Published on: 16/03/2022
Blockchain firm Enjin launches parachain Efinity on Polkadot
Non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystem Enjin has launched their first parachain, named Efinity, on the Polkadot network. The parachain is the first on the network to be dedicated to NFTs.
It was reported that Efinity will support CryptoBlades, a play-to-earn NFT game, along with its 1.1 million users. Additionally, the parachain is also committed to hosting over 100 blockchain-based games and applications.
“NFTs and their applications have come such a long way in the past year,” Enjin Chief Technology Officer Witek Radomski said in an interview with CoinDesk. “The infrastructure to support them at scale needs to be built, with projects like this one really moving the space forward for so many users.”
Enjin’s vision
Enjin’s ultimate goal is to build its Efinity metaverse. Earlier in 2021, the blockchain firm formed a $100 million fund to support the project. The fund focused on cross-chain NFT assets, digital collectible applications, mixed reality games, virtual events, and building multichain infrastructure.
“We’ve formed a US$100 million Efinity Metaverse Fund to formalize support for our ecosystem partners, and help make the decentralized Metaverse a reality,” Enjin wrote on their website.
“These days, the metaverse is everywhere,” it added. “It is now time for us to turn this into an official, public and conscious piece of our growth strategy, and support a free, open and decentralized metaverse.”
Originally developed on Ethereum, Enjin also raised $18.9 million in a private token sale earlier in March 2021 to fund the migration to Polkadot. The move is likely due to the high gas prices on Ethereum as well as to expand NFTs on the Efinity platform.
“Building with Polkadot will enable us to deliver an accessible, scalable solution that empowers everyone to participate in the emerging NFT economy,” said Enjin COO Caleb Applegate.
Efinity is currently equipped with the ability to mint over 2,000 NFTs to more than 2,000 separate wallets per transaction. Their transaction fees are also 2,000 times lower compared to the existing NFTs on Ethereum.
“Efinity will bring immediate value to users with native support for NFTs and a full suite of NFT gaming utilities developed by Enjin,” said CryptoBlades CEO Philip Devine. “Along with our play-to-earn title CryptoBlades, we are excited to make our NFT bridging, curated marketplace, and launchpad available via Efinity.”
By enabling the virtual wallet option, Efinity provides an easy onboarding process as users are not required to own a crypto wallet. Moreover, cross-chain bridges also allow users to port their NFTs and cryptocurrencies from any other blockchain to Efinity. Developers will also be enabled to subsidize transaction costs for the users of Efinity’s fuel tanks.
“After four years of intensive research and development, Efinity adopters now have access to the most scalable, secure, and feature-packed NFT blockchain available,” said Enjin CTO Witek Radomski.
“With many groundbreaking features coming to Efinity in the months following launch, there will be no other chain that allows this level of customizability and interactivity in NFT applications at scale.”
Enjin has also developed a token standard for Polkadot named Paratokens. The standard is compatible with parachains, parathreads, and smart contracts.
