What Is WAX?

Statistical studies have shown that more than 200 million gamers purchase US$50 billion worth of virtual assets on an annual basis. However, the majority of those people are faced with high platform transaction fees, and are also vulnerable to having their items stolen by hackers. Additionally, the online gaming marketplace is currently fragmented and makes use of a host of business models that are tailored to suit the demands of gamers from different parts of the globe.

WAX is an all–new virtual marketplace that allows the exchange of digital assets to occur in a completely decentralized manner. It makes use of a global token that empowers customers to buy and sell virtual goods effortlessly.

Additionally, the WAX platform has been designed to support a variety of selling structures so as to maximize liquidity, as well as to enable alternative selling mechanisms such as bidding and reserve bidding.

Not only that, WAX also leverages some of the core aspects of the OPSkins asset exchange, thereby enabling a new generation of crypto traders to participate in the online exchange of virtual assets.

Overview of WAX

• Easy-to-use interface
• Total number of tokens available: 1,850,000,000
• Eliminates fake reviews via a new review system
• Prevents transaction fraud via advanced safety mechanisms
• Makes use of standardized catalogs to provide accurate and concise product information

Key Features

Simply put, WAX is a global P2P marketplace that has been designed exclusively for the exchange or trading of video game-related virtual goods. All of the transactions are executed through the use of smart contracts, and financial risks that are commonly incurred by consignment-based marketplaces are eliminated totally.

This platform allows market participants to serve as:

• Listing and selling agents
• Item settlement agents
• Appraisers
• Affiliates
• Buyers and sellers

The WAX Protocol serves as a decentralized blockchain solution that focuses on the seamless transfer of virtual goods.

This protocol is primarily focused on serving the rapidly growing gaming industry, but it has been configured in such a way that it is able to conform to the needs of various other retail market segments. Also, to meet the high throughput demand of the global market, WAX makes use of a Delegated Proof of Stake consensus algorithm that has been chosen primarily for its use of “guilds” and other smart technological solutions.

How WAX works

The WAX Platform uses a DPOS consensus algorithm that was initially conceived and formulated by BitShares. Through the use of this mechanism, the WAX system is able to allow for a large volume of daily transactions. It should also be noted that, unlike conventional Proof of Work (PoW) based systems, the confirming nodes used by DPOS are selected by users who pledge votes to proposed delegates.

(Flowchart courtesy of the WAX whitepaper)

Transfer Agents are used to help in the seamless exchange of virtual assets between two consenting parties, and their authority is restricted to only one game or server. They are responsible for settlement of all contracts within the network.

Other core responsibilities of Transfer Agents include:

• Communicating with sellers and buyers so as to come to an agreement regarding the pickup and delivery of a particular virtual item
• Taking possession of the virtual asset from the seller once he or she has confirmed a transaction
• Authenticating the asset and checking whether all of the specified sale criteria have been met
• Signing the Settlement Execution Contract associated with the asset in question
• Delivering the goods to the buyer and subsequently making sure that the contract has been settled

Lastly, it is important to understand that all transactions on the WAX Platform make use of signed data packages. Each individual transaction incurs a small fee which is taken in the form of WAX tokens and is then used for the further development of the platform.

History of WAX

The WAX platform was developed by the same people who created OPSkins. OPSkins is the world’s biggest marketplace that allows for a streamlined exchange of video game-related goods and assets.  

Image courtesy of Wax.io

William Quigley is currently in charge of all company operations. He has been in the gaming industry for over 20 years, and is also Managing Director at Cashel Enterprises. John Brechisci is the co-founder and CTO of OPSkins. He is responsible for the design and handling of the WAX (Worldwide Asset eXchange) platform.

Token Market Performance

The market performance of WAX is quite interesting, as we can see that the value of a single token increased quite steeply with the dawn of the new year. However, since then, its value has stabilized and currently stands at around US$0.35 USD.

WAX token one-year performance from Dec. 2017 to Feb. 2018 (courtesy of CoinMarketCap)

At its peak, the value of a single token was an impressive US$2.67. With the way the crypto market seems to garner more and more interest by the day, WAX seems to be a good investment option for investors looking to source new alt-currencies.

Final Thoughts

With the rise of various blockchain technologies, it is slowly becoming apparent that the crypto domain has much to offer in terms of streamlining asset exchange within the online gaming sector. While in the past, companies like Steam have monopolized the gaming market and charged users high transaction fees, services like WAX have the potential to completely alter the balance of power, and to change the way virtual game trading is done today.

Since WAX is backed by the OPSkins platform, it comes as a fully developed network that is ready for instant utilization. Also, with the gaming industry pulling in more revenue than ever before, it would not be surprising to see WAX on the list of the top cryptos to look out for in 2018.