These days, the buzz around Polkadot Parachain crowdloans is reaching every nook and cranny of the blockchain world.
Through crowdloans, DOT holders can vote on projects that will soon become elements of the vast and diverse Polkadot ecosystem. Enjin’s Efinity platform is one of those projects, and it's looking to create the technological chapter in the story of non-fungible tokens: NFTs.
Alongside Polkadot’s truly impressive interconnected blockchain, Efinity is set to become the main bridge for multi-chain NFTs in the evolving, decentralized Metaverse.
Ready to learn more about why the Polkadot blockchain is an integral element of creating Efinity? Why Polkadot to begin with? Read on, and we’ll walk you through everything you need to know.
Back in 2015, the crypto space was still a hot ball of gas ready to explode into a new universe.
Before the inevitable big bang of decentralized creation, blockchain technology was fairly clumsy and hard to use. Early planetary giants like Ethereum promised a robust blockchain platform offering smart contract abilities alongside massive scalability and open access.
That was then.
Fast forward to 2021, and even though Ethereum (ETH) delivered on several key promises, it still suffers from congestion issues that ultimately harm the adaptability, usability, and accessibility of the ecosystem.
Not everyone saw the writing on the wall for Ethereum’s future. But some did.
An important and influential non-believer was Dr. Gavin Wood, the brainchild of Polkadot and co-founder of Ethereum.
Polkadot is the ultimate scaling solution for blockchains similar to Ethereum. By itself, it's not a smart contract platform. Rather, it’s a “Layer 0” blockchain that creates an ecosystem for other blockchains.
While the first Polkadot Whitepaper hit the world in October 2016, the initial coin offering (ICO) wasn’t until the following year. By 2021, hundreds of projects were building on the platform. Today, the world is watching as the hotly anticipated Parachain auctions take place, which will define a new era of crypto-development and interconnectivity.
As it stands now, Ethereum has a throughput problem. While ETH 2.0's sharding will attempt to alleviate this issue, that’s not currently helping the 900,000 active daily users paying massive gas fees to move transactions through the ecosystem and interact with decentralized applications (DApps).
Polkadot aims to solve this throughput issue with a revolutionary approach to how the underlying blockchain technology operates. Without boring you with too much jargon, this “Parachain” architecture enables transactions across multiple chains in parallel, instead of one-by-one like on Ethereum and other chains.
Speeds on the Polkadot network are expected to be more than a million transactions per second (TPS)—which leaves Ethereum in the dust. With the Parachain ecosystem, projects can “plug in” to the chain and access the benefits of Polkadot’s super-fast consensus mechanism and underlying security features.
Ethereum's hang-ups regarding scalability were not just the project’s own—they impacted any platform or individual using the blockchain.
When the DeFi sector exploded, it catapulted ETH gas fees to monumental levels and brought other crypto sectors, like the NFT space, to a grinding halt.
As an ecosystem built on Ethereum, Enjin was not exempt from the issues clogging up the Ethereum blockchain. Much like the team at Polkadot, we wanted to truly democratize our platform to give access to as many users as possible. Unfortunately, high gas fees and other network issues made that nearly impossible.
So, how do we tackle this problem?
We created JumpNet for provide a seamless, affordable experience for NFT developers, traders, and users. Not only can you mint NFTs in seconds, but JumpNet allows for users to send and receive ERC-1155 and ENJ tokens with no gas fees.
Another major issue that JumpNet tackles is the sheer amount of energy consumption inherent in operating on the Ethereum blockchain. To power Ethereum, a Proof of Work (PoW) blockchain, requires around 90.78 terawatt-hours a year—about the same annual consumption as the entirety of the Philippines.
Not only is JumpNet helping people interact with NFTs without the baggage of the Ethereum network, but Enjin’s commitment to the Crypto Climate Accord came alongside an important announcement—we made JumpNet carbon-negative.
But JumpNet is just the start.
With Efinity, thousands of developers and creators will not only have access to forever-free scaling using JumpNet, but will also be able engage with a multi-chain highway using the power of the Polkadot Parachain system.
Polkadot is positioning itself as a serious competitor to the Ethereum network. One of the key characteristics that make this such a viable prediction is the sheer interoperability of the Polkadot ecosystem. This, along with other key features, makes the Parachain platform the prime choice for building out the next evolution for Enjin and NFTs with Efinity.
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At the core of the Polkadot blockchain is the ability to connect other blockchains together.
While some in the crypto-space may argue for a maximalist perspective on the future of blockchain technology, Polkadot offers a vision of cross-chain connectivity.
No more walled gardens.
Every blockchain that connects via a Parachain slot cooperates with the ecosystem—often providing specific functions and users.
So, what does this mean for Efinity?
Well, other than communicating across chains in a fundamentally different experience than other NFT platforms, swapping assets from anywhere is possible for users.
Instead of isolated environments, Efinity works with the power of the Polkadot blockchain to create a digital asset superhighway where users can transfer assets like NFTs between blockchains instantly.
Bitcoin’s massive power bill is becoming the elephant in the room for serious discussions about the future of blockchain technology. For blockchains to succeed, projects will need to address concerns about energy consumption and environmental risks.
With Polkadot’s nominated Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, yearly energy consumption is around one gigawatt-hour—minuscule, compared to Ethereum or Bitcoin's consumption levels.
Committing to a brighter future means taking criticisms of past foundational technology seriously. By using the Polkadot Parachain platform, Efinity is able to not only build a truly interoperable platform to enable creators and developers to engage with the evolving metaverse but does so sustainably.
When it comes to governance, Polkadot uses an on-chain mechanism made up of three parts:
In short, the three branches offer proposals for the referendum chamber to vote. Proposals are chosen, and votes are tallied every 28 days. The system incorporates elements of political science, human psychology, and global economics.
Efinity uses a similar decentralized governance structure—albeit with some differences. Both systems aim to provide a democratized approach to blockchain governance that gives token holders ultimate power within the platform.
Efinity and Polkadot are both projects that prescribe the thinking of “we work better together.”
The future of blockchain and cryptocurrency doesn't lie in a single project. Much like how the internet is built across the backs of thousands of technologies, physical devices, and innovative thinkers, so will Web 3.0.
The NFT space today is disjointed. With Efinity, you can easily transfer NFTs to the platform, place offers on assets on other networks, or just show off your collection in one environment.
All these features sit on top of Enjin’s already robust suite of tools and apps that enable the development of the future Metaverse.
With Polkadot and the Kusama Testnet, decentralized crowdloans are how new projects gather the support they need to enter the network via a Parachain slot.
With Efinity, users who participate in the crowdloan earn EFI, the network's native token, when the platform becomes a Polkadot Parachain.
Holders of DOT can “loan” their tokens to the project, which will be locked via the crowdloan for a period of 96 weeks.
The whole process of the crowdloan runs parallel to the overall democratic ethos of Polkadot and Efinity. This works in two ways:
Anyone can contribute to the crowdloan. Ultimately, this puts the power into the hands of the Efinity community, not only through governance but also throughout the entire genesis of the project.
The Polkadot blockchain is already showing its true potential as the environment for cross-platform development where community, security, and connectivity are the main goals.
By leveraging this mission, Efinity is able to create a cross-chain NFT platform that allows users to engage throughout the entire crypto-ecosystem without having to jump through extraneous digital and financial hoops.
This kind of usability will develop a creative environment that marries all the best elements of the already blossoming NFT space. With Polkadot, Efinity is able to promote project-wide democratic governance, all while limiting the overall environmental impact of blockchain operations through the energy efficiency of JumpNet and Polkadot’s PoS consensus mechanism.
For NFTs, the Metaverse, and blockchain, the future has never seemed so bright.
With projects like Polkadot and Efinity, which put the true philosophical core of blockchain at the forefront of all they do, the decentralized world is here—and it's here to stay.
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