WAX

What is WAX (WAXP)?

WAX is a blockchain network originally launched in 2017 to speed up e-commerce transactions. However, it has since pivoted, transitioning into an EOS-based chain in 2019 and becoming one of the leaders in the NFT industry thanks to its speed and low transaction costs.

The NFT movement on WAX began with a collection called Topps Garbage Pail Kids Series 1. This utilized the Simple Assets protocol, allowing Topps to package the NFTs and thrill audiences with pack-opening animations and randomization. From here, it was off to the stars, with even the beloved William Shatner adopting WAX as a collectible hub of choice.

2020 was the year of Atomic Assets, a protocol that improved upon Simple Assets to offer a more flexible and robust way to bring NFTs to a mass audience. Blockchain Heroes was the first major collection to embrace Atomic Assets, selling 12,000 packs of cards in just 20 minutes.

WAX offers far more than just a platform for collectibles, though. Hosting the utilities, tools, and marketplaces and even providing the infrastructure for some of the top games in blockchain, WAX is a true powerhouse in blockchain entertainment.

Who are the Founders of WAX?

WAX was founded by William Quigley and Jonathan Yantis. Quigley is a former venture capitalist, but he also had a stint at Disney in the early 90s. He holds a Harvard MBA and graduated from the University of Southern California.

Yantis is a very early adopter of blockchain technology and is also considered a pioneer of virtual item trading used in popular MMORPG titles like Everquest and World of Warcraft. He was also a board member of Mastercoin, which conducted the first-ever ICO (Initial Coin Offering).

How Does WAX Work?

The WAX Protocol is a delegated-proof-of-stake blockchain designed to scale in conjunction with a microservice layer that provides specialized infrastructure for building digital goods and marketplaces.

Together, the WAX Protocol and microservice layer are called the Wax Platform. While the project began with a focus on e-commerce, payments, and digital voting, the project team observed how the market rapidly revolved around digital goods.

For this reason, WAX as a project underwent a redesign, resulting in the WAX of today. Alongside this transition came greater decentralization, with the original WAX design acknowledged in the 2019 whitepaper as more centralized. The WAX Platform utilizes a strategy called WASP, which brings together the WAX blockchain, decentralized marketplaces similar to Amazon, decentralized virtual item trading and generation akin to Steam, and decentralized wallets analogous to Paypal.

The WAX Protocol blockchain delivers a token-based economy that operates on resources provided by the consumers of those same resources. The microservice layer delivers all functions required by marketplaces without excessive investment in infrastructure.

What makes WAX Unique?

The journey of WAX includes some of blockchain gaming’s most important footnotes. In 2018, the WAX ExpressTrade product allowed anyone to trade digital goods. It was a prototype for the WAX Platform’s microservice layer, and a large proportion of its usage was thanks to virtual items on a video game called CS: GO or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

CS: GO was published by Valve, whose community marketplace, Steam, is instantly recognizable to gamers and non-gamers. Valve is (in)famous for its intolerance toward NFTs, which may have stemmed from WAX’s decision to launch into its decentralized, blockchain-based future.

Following the split with Valve, WAX community developers launched an Ethereum dApp for skins called VGO. This became, at one point in 2018, the world’s largest dApp, but network congestion on Ethereum slowed confirmations and caused transaction fees to spike, almost killing VGO.

As a result, VGO switched to the WAX alpha network and eventually to the WAX Protocol blockchain when it launched.

How is the WAX Network Secured?

The WAX Protocol blockchain has 21 block producers called WAX Guilds. These node operators are rewarded for producing blocks, with rewards granted based on the number of blocks produced by each.

There is also a set of Standby Guilds that earn a share of the WAX Guild Rewards for participating and demonstrating their ability to process a block when randomly requested.

One WAX Guild is authorized to produce one block at a time, with an interval of half a second. This gives the WAX blockchain a potential throughput of 2400 transactions per second, although the average WAX block contains 150 transactions.

Furthermore, the WAX blockchain uses a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism. This means token holders can stake their WAXP tokens and use them to vote for various WAX Guild candidates.

WAX also has a system called “Boost Resource” to ease the demands on resource usage caused by the increasing popularity of P2E (Play-to-Earn) gaming. Here, staking is carried out dynamically to a user’s account when they carry out blockchain transactions. This ensures that resources go toward active WAX Cloud wallets rather than inactive ones.

Byzantine Fault Tolerance is achieved by WAX’s DPoS mechanism via a rule that strongly discourages WAX Guilds from signing two blocks at the same height or timestamp. Fifteen Guilds signing a block makes it permanent and immutable.

What is the Use of WAXP?

The main use of the WAXP cryptocurrency is staking, which secures the network and supports its usage by controlling network resources. However, each user is granted enough resources to transact 10 times daily for free. To transact beyond this amount, they have to stake WAXP.

How Much WAXP is In Circulation?

WAXP has a circulating supply of over 2.3 billion, with a total supply of over 3.9 billion. WAXP is not to be confused with the old WAX ERC-20 token. However, it is possible to swap from the old WAX contract to the new WAXP contract.

How Do You Buy WAXP?

You can buy WAXP on several major cryptocurrency exchanges. It is often paired with cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH, but trading in fiat is also available on many exchanges.

How Do You Store WAXP?

The easiest way to store, use, and stake WAXP is via a WAX Cloud wallet. You can create one in just a few clicks on the WAX website, although it does need to be funded before you can dive into the ecosystem.

Is WAXP a Good Investment?

WAXP may not be one of the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, but it is a storied project that enjoys millions of users and a significant level of adoption. It has also been used for various sales and collections by a number of world-renowned brands, including Hasbro, Funko, Nascar, Street Fighter, and Sony Pictures.

WAX makes developing dApps and minting digital goods (NFTs) extremely easy, and the number of high-quality releases on the platform is a testament to this fact. Currently, the featured NFT collections on WAX include the Hot Wheels NFT Garage, the Spider-Man: No Way Home collection, and DC x Funko Digital Pop, highlighting the mainstream adoption of the blockchain.