It's been a rough year so far for investors in crypocurrency. The Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) price has lost just over 40% of its value, while the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price is down almost 50%.
But bear markets and a worsening sentiment haven't deterred some entrepreneurs from innovating this year — defiant in the face of the mass lay-offs occurring in the industry.
One Australian entrepreneur, Robbie Ferguson, is doing just that. He's pumping the gas on hiring for Immutable X, a non-fungible token (NFT) trading platform for digital assets.
As reported by the Australian Financial Review, the platform, then known as simply Immutable, was founded in the depths of one of crypto's most severe meltdowns that occurred in 2017.
Video games Etherbots and Gods Unchained were developed, and the company's foray into the trade of digital assets began. Players could buy and sell in-game items, and Immutable forged this concept into an enduring business model.
Today Ferguson is busy developing Immutable X, funded by a $280 million capital raise it secured in March.
Immutable X builds on its original premise of gamers trading non-fungible items in a frictionless environment. Unlike other NFT platforms like Open Sea or Super Rare, traders pay zero gas fees to mint, transfer, and trade their virtual assets.
Its website states it is the world's best platform for NFT trades. It boasts Marvel, Disney, and Guild of Guardians as some of its clients.
And Ferguson's personal conviction certainly matches the corporate messaging.
Speaking with the AFR, Ferguson described his ambitious vision for the future of NFTs, projecting that they will be used to tokenise assets that range from music tracks to treasury bills, recorded forever on the blockchain.
But the Ethereum price will still play a part
However, some analysts don't share Ferguson's brass-necked optimism, or at least for the immediate future, with the main culprit being the sell-off in the Ethereum price.
The correlation between the Ethereum price and NFT sales is not fully understood, with some studies showing the correlation as being either a little, some, a lot, or none at all.
Some experts take the broader view and think the crypto market in general is still speculative, and, therefore, risky. This includes Miller Tabak & Co's chief market strategist Matt Maley.
One can interpret this as meaning different things. Still, it's hard to imagine NFTs flying out the door if people believe they will lose money in the long run, with the Ethereum price acting as a barometer of investors' fear and greed at the minimum.
