to do it with the same degree of enforceability on a public chain.



Blockworks: Can you go into what an application-specific roll up is and how it differs from a general <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zk-rollups-future-of-smart-contract-blockchains">zero-knowledge rollup (zk rollup)</a>?



Connolly: There are two types of zero-knowledge rollups. The first-generation ones are application specific because they have fixed functionality. So, it&#8217;s quite easy to program in — you have to pay your royalties. But, when you have smart contract-enabled zk rollups, like&nbsp; <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/polygon-and-matter-labs-compete-on-zkevm-rollups/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">zkEVM</a> or <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/starkware-l3s-and-the-zk-rollup-future-eli-ben-sasson/id1554930038?i=1000581394246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">StarkWare</a>, suddenly you lose that functionality.



Our goal is to be able to offer both types of rollups to our customers. So, you can either use an application-specific rollup and get lots of great dedicated performance. Or you can use a more general rollup.&nbsp;



But up until now, our customers that went with a more general rollup were choosing to give up enforceable royalties. Now, we&#8217;re in a position to say, “Hey, we can make your royalties enforceable, no matter where you are.”



Blockworks: What do you think of NFT marketplaces that have gone royalty optional?



Connolly: The problem with marketplaces at the moment is that the only option that exists on public blockchains is not enforceable. So, up until now, it&#8217;s just been a sort of a goodwill thing if marketplaces have left it on.



There was almost $2 billion in royalties paid to creators last year. With $2 billion of income from streaming, you can build a business around that. If you&#8217;re a game, you can redesign your economy around that and your monetization can change.&nbsp;



But to go from that to the possibility that you might actually get $0? That is a huge swing that is totally untenable for most creators.



Blockworks: Let’s talk about the GameStop NFT marketplace adding support for ImmutableX and its progress so far.&nbsp;



Connolly: I&#8217;d say, due to the success of the GameStop [NFT marketplace] launch, we&#8217;re firmly second behind Ethereum in terms of NFT volume on-chain. And we think that there&#8217;s still a ton left to do, including some user experience things that still need to be ironed out.&nbsp;



GameStop has really invested in making this partnership, and their marketplace, extremely successful, because they want to reinvent their business model and find new sources of revenue. It&#8217;s fantastic to see such a major brand really going in on Web3.



Blockworks: Over a dozen new games have recently been added to ImmutableX. What are the main selling points?



Connolly: The thing that probably sets us apart more is we are really focused on gaming. A lot of our competitors sometimes have a marketing campaign to target gaming, but there&#8217;s no product that&#8217;s in any way actually better for gamers.



We are such strong believers that Web3 games will be a dominant force in gaming, but also that the solutions gaming needs are not the solutions the art market needs.&nbsp;



When you have tens of millions of people trading swords inside a game, it&#8217;s very different to people trading a $10 million digital art piece. They need different technology and they need different experiences.&nbsp;



So, why even announce the royalties enforcement? Because we care about games being sustainably successful.



This interview was edited for length and clarity.



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Q&A: Immutable’s Alex Connolly on Protecting NFT Creator Royalties

Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_62e12376cc821" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Immutable&#8217;s CEO reportedly told employees the startup is in a “fantastic position&#8221; just before layoffs</li>
 <li>He told Blockworks last month that GameFi projects aren’t affected by the wider crypto market downturn</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Australia-based blockchain startup <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/immutable/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Immutable</a> has laid off 20 employees, including senior staff members with core knowledge of its popular <a href="https://www.blockworksresearch.com/assets/gods/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">game</a> Gods Unchained.



The layoffs, which represent 6% of the firm’s workforce, were announced at an all-hands meeting on Monday run by CEO James Ferguson and chief studio officer Justin Hulog, <a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/crypto-star-immutable-creator-of-nft-game-gods-unchained-lays-off-over-20-staff/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNET reported</a>.



A big chunk of the job cuts affected staff who worked on Gods Unchained. Sources told CNET the project was “gutted.” Members still working on the NFT-powered trading card game are either junior employees or C-suite executives.



Immutable staff on leave were reportedly requested to attend 24 hours before the meeting took place on Google Meet.



In the 30-minute session, Ferguson reportedly reassured employees about the company’s “fantastic position.”&nbsp;



Each employee then had a 15-minute conversation with the company’s human resources department alongside their manager, during which they were informed if they had lost their job.&nbsp;



Employees had the option to apply for other roles within the company, but sources told CNET the open roles weren’t suitable for those let go. Employees not wanting to apply for other positions within Immutable were asked to leave on Tuesday.



Immutable’s layoffs come about two months after Ferguson said the startup was <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/now-is-not-the-time-to-take-our-foot-off-the-pedal-says-immutable-co-founder/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">on a hiring spree</a> and planned to boost its headcount from 170 to 400. “Now is not the time to take our foot off the pedal,” he told Blockworks in early June. It currently has 280 employees.



In relation to the recent layoffs, an Immutable spokesperson said the company “made the decision to conduct a small reorganization within Gods Unchained,” but didn’t specify the exact number laid off.



The company is still hiring for positions in Immutable Studios, Gods Unchained, Guild of Guardians and Immutable X, they told Blockworks via email.



“This was a difficult choice and one that was made after thoughtful review. We hate to lose members of our team and will ensure a smooth transition for those affected by the reorganization,” the spokesperson added.



<h3>Gods Unchained and GameFi not immune to bear markets</h3>



Major cryptocurrency firms including <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-cut-workforce-ceo-wary-of-potential-recession/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/gemini-exchange-cuts-workforce-for-second-time-in-2-months-report/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gemini</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/blockfi-initiates-voluntary-separation-program-to-further-trim-headcount/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BlockFi</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-cutting-5-of-workforce-amid-digital-asset-downturn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crypto.com</a> have laid off a sizable number of employees — collectively reaching into the thousands — citing an uncertain macroeconomic environment and potential recession.



Immutable’s CEO previously said companies involved in blockchain gaming are fundamentally uncorrelated to the broader crypto industry, a sentiment that many in GameFi have echoed.



Michael Anderson, co-founder of crypto VC firm Framework Ventures, told Blockworks in an interview that giving users solid incentives to play is one of the major obstacles to GameFi’s success.



“How do you incentivize people to come into this world if it&#8217;s just you building something that is a game that I could have played on my phone without NFTs?” he said.&nbsp;



“I don&#8217;t think that the activation energy to move over to this ecosystem is high enough, and so there has to be some additional carrot.”



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Gods Unchained Developer Slashes Staff Despite Hiring Spree Hype

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_62bf2533b47ae" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Metamask operations lead set to join the BitDAO ecosystem</li>
 <li>Abra and Bitpanda cut jobs while Kraken still on the hunt for talent</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The global head of business development for <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/9869818Z:US" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Citadel Securities</a> is set to lead the company’s joint venture focused on increasing investor access to crypto, Bloomberg News <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-28/citadel-securities-nazarali-leaves-to-run-firm-s-crypto-venture" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial were in the process of building a cryptocurrency trading platform, a source familiar with the matter <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/citadel-securities-virtu-financial-building-crypto-trading-platform/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Blockworks last month</a>. Jamil Nazarali is reportedly expected to become CEO of the platform.



Citadel Securities did not immediately return a request for comment.&nbsp;



Web3 gaming company Immutable hired a former global head of product design for payments at Facebook to lead the protocol’s product design.



Henry Cho will help the company build an API-only user experience that enables mainstream developers to build simply.&nbsp;



“Immutable will continue hiring the best talent across the globe to continue building our vision of enabling the next billion players to truly own their in-game items,” Immutable co-founder Robbie Ferguson said in a Twitter post.



Andrei Serjantov joined crypto startup Nym as its chief financial officer. He is set to develop the company’s multi-purpose mixnet that helps enable privacy for any application, as well as the underlying finances of its NYM token.



Serjantov joins Nym from French banking group BNP Paribas, where he worked for 16 years. He was most recently the company’s head of electronic credit trading and head of flow credit quantitative research.



“As the bear market rages on, all eyes are on crypto to prove its worth,” Serjantov said in a statement. “Skeptics assume people join crypto to make a quick buck and scam the typical user, but those working through the bear market have something more to prove.”



The former operations lead for self custodial wallet MetaMask is set to join the BitDAO ecosystem to accelerate the adoption of Web3 gaming.



Jacob Cantele is now head of product strategy for BitDAO’s <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=RahCDqBPLaBstxmOiHGQa1CDZiEMesp8Rq0nyXTHCEpKTcTSFrZNgyb-TjJRHcgYqG_b2Y9OQw4S5FdLSsh8dg==" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Windranger Labs</a> and head of product for the <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=8VFB9yNCFXlRwlXlNa_pyfLRfykSOvleobU6PPWrNw6gy8oJY0kZWyRKlngn5dRx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Game7</a> DAO. 



Before working at MetaMask, Cantele led product for the Panvala grant funding DAO (decentralized autonomous organization), one of the earliest grant DAOs in the Web3 ecosystem.&nbsp;



NFT marketplace Magic Eden hired Joseph Doll to the role of general counsel.



Doll previously served as a corporate associate for Fenwick &amp; West, where he structured, negotiated and executed equity and token funding.



Web3 Ventures appointed Zach Rosen to its advisory board as the company gains Rosen’s expertise in software engineering and investment banking.&nbsp;



Rosen is a co-founder of Brydge, a startup that enables decentralized applications to deploy on one chain and accept payments from others. He said in a statement that he would leverage his network and background within the Web3 space to help identify and evaluate crypto projects for Web3 Ventures’ platform.



Crypto trading and lending platform Abra reportedly laid off about a dozen employees this week as market turbulence continues. Abra CEO Bill Barhydt <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/155209/abra-becomes-latest-crypto-firm-to-cut-jobs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told The Block</a> that the job cuts — representing about 5% of the company’s workforce — were done “purely as a cost-saving measure.”



An Abra spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment. &nbsp; &nbsp;



In case you missed it, crypto exchange Bitpanda <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bitpanda-to-slash-nearly-30-of-workforce-citing-recession-threat/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">is letting go about a third of its workforce</a>. The company, backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, wrote in a <a href="https://blog.bitpanda.com/en/way-forward" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">letter to employees</a> that it wants to cut down its headcount from more than 1,000 to 730 as it seeks to improve its financial health.



Meanwhile, crypto exchange Kraken posted more than 600 new job ads in the United States in the last seven days, according to a June 29 study by <a href="https://cryptojobslist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crypto Jobs List</a>. The Kraken listings account for nearly 20% of the new American crypto job ads over the span.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Former Facebook, BNP Paribas Pros Join Space

<div id="highlights-block_62aca92055048" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The new fund seeks to establish co-funds with VC partners and issuing grants to developers</li>
 <li>GameFi Investment in the first half of 2022 has reached $3.7 billion, up 99% year over year</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution Immutable plans to launch a $500 million fund to allocate token grants and investments into the Immutable X protocol with the two-fold intention of incentivizing game developers and spurring user adoption of Web3 projects building on the platform.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Building on IMX is some of the biggest gaming developers &amp; IP holders: GameStop, TikTok, Opensea, Illuvium, Ember Sword, VeeFriends &amp; more. We can&#39;t wait to help developers onboard the next billion mainstream users. 🌟Apply at <a href="https://t.co/D1cEyyBiBp">https://t.co/D1cEyyBiBp</a> 6/6&mdash; Immutable | $IMX ⓧ (@Immutable) <a href="https://twitter.com/Immutable/status/1537768355691925504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The fund, which is a mix of both cash and Immutable X’s native token IMX, combines assets from Animoca Brands, GameStop and VC firms such as Airtree, BITKRAFT, Arrington Capital, Double Peak and King River Capital.&nbsp;



From meeting funding requirements for scaling projects to designating a milestone-based IMX vesting schedule, the focus is on developers.



Current gaming developers and intellectual property holders on Immutable X include TikTok, Illuvium, Ember Sword, GreenPark Sports, ESL, Gary Vee’s Vee Friends, Playco and GameStop, which launched its NFT marketplace via the platform.



The Immutable Developer and Venture Fund also plans to provide partnering game studios with advisory support when it comes to the NFT (non-fungible token) gaming world, tokenomics, game design, community and marketing.



“We’re taking the lessons learned from building two of the blockchain’s biggest games — Gods Unchained and Guild of Guardians — and hiring the smartest people from Web2 studios like Riot Games,” Immutable CEO James Ferguson said in a statement.&nbsp;



The scaling solution&#8217;s other co-founder and president, Robbie Ferguson, added that “gaming is bigger than movies and music combined, and is compounding by 10% every year” with the potential of growing into a trillion dollar ownable economy over the next decade.



In terms of volume for the week gone by, the Harmony blockchain-based game DeFi Kingdoms takes the crown, peaking on June 12 at over $17 million transacted within the game, <a href="https://www.footprint.network/@Bond/GameFi-Overview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a> to Footprint Analytics. Gaming and decentralized finance (GameFi) fundraising remains steady, up 0.8% month over month, with a total of $7.7 billion raised.



Immutable previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/now-is-not-the-time-to-take-our-foot-off-the-pedal-says-immutable-co-founder/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> Blockworks that the company anticipates to continue “aggressive” hiring, thanks to more than four years of funding runway. In March, the Australian unicorn raised $200 million in a series C fundraising round led by Temasek, bringing its valuation to $2.5 billion.



Founded in partnership with StarkWare in 2018, Immutable incorporates StarkWare’s StarkEx zero-knowledge proof technology to roll up thousands of transactions on its own network and commit them to Ethereum with a single transaction.



On Thursday, Immutable <a href="https://twitter.com/Immutable/status/1537573316000894976" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> a corporate rebrand that includes an updated logo to more clearly differentiate between Immutable, Immutable X and the Immutable Studio, the company said.



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Immutable Earmarks $500M Fund for Gaming, Web3 Development

<div id="highlights-block_62a1cfdc842bc" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Immutable has a four-year funding runway, co-founder Robbie Ferguson told Blockworks</li>
 <li>Top-tier tech talent is flooding into Web3 gaming this year, he said</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



As traditional crypto companies pause hires, high-profile investors are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into blockchain games and NFT projects. Immutable, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/immutable/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a layer-2 scaling solution</a> for NFTs (non-fungible tokens) on Ethereum, is on a hiring spree and has expanded earlier plans to grow its workforce. This year, it intends to more than double its headcount from 170 to 400.



“Immutable is on a mission to power the next generation of Web3 games — and now is not the time to take our foot off the pedal,” Robbie Ferguson, president and co-founder, told Blockworks.



“From a cash perspective, we are fortunate enough to have more than four years’ runway projected even with aggressive hiring, so we feel comfortable with this approach,” he added.&nbsp;



The company is currently focused on building its gaming studio, engineering and partnerships team as its growth accelerates.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-06-09-GodsUnchained-card.png" alt="" class="wp-image-22669" width="236" height="335" srcset="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-06-09-GodsUnchained-card.png 314w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-06-09-GodsUnchained-card-211x300.png 211w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-06-09-GodsUnchained-card-181x257.png 181w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-06-09-GodsUnchained-card-184x261.png 184w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-06-09-GodsUnchained-card-154x219.png 154w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-06-09-GodsUnchained-card-56x80.png 56w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-06-09-GodsUnchained-card-35x50.png 35w" sizes="(max-width: 236px) 100vw, 236px" /><figcaption>Archimea, Arthmancer card; Source: <a href="https://blog.godsunchained.com/2021/03/04/immutable-x-gu-rollout/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GodsUnchained</a></figcaption></figure></div>


Asked about the knock-on effects of the recent market downturn, Ferguson said companies involved in blockchain gaming are fundamentally uncorrelated to the broader crypto market. He said a player&#8217;s decision to trade a card in Gods Unchained, or a character in <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=Illuvium" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Illuvium</a>, or a planet in Ember Sword should be driven by how many players the game has and the utility of those items.



“Of course, there will be some impact, but the goal is the same: to change the $100 billion players spend on in-game items every year into assets they can truly own and trade with,” he said. “That number is not going to go down despite the markets, and therefore neither should our mission.”



The layer-2 protocol scored $200 million in a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/immutable-notches-2-5b-valuation-after-series-c-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Series C funding round</a> at a $2.5 billion valuation in March. At the time, the company announced plans to grow its team to 350 people, but that goal has recently been bumped to 400, Ferguson told Blockworks. Layer-2 solutions are networks that help relieve some of the pressure off the Ethereum blockchain by handling transactions off the mainnet.



Immutable has recruited a flood of talent from tech companies including Uber, Unity and other leading software and gaming businesses. Recent hires include Chief Studio Officer Justin Hulog, a former Riot Games exec, and Senior Vice President Jason Suen, an ex-Shopify regional head. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“People are coming to the realization that Web3 is the next internet,” Ferguson said.</blockquote>



The firm expects to release a flurry of games on its platform in the next three months and make marketplace integration announcements similar to its partnerships with GameStop and Rarible.



“Our global order book is growing in integrations exponentially since the start of the year,” the co-founder said.



Immutable is among a string of firms in the crypto space that are still hiring. Fidelity Investments’ digital asset arm is looking to <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/fidelity-digital-assets-to-double-headcount/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">double</a> its headcount by the end of the year, while crypto exchange FTX plans to continue hiring at a “<a href="https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1533946729661349889">sustainable rate</a>.”&nbsp;



DeFi lending protocol Maple, which recently gave a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/maple-finance-originates-1b-of-loans-in-10-months/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$77.5 million loan</a> to Alameda Research, is <a href="https://jobs.lever.co/maple-finance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hiring</a> across operations, product design and marketing. Singapore-based <a href="https://www.lmnl.app/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Liminal</a>, which just raised $4.7 million in a seed round, has openings in engineering, marketing, product and security.



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‘Now Is Not the Time To Take Our Foot Off the Pedal,’ Says Immutable Co-founder

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_622bc409e82cd" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The week started off strong with Immutable’s $200 million financing round, valuing the company at $2.5 billion on Monday</li>
 <li>Bain Capital Ventures, which has about $155 billion in assets under management, launched a $560 million crypto-focused venture arm</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The crypto funding environment continued to heat up this week as massive mega rounds and funds launched in the space.&nbsp;



Over $1.82 billion in fresh capital entered the space, up 36% from <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/funding-roundup-1-34b-invested-in-crypto-companies-and-funds-this-week/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$1.34 billion </a>from last week. The total money invested this week came from about 30 deals and funds, according to PitchBook data.



The week started off strong with Immutable’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/immutable-notches-2-5b-valuation-after-series-c-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$200 million</a> financing round on Monday, which valued the company at $2.5 billion. The round was led by Temasek and included other investors like Animoca Brands, Tencent, ParaFi Capital, Princeville Capital, Arrington Capital, Mirae Asset and Liberty Global.



On Tuesday, Bain Capital Ventures, which has about $155 billion in assets under management, launched a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bain-capital-ventures-launches-560m-crypto-focused-fund-as-ecosystem-booms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$560 million</a> crypto-focused venture arm. The funds will be deployed into about 30 companies or protocols focused on DeFi and crypto infrastructure, Stefan Cohen, managing partner at Bain Capital Crypto, told Blockworks.



Over the next 10 years, the Bain Capital Crypto team anticipates crypto getting integrated and embedded into traditional consumer and business software stacks and plans to invest in companies that will bridge protocols into established software ecosystems, Cohen said on Tuesday.



Separately, Singapore-based platform Cake DeFi has launched its corporate venture arm with <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/singapore-based-cake-defi-launches-100m-in-capital-for-venture-arm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$100 million</a> in capital, the firm told Blockworks on Wednesday. Cake DeFi Ventures (CDV) will focus its investments across Web3, the metaverse, the NFT space, gaming, esports and fintech spaces that will benefit its core business, it said.



It was also leaked that Ethereum layer-2 developer StarkWare is raising <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereum-scaling-startup-reportedly-triples-valuation-in-four-months/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">at least $100 million</a>, which would increase its valuation to $6 billion, Israeli newspaper Calacalist <a href="https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rjm00s7wbq" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. StarkWare declined to comment Thursday. However, a company source, who spoke to Blockworks under condition of anonymity, said they couldn’t confirm it, “but it sounds entirely plausible.”



The new valuation is triple its previous $2 billion valuation from just four months ago, when the company raised $50 million in a Series C round led by Sequoia Capital.



Other notable capital raises this week:&nbsp;



<ul><li>Okcoin announces “Bitcoin Odyssey” collective with plans to invest <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/okcoin-announces-165m-bitcoin-odyssey-collective-partners-with-top-venture-firms-to-supercharge-bitcoin-adoption-301500256.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$165 million</a> over the next 12 months into Bitcoin-focused DeFi apps&nbsp;</li><li>Scaling and privacy solution for Web3 applications, Espresso Systems, debuted to the public with a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/espresso-systems-launches-to-public-amid-a-32m-raise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$32 million</a> funding round</li><li>Stablecoin payment builder Kado closed a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/payment-builder-kado-closes-first-capital-raise-to-expand-access-to-stablecoins/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$5.4 million</a> fundraise&nbsp;</li><li>Swim Protocol raised <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/03/09/2400100/0/en/Swim-Protocol-Raises-4M-for-Innovative-Cross-Chain-Infrastructure.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$4 million</a> in seed funding by Pantera Capital with participation from FTX, Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures and others</li></ul>



Check back next week for more funding news.



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Funding Roundup: More Than $1.8 Billion Pooled Into Crypto Companies and Funds This Week

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_622623f1e5b17" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Staff will go from 170 to 350 full-time employees over the next year, co-founder Robbie Ferguson told Blockworks</li>
 <li>Immutable raised $60 million in Series B funding in September</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Immutable, creator of the NFT-focused layer-2 scaling protocol Immutable X, secured $200 million in Series C funding, launching the Sydney-based startup to a $2.5 billion valuation.



Led by Temasek, investors in the financing round include Animoca Brands, Tencent, ParaFi Capital, Princeville Capital, Arrington Capital, Mirae Asset and Liberty Global.



King River Capital, Prosus Ventures, AirTree Ventures, Declaration Partners, Fabric Ventures, Possible Ventures and Alameda Research all raised their existing investments in Immutable.



&#8220;We&#8217;ll be growing from 170 to 350 people over the next year — investing in a global partnerships and gaming advisory team and tripling our product and engineering teams,” Robbie Ferguson, co-founder of Immutable, told Blockworks.



Immutable made headlines in October for creating Immutable X, which powered TikTok’s NFT (non-fungible token) collection. It was billed as the first layer-2 protocol on Ethereum that allowed instant trading and zero gas fees, which often served as a roadblock for minting NFTs.



Earlier this month, Immutable announced a $100 million joint fund with GameStop for blockchain gaming startups.



The company was founded in 2018 by brothers Robbie and James Ferguson.



“In 2017, we saw NFTs come out with CryptoPunks and [my brother and I] said, ‘This is it,’” Robbie said. “This is going to be massive because there is more uniquely ownable stuff in the world than there is currencies. The ability to have digital property rights is going to be the most important thing.”



In its early years, Immutable was known for creating “<a href="https://godsunchained.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gods Unchained</a>,” which Robbie described as “the first multiplayer game with NFTs on Ethereum, [all] completely on-chain.”



The company has since expanded, launching tokens such as IMX in September, which sold out on CoinList in under an hour and raised over $12.5 million.



That same month, Immutable <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/layer-2-solution-immutable-closes-60m-series-b-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> a $60 million Series B funding round to boost NFT trading. BITKRAFT Ventures and King River Capital co-led the round, with participation from Alameda Research, Galaxy Interactive, VaynerFund and Apex Capital.



Along with the Monday announcement, Immutable announced new C-suite hires such as former Riot Games exec Justin Hulog. The startup also tapped ex-Shutterfly chief marketing officer, John Boris, as its chief growth officer.



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Immutable Notches $2.5B Valuation After Series C Funding

<div id="highlights-block_61fbbb4687251" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Immutable previously partnered with TikTok for its first foray into NFTs</li>
 <li>Co-founder of Immutable said talks of a partnership with GameStop started over six months ago</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>





GameStop and Immutable are launching a $100 million joint fund to invest in <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-investors-guide-to-gaming-nfts/">gaming NFT</a> projects, according to an announcement on Thursday.



Immutable X, a layer-2 scaling platform built on Ethereum, will also be partnering with the company to power its forthcoming blockchain-based marketplace, co-founder Robbie Ferguson told Blockworks.



“We are going to market to try to bring NFTs to games,” Ferguson said. “The $100 million fund is going to be dedicated to everyone from indie games to AAA publishers who want to come and build on Immutable X and also want to have access to GameStop’s distribution [and] marketplace.”



The carbon neutral layer-2 has zero gas fees and nearly instant trade execution, according to Ferguson. It previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tiktoks-venture-into-nfts-the-hype-and-alleged-mess/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnered with TikTok</a> in September for its first foray into NFTs.



“Immutable is not for expensive and luxury JPEGs,” Ferguson said. “What I’m excited about is how we can take NFTs to the masses and actually create better experiences for players.&#8221;



The Sydney-based startup has not officially announced which gaming projects will receive funds, but Ferguson anticipates them to be “mid-market [gaming] studios” that are “looking to go heavily into NFTs.”



The co-founder of Immutable said talks of a partnership with GameStop started over six months ago and that the $100 million capital comes from Immutable’s token funds.&nbsp;



Reports of GameStop dabbling in the nascent NFT space emerged last month, when <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/gamestop-entering-nft-and-cryptocurrency-markets-as-part-of-turnaround-plan-11641504417?mod=Searchresults_pos1&amp;page=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a> wrote that the retailer would be launching a division to develop a marketplace for the digital collectibles and establish partnerships with cryptocurrency companies. GameStop did not immediately respond to Blockworks&#8217; request for comment on when the marketplace will officially launch.



“We believe our emphasis on the long term is positioning us to build what will ultimately become a much larger business,” GameStop Matt Furlong said on an earnings call in November.&nbsp;


[stock_market_widget type=&#8221;inline&#8221; template=&#8221;generic&#8221; assets=&#8221;GME&#8221; markup=&#8221;{name} ({symbol}) is trading at {price} ({change_pct})&#8221; display_currency_symbol=&#8221;true&#8221; api=&#8221;yf&#8221;]



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GameStop, Immutable to Launch $100M Joint Fund for Gaming NFTs

<div id="highlights-block_6169c570e811e" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>TikTok&#8217;s first NFT collaboration with Lil Nas X and the artist Rudy Willingham was slated to drop on October 6, but has yet to go live</li>
 <li>A second NFT offering on Monday has been bid up to roughly $100,000 worth of ETH</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



There was a lot of early hype (and press) surrounding the first creator-led non-fungible token (NFT) collection on TikTok. But the multi-billion-dollar social media app took its first step into blockchain-based digital collectibles — and missed its first deadline.



The plan for the NFT platform, according to the company’s <a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok-launches-first-creator-led-nft-collection-powered-by-immutable-x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announcement</a> on September 30, is ultimately to pair prominent TikTok creators with artists in the crypto space to make NFTs based on the creators’ culturally significant — i.e. viral — videos.



Big names featured on TikTok&#8217;s marketing materials include Lil Nas X, Bella Poarch and Gary Vaynerchuk. In addition to the one-of-one NFT of their viral videos, creators can also sell a set of collaborative editions at a set price.&nbsp;



“TikTok exposing its community of creators to NFTs is a positive boost to the entire ecosystem, and we encourage other centralized platforms to follow their lead,” Adam Jeffries, CEO of Metaplex Studios, told Blockworks in early October.&nbsp;



The one-of-one NFTs will be distributed on Ethereum and the limited editions NFTs will be powered by <a href="https://www.immutable.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Immutable X</a>, the first NFT-focused layer-2 on Ethereum. TikTok is planning a series of weekly drops until the end of the month. According to Immutable&#8217;s team, the layer-2 has zero gas fees, nearly instant trade execution and is carbon-neutral.



<h3>TikTok partnership leaves no time to waste</h3>



Robbie Ferguson, co-founder of Immutable, said the tech partnership between TikTok and Immutable took roughly three weeks to finalize, describing it as a “fairly short turnaround” but something that could be potentially “amazing for creatives.”&nbsp;



“I think this is an early foray by TikTok into how they can monetize this stuff. But if you ask me, TikTok is sitting on one of the best possible application [opportunities] in the world because creator monetization is one of the worst problems out there,” Ferguson said to Blockworks, citing patronage models like Twitch.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“Bringing property rights to the value that creators are creating for these platforms is a much more powerful way to monetize.”&nbsp;</blockquote>



Proceeds from the collection would, according to TikTok’s announcement, “largely go directly to the creators and NFT artists involved.” The company did not clarify what percentage creators will eventually receive.&nbsp;



<h3>Owning a &#8216;moment&#8217;</h3>



The platform, which has over a billion monthly active users worldwide, calls the project a way to own “a moment that broke the internet.”&nbsp;



Trent Elmore, one of five creators of YAM Finance, described the announcement as “encouraging” and “exciting,” but adds that it doesn’t guarantee that “total mainstream [NFT] adoption is right around the corner.”



In addition, TikTok seems to be facing challenges around its first NFT collaboration with Lil Nas X and the artist Rudy Willingham. That NFT was dated to drop on October 6, but it never arrived.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Rudy Willingham&#8217;s 1/1 NFT is experiencing a brief delay. We are very excited about this drop and look forward to having this resolved in a timely manner,” Immutable <a href="https://twitter.com/Immutable/status/1445938703768031232?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a> and posted in its public Discord channel.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Rudy Willingham&#39;s 1/1 NFT is experiencing a brief delay. We are very excited about this drop and look forward to having this resolved in a timely manner. Join our dedicated <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tiktok?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#tiktok</a> Discord channel for the NFT drop updates &amp; announcements 👉<a href="https://t.co/AQwKPJTk9m">https://t.co/AQwKPJTk9m</a>&mdash; Immutable | $IMX | Hiring!👇 (@Immutable) <a href="https://twitter.com/Immutable/status/1445938703768031232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Sources close to the situation said that part of the NFT collection won’t be released at all, Rolling Stone first <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/tiktok-nfts-lil-nas-x-bella-poarch-1239785/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> on Monday. In addition, three people with knowledge of TikTok’s NFT rollout said it was “a mess,” “a challenge” and “a complete joke.” 



Bella Poarch, a TikTok creator advertised to work on the project, may pull out due to “worries around the [project’s] execution,” a person familiar with the matter told Rolling Stone. Poarch did not respond immediately to Blockworks’ request for comment.



<h3>Finally, live</h3>



Despite the confusion, TikTok’s first NFT auction finally <a href="https://twitter.com/Immutable/status/1447695288131473408?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">went live</a> on Monday. Instead of Lil Nas X and artist Willingham, an NFT dropped featuring Detroit rapper Curtis Roach and Coin Artist, an established creator in the crypto space. Initial bids for the NFT barely topped $26,000 or seven ETH.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="703" height="269" src="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-15-at-20.30.56.png" alt="Record of bids" class="wp-image-9467" srcset="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-15-at-20.30.56.png 703w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-15-at-20.30.56-300x115.png 300w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-15-at-20.30.56-428x164.png 428w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-15-at-20.30.56-470x180.png 470w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-15-at-20.30.56-389x149.png 389w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screenshot-2021-10-15-at-20.30.56-80x31.png 80w" sizes="(max-width: 703px) 100vw, 703px" /><figcaption>Record of bids as of 2:30 pm ET on October 15; Source: <a href="https://tiktok.immutable.com/auction/curtisroach" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tiktok.immutable.com/auction/curtisroach</a></figcaption></figure>



Suddenly, and with explosive growth, the top bid for the asset jumped to nearly $100,000 or 25 ETH on Wednesday, almost four times in one hour. The auction has roughly three more days to go until it’s officially sold, according to its website.&nbsp;&nbsp;



While the cause of the jump is not known at this time, other prominent NFT projects have encountered problems with <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/nft-craze-rages-on-as-august-sales-near-900m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wash trading</a> and insiders <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/openseas-nate-chastain-calls-it-quits-after-insider-trading-allegations/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">exploiting non-public knowledge</a>.



TikTok did not respond to Blockworks’ requests for comment surrounding their project.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



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<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>

TikTok’s Venture into NFTs: The Hype and Alleged ‘Mess’

<div id="highlights-block_61534adab7a77" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Merkle Science has seen strong demand from financial institutions and law enforcement agencies</li>
 <li>Immutable X’s $12.5M token sale brought in over 720,000 registrants but only about 3.6%, or 25,000, of those registrants were able to become new token holders</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Roll, a blockchain infrastructure for social money, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by IOSG Ventures, the company said on Tuesday.&nbsp;



Participation in Roll’s investment round includes Animoca Brands, Alchemy, Huobi Ventures Weekend Fund and Mischief Fund. Additionally, IOSG joins existing investors, including Galaxy Interactive, Hustle Fund, Gary Vaynerchuk, Trevor McFederies, Ryan Selkis and Balaji Srinivasan. The company said it has raised a total of $12.7 million in funding since it launched in 2019.



Roll is a financial operating system and network for social tokens, which are branded digital currencies that creators can use to “make a market that belongs to them and their audience without third-party intermediaries, like platforms,” the company said.&nbsp;



Additionally, Roll’s network mints branded social tokens unique to individuals so they can control and coordinate its value across platforms. Roll’s social tokens can use Ethereum smart contracts to develop a social token infrastructure that can interact with web platforms and smart contract applications.&nbsp;



“We’re at the point now where Roll uniquely allows them to mint these social tokens through the Ethereum blockchain; it can be plugged into anything anyone else is building on Web3,” Bradley Miles, co-founder and CEO of Roll said to Blockworks in an interview.&nbsp;



Roll has over 350 creators, up 250% from 100 creators a year ago, Miles said. The creators range from websites like <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/weekly-roundup-binance-onlyfans-and-jay-clayton/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OnlyFans</a> and Youtube to NFT artists and celebrities like Terry Crews. In the past month, Roll’s social tokens have reached $250 million in market value and over $2 million in daily trading volume, the company said. 



“We’ve really experienced this explosive growth last year and this year,” Miles said. “We seem to be in a cultural bull market&#8230;We’re seeing the markets grow, we’re seeing the demand grow,” he added.&nbsp;



<h3>Kraken Ventures and others invest in $5.75M round&nbsp;</h3>



A predictive cryptocurrency risk and intelligence platform, Merkle Science, has raised $5.75 million in a Series A round led by Darrow Holdings.&nbsp;



Other participants in the round include Kraken Ventures, Uncorrelated Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, Token Bay Capital, Kenetic, and Lunex Ventures, the company said.&nbsp;



The funding will be used to prioritize product development, expand its token coverage and customize solutions for DeFi and NFT platforms, the company said.&nbsp;



Merkle Science has seen strong demand from financial institutions and law enforcement agencies “as crypto-related illicit activity and regulations have taken center stage,” Mriganka Pattnaik, the company’s co-founder and CEO said.



The company has clients across Asia, Europe and North America and has grown its revenue over 900% in the past two years, it said. “In the past six months, institutional interest for cryptocurrencies and compliance in the US has surged, which has prompted both the co-founders to move their base to New York as part of Merkle Science’s expansion plans,” it added.



<h3>Token sales galore&nbsp;</h3>



On Tuesday, a crypto fund managed by Republic Capital, the multi-asset investment platform, announced its participation in AVAX&#8217;s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/avalanche-closes-230m-token-sale-backed-by-three-arrows-capital-polychain/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recent $230 million private token sale</a> alongside previously announced lead investors Polychain and Three Arrows Capital. Although the sale was closed in June, it was not publicly announced until mid-September. 



The Avalanche Foundation says that it will use the proceeds to accelerate the rapid growth of DeFi, NFTs, and other new asset classes on the Avalanche blockchain, Blockworks reported.&nbsp;



Separately, the Ethereum-based Immutable X sold out its token sale and raised over $12.5 million in less than an hour, Immutable, the company behind the token, said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/Immutable/status/1442481019601309703" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweet</a> on Monday. 



According to the tweet, Immutable X’s token sale brought in over 720,000 registrants but only about 3.6%, or 25,000, of those registrants were able to become new token holders through CoinList, which is a platform that showcases digital assets before they’re readily available on exchanges.&nbsp;



Immutable is an Australian company that focuses on the first layer 2 for NFTs on Ethereum and allows users to set their own trading fees, among other <a href="https://www.immutable.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">elements</a>. 



In mid-September, the company closed a $60 million Series B round co-led by BITKRAFT Ventures and King River Capital, with participation from Prosus Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Fabric Ventures, Alameda Research, AirTree Ventures, Reinventure, Apex Capital, and VaynerFund.



Immutable did not disclose what the token sale on Monday will be used toward. However, after the $60 million in funding the company said it would use the investment to primarily expand its global engineering and sales team, while strengthening partnerships with gaming companies, Blockworks previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/layer-2-solution-immutable-closes-60m-series-b-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



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Roll Raises $10M, Merkle Science Closed $5.75M and Avalanche Touts Token Sale

Sam Reynolds

<div id="highlights-block_6140a897fdde5" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The Ethereum network continues to be strained under pressure from the growing NFT market and the established DeFi industry</li>
 <li>Immutable aims to expand its global engineering and sales team, and strengthen key partnerships with gaming companies</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



As transaction fees for NFTs grow to new heights because of the strained Ethereum network, layer-2 solution Immutable announced today that it had closed a $60 million Series B round led by some of the biggest names in crypto infrastructure investment. According to a release from the company, the Series B round was co-led by BITKRAFT Ventures and King River Capital, with participation from Prosus Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Fabric Ventures, Alameda Research, AirTree Ventures, Reinventure, Apex Capital, and VaynerFund. Immutable says this round will be primarily used to expand its global engineering and sales team, and strengthen key partnerships with gaming companies.



This brings Immutable’s total funds raised to $77.5 million. The company <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190923005249/en/Immutable-Raises-15-Million-in-Series-A-Funding-from-Naspers-Ventures-and-Galaxy-Digital-EOS-VC-Fund" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">closed its Series A</a> round in late 2019, raising $15 million in a round led by Naspers and Galaxy Digital.



“NFT trading is a terrible mainstream user experience right now. It’s expensive, illiquid, and the only existing scaling solutions compromise on the most important thing — the security and user-base of Ethereum. We want businesses to create their game, marketplace, or NFT application within hours via APIs, with a mainstream user experience. No blockchain programming required,” said Robbie Ferguson, co-founder at Immutable, in the release.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Layer-2 solutions are a way to take some of the pressure off of the Ethereum blockchain by moving execution outside the main Ethereum chain while keeping transaction data on-chain. This allows applications to keep the security-by-consensus of the Ethereum chain but significantly, if not eliminate, transaction fees.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="409" src="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-14-gasnow-1024x409.jpg" alt="Gas fees" class="wp-image-7887" srcset="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-14-gasnow-1024x409.jpg 1024w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-14-gasnow-300x120.jpg 300w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-14-gasnow-768x307.jpg 768w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-14-gasnow-428x171.jpg 428w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-14-gasnow-470x188.jpg 470w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-14-gasnow-389x155.jpg 389w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-14-gasnow-80x32.jpg 80w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-14-gasnow.jpg 1064w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Historical gas price (in Gwei) since September 8; Source: gasnow.org</figcaption></figure>



According to PumpMyGas.xyz, a tracker of gas fees for Ethereum NFTs, the gas cost for sellers on many of the largest NFT markets is now over $100 on top of gas costs for buyers which can range from $13 to $70. This creates a liquidity challenge for the industry, and prevents a low-cost NFT market from emerging. 



On the Ethereum network itself, the average transaction fee reached an all-time high of $70 earlier this year as NFT mania hit full-swing, according to <a href="https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/ethereum-transactionfees.html#6m" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bitInfocharts</a>, and is now at around $22, down from $60 earlier this month.



According to <a href="https://etherscan.io/gasTracker" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Etherscan</a>, NFT marketplace OpenSea was the top “Gas Guzzler”, using $2.4 million in fees during the last 24 hours. 



The price of Ethereum is <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">currently at $3,360</a>, down 1% in the last 24 hours. 



Are you a UK or EU reader that can&#8217;t get enough investor-focused content on digital assets?<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a> in London on November 15th and 16th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) London. Use code ARTICLE for £75 off your ticket. <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.