ENJ vs WAX, an uneven match.
Or why you should not compare these tokens.
“What is the difference between ENJ and WAX?”
- is probably one of the most asked questions I get.
But truth be told, you can’t quite compare these two, and that’s the reason I held back for such a long time on writing an article on it.
I mean, of course, you can, but you would do neither of them justice.
The primary purpose of ENJ is to back the value of items in the Enjin ecosystem.
So-called NFTs, short for Non-Fungible Tokens, are minted (created) on Ethereum using the ERC-1155 token standard developed by Enjin.
Enjin is building an ecosystem around its token standard and provides both users and developers with tools to make blockchain implementation on Ethereum easily accessible. End-users can make use of the Enjin Wallet or the EnjinX block explorer for Ethereum. Developers are provided with SDKs like the Enjin Unity SDK. To facilitate these SDKs and take part in the Enjin ecosystem, developers need to create their NFTs infusing ENJ.
It’s up for the developer to decide how much ENJ he wants his item to be backed by. The backing can be seen as a sort of ‘gold standard’ for Enjin NFTs. If the value of an item were to drop below the value of the ENJ it’s infused with, users could decide to melt it and free up the ENJ. Developers can also decide to impose a fee on the transfer of their NFTs, this fee has to be covered in ENJ by the user in addition to the ETH he needs to make the transaction.
For a more in depths view of how ENJ is used in the Enjin Ecosystem follow up with this article.
As already mentioned ENJ is facilitating the Ethereum blockchain, to solve Ethereums scaling issues they will be introducing Efinity, their own layer two scaling solution for Ethereum. As far as I am aware a release date for Efinity has yet to be set. So far this keeps getting pushed back. The last release window was supposedly Summer 2019. Though, this is not directly tied to ENJ as a token but instead provides value to the overall ecosystem, similar to EnjinX and the Enjin Wallet.
Enjin will also provide marketplaces where you can sell and lend your NFTs to other players for a fee in ENJ and trade your NFTs safely through on-chain escrow via Efinity.
Similar to ENJ, WAX is used to fuel the WAX ecosystem, but differently. WAX is not building on Ethereum, but they already built and launched their own blockchain using EOSio technology. WAX is blockchain agnostic and will allow for transactions across chains through it’s bridge-service. So it doesn’t matter if the items you want to trade are on WAX or an entirely different chain like Ethereum or Tron. This, of course, includes Enjin items.
In the WAX ecosystem, WAX is used for a variety of purposes, creating demand and giving the token value. Unlike ENJ, you do not need WAX to mint NFTs on the WAX blockchain, but you will still be able to back them not only with WAX but also physical real-world assets like collectibles or electronics. Basically whatever you can think of. And probably even other cryptos through the bridge-service.
As said, WAX has its own blockchain, the WAX blockchain is a multi-purpose chain with optimizations for e-commerce, it is not a gaming blockchain or a payment token as many assume.
On a blockchain level WAX is used for governance through staking and voting.
The WAX blockchain facilitates a delegated proof of stake consensus mechanism. Users stake their WAX and vote the validators that operate the chain. In return, users receive WAX as a reward for their participation. WAX is built around the purpose of making money and provides a variety of ways token-holders can earn on the WAX Platform.
The WAX protocol token is not only used for governance but will also serve as collateral for escrow by so-called Transfer Agents and marketplaces. This way an asset can be traded trustless on WAX even if it actually exists in the real world or inside another ecosystem that can not directly be accessed on a blockchain level by smart contracts.
Beyond that WAX is used for resource staking. Using Enjin, users and developers pay transaction fees in Ethereum to deploy their smart contracts or make transactions outside of Efinty. On WAX this works slightly different, neither users nor developers pay for the transactions but they need to hold a stake of WAX tokens that equate in a share of the total computing resources the WAX platform has at its disposal. In fact, developers can even also earn income through staking rewards while they run a dApp. Once you don’t need your computing resources anymore you are free to unstake and sell your tokens again.
Similar to Enjin WAX is providing both users and developers with tools and toolkits. One of these tools is the WAX Cloud Wallet, another would be the WAX Random Number Generator.
Software Development Kits for a variety of purposes like websites, game engines, AR/VR/MR (mobile) applications are also being worked on.
Check this video for an example.
In summary:
ENJ is a token used in the Enjin Ecosystem. The purpose of Enjin is to foster an Ecosystem around blockchain gaming on the Ethereum blockchain and its (to be released) layer 2 scaling solution Efinity. ENJ is used to infuse NFTs with value.
WAX is a token for the WAX blockchain. The purpose of WAX as a platform is to bring blockchain and its advantages to the masses as a backend solution without exposing the users to complex wallets or exchanges. The tokenomics of WAX are built around creating value for token-holders and users of the WAX ecosystem through passive and active income sources.
So while both projects have a relation to gaming, they want to achieve different things and target different markets by various means. WAX supports blockchain gaming, but its focus is on e-commerce and blockchain adoption as a whole.
