“Xai is built to enable open trading in the next generation of video games,” said the official site says. In its quest to do this, the network aims to reduce costs, offer account abstraction to hide some of those pesky blockchain elements, and support game makers in the process.
The layer 3 blockchain was developed in part by Offchain laboratoriesthe original creator and primary developer behind Ethereum layer-2 Arbitration network on which Xai is built. And Xai gets help from a game developer Ex Populuswhich, in partnership with the Xai Foundation, will deploy the first games planned to launch on the network.
But what does this really mean? We’ve gathered everything you need to know.
What is Xai?
Many crypto users are familiar with the concept of layer 1 blockchains and layer 2 scaling networks built on top of them, but Xai bills itself as a layer 3 network. This is because it is built on top of the Ethereum Layer-2 scaling network Arbitration.
In practice, this means that Xai keeps Arbitrum’s core functionalities the same, while tweaking certain aspects of the network for a more targeted experience intended for a specific use case. While Arbitrum is a general layer-2 scaling solution that can be used for all kinds of apps, Xai specifically addresses the needs of both gamers and game developers.
For example, Xai offers account abstraction– meaning it will hide confusing parts from users – when it comes to the blockchain wallet and account experience. The network also offers developers increased gas and contract limits.
Most notably, the Xai site says it is “introducing parallel processing and enhancements for improved scalability, efficiency and cost reduction.” That’s in addition to Arbitrum’s existing layer 2 approach, which handles transactions outside the Ethereum mainnet to do so at lower costs and higher volume through its optimistic sum technology.
By lowering costs and increasing transaction times, Xai aims to create a smoother gaming experience while embracing the unique elements that make blockchain gaming what it is, such as real-world ownership of unique in-game items and tokenized economies.
“The cheaper and faster we can make things,” said Tobias Batton, co-founder and CEO of Ex Populus Declutter“the better experience we can offer users.”
What is the XAI token?
To kick off 2024 with a bang, 125 million XAI tokens (5% of the token supply) were broadcast to gamers, according to the Xai Foundation. The total value of the airdrop at launch was almost $70 million. grow to $140 million less than a week later.
The primary purpose of the XAI token is to be used as the gas fee token on the layer 3 blockchain. But there are also potential benefits, as XAI tokens can be exchanged for esXAI tokens (or escrow XAI tokens) and deployed to earn interest-like rewards.
Once you stake your esXAI tokens, you can participate in staking pools. From the fourth quarter of 2024, you can also join the board and get “exclusive access” to special events and assets related to projects on the Xai blockchain.
Which games build on Xai?
All this technical stuff is great, but a gaming network is ultimately defined by the games on it. After all, no one would PS5 if there were no games. So what games are built on Xai?
With Ex Populus as an important partner, the developer has done just that his series of games to the layer 3 network. Currently we know of two of the games in development by Ex Populus: rogue-lite auto-battler Final shapeand a hover car action shooter LAMOvers. But the studio’s website also states that an open-world experience is currently in pre-production, with details yet to be announced.
Apart from this collaboration, this was the case at the beginning of this year announced That Crypto unicorns and the associated NFT games will migrate Ethereum side chain network Polygon to Xai. Crypto Unicorns NFTs have generated $35 million in trading volume. The move was primarily motivated due to “challenges” encountered when playing a game on Polygon, the team said Declutternamely in the form of peaks in network gas rates.
Afterwards, a prominent indie gaming curator called The MIX, or The Media Indie Exchange, said it plans to launch more than 100 games on Xai before the end of 2024. Which games will launch on the network is yet to be confirmed, Xai said that “many” of the games are already on Steam and will be reworked to take advantage of blockchain technology.
This means it’s likely that Web2 games will currently gain Web3 functionality using Xai, which according to The MIX will bear a “striking similarity” to the way Valve allows players to buy and sell. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in-game items.
Reboot, the crypto gaming protocol powering Pixel Vault’s flagship game BattlePlan, was recently announced an alliance with the Xai Foundation to migrate the game to the network. Sometime this quarter, BattlePlan will move one layer deeper from Arbitrum Nova to Xai in an effort to “improve the player experience.”
Pack your bags, we’re moving to… pic.twitter.com/tctC7wAdMG
— Reboot (@rebootgg_) April 3, 2024
How staking works on Xai
As an incentive to keep users on the network and reward them for supporting the consensus model, Xai began rolling out staking over two waves.
Version one permitted owners of Sentry nodes– who are responsible for monitoring and flagging blocks on the Xai network – to acquire up to 25,000 esXAI. Then, in April, version two was rolled out, which opened the gates to every holder of esXAI.
Now staking pools can be created by Sentry key holders – the NFT is used to operate a Sentry Node to support the network – and then anyone can stake esXAI in the pools that have been created. Pool operators can control the distribution of pooled network rewards, specifying the percentages allocated to themselves, Sentry Key-holding stakers, and standard esXAI stakers.
Xai also introduced a tier system where the higher the level of a betting pool, based on the number of esXAI staked, the greater the reward multiplier for the Sentry Keys staked.
For example, if 500,000 esXAI is staked, the Sentry Key will see a 3x reward multiplier. This starts at ‘Bronze’ with no bonus reward, but climbs all the way up to ‘Diamond’, which has a 6x reward multiplier.
The future
Xai is like an onion: it has layers. As a layer 3 blockchain, it attempts to improve on the layers that came before it to optimize the gaming experience. Strip away even more layers and you’ll find a robust token and staking system with governance in future layers.
Of course, the one layer that’s still a bit thin at the time of writing concerns the actual games themselves built on top of the network. But based on the announcements so far, it looks like those games are coming.
Edited by Andrew Hayward