While the NFT ecosystem continues to evolve rapidly, June 30, 2025 represented a new power dynamic. Immutable, a layer-two scaling solution for Ethereum, saw a meteoric rise that threatened to upend Ethereum’s stronghold on the NFT ecosystem. Erik Lundström is a veteran blockchain journalist. Read on as he dives into what has caused this massive increase and read what it means for the future of NFTs.
Immutable's Meteoric Rise
Immutable achieved a stunning increase of 215% in June 2025. This increase is due largely in part to the exceptional milestone of the mobile game Guild of Guardians. With Guild of Guardians leading sales within the top three collections, Immutable has risen to the top of the NFT market. No matter how you feel about this success, it demonstrates the growing role of gaming as an engine for consumer NFT adoption.
One of Immutable’s founding ideas was to support gamers by giving them true ownership of their in-game assets via NFTs. This strategy aligns with evolving player expectations where consumers demand more control and value from their gaming experience. Immutable has emerged as a groundbreaking layer-two solution, tackling critical challenges surrounding scalability and transaction speed on the Ethereum network. This layer-two solution greatly reduces the cost and time of transactions, removing barriers for new users and making NFTs more accessible to a wider audience.
This rapid ascent of Immutable, then, represents a telling moment in the broader NFT market. The impressive success of Guild of Guardians further proves that blockchain gaming has the power to bring NFTs into the mainstream. Developers and gamers alike are making a rush to Immutable’s platform. As they do, so too will its impact on the NFT space—including all that we outlined above—grow immensely.
Guild of Guardians: A Catalyst for Change
The success of Guild of Guardians is not a simple stroke of luck. It’s another pivotal inflection point in the application and conception of NFTs. Fableborne is a great example of how NFTs can be used for so much more than just a digital collectible, adding utility and value to the broader gaming ecosystem.
Guild of Guardians' focus on beautifully created NFTs that are transferrable between universes sets a new standard for NFT utility, showcasing their potential beyond just being collectibles. As one of the most anticipated web3 mobile gaming experiences, Guild of Guardians is truly a trailblazer. Its success can open the doors for many other web3 games, proving to the world how blockchain-based games can be enjoyable and economically advantageous. The achievement of Guild of Guardians will accelerate the acceptance of blockchain gaming. It proves that blockchain-based games can be engaging, fun, and rewarding – enticing more gamers and investors into the space.
As part of the Immutable ecosystem, Guild of Guardians' success can contribute to the growth and adoption of Immutable's other games and projects, further establishing the company as a leader in the web3 gaming space. The game’s runaway success has led to even faster adoption of the platform Immutable hosts, bringing an avalanche of new developers and users to its ecosystem. This virtuous cycle helps to cement Immutable’s reputation as the foremost player in the NFT market.
Immutable vs. Ethereum and Polygon: A Comparative Analysis
In order to really grasp the significance of Immutable’s impact, it’s important to compare them to other major platforms such as Ethereum and Polygon. Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, making them better suited for different needs within the NFT space.
| Feature | ImmutableX | Ethereum | Polygon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transaction Fees | Significantly Lower | Average fee of about $15 | Approximately $0.01 |
| Transaction Speed | Up to 65,000 transactions per second | Slower than ImmutableX and Polygon | Thousands of transactions per second |
| Scalability | Most Scalable (Potential for 100K TPS) | Limited Scalability | Layer-2 Scaling Solution (76% cost reduction) |
| EVM Compatibility | Supports Third-Party APIs (Google, AWS) | Full EVM Compatibility | Full EVM Compatibility |
| Gaming-Specific | More Gaming-Focused Tools and Services | Less Gaming-Specific Infrastructure | Less Gaming-Specific Infrastructure |
Ethereum is far and away the most popular blockchain for NFTs. Yet, its expensive transaction fees and relatively slow speeds often make it unappealing to the average user and developer. While Polygon provides a cheaper and faster alternative, ImmutableX wins when it comes to scalability and gaming-specific features. That’s possible because Immutable is more than 600x more efficient than Ethereum L1, allowing for real-time minting, transferring and trading.
Polygon provides complete EVM compatibility, enabling developers to easily port games they’ve built elsewhere or tap into the massive Ethereum development ecosystem. ImmutableX integrates with other third-party APIs, including Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services (AWS). In the end, selecting a platform will largely come down to the unique needs and priorities of NFT creators and investors.
Implications for the NFT Market
Immutable’s rapid ascent has big implications for the booming NFT market. Beyond its phenomenal success, Arbitrum’s success is a demonstration of how layer-two solutions can help address Ethereum’s scalability problems. It’s this breakthrough that opens the door to more widespread use of NFTs.
We believe Guild of Guardians has the potential to kickstart a new wave of mass adoption for NFTs in the gaming industry. Through this evolution, NFTs will enter the mainstream, inspiring a broader population of creators and collectors. The NFT art and nonart market exploded recently! From July 1, 2021 to October 1, 2021 trading activity had increased by three times the amount to over 95,581 active wallets. The largest group of NFT enthusiasts being 18-24 years old at 14% of survey respondents. The second largest group is the 25-34 year old who makes up 8%.
We need to understand the fact that the ᵗᴴᵉ 1% of NFT wallets own 70% of all NFTs on the market today. This reality reflects the ongoing reality that a small cadre of high-net-worth individuals continues to swamp the market. Nature NFTs get their value from being one-of-a-kind and limited, thanks to the blockchain. 1-of-1 editions are especially valuable, as these unique copies have zero editions, spiking desirability. The NFT market is maturing quickly. Look for more diversification of ownership and a cooler array of use cases beyond collectibles.
