Merit Circle Brings Immutable zkEVM Into Beam Crypto Gaming Ecosystem

The gaming-focused group Merit Circle DAO—which previously launched an Avalanche subnet called Beam—has announced that its Sphere NFT marketplace and tech stack will now also be compatible with Immutable’s upcoming zkEVM network, which is powered by Polygon. 

“This strategic alliance with Merit Circle DAO and commitment from Beam aligns perfectly with our mission to bring digital ownership to every gamer in the world,” said Immutable co-founder and CEO James Ferguson in a statement.

The Beam SDK, Beam Companion iOS and Android apps, and Sphere will now be compatible with both Avalanche and Immutable zkEVM. The Immutable Passport crypto wallet and Immutable Orderbook developer tool will also be integrated into the Beam SDK and Sphere as options for users and blockchain game developers.

Merit Circle DAO, which has pooled over $100 million worth of assets in its treasury, is also exploring the possibility of investing in different games and studios already building with Immutable, according to the announcement.

“Blockchain technology will soon define gaming,” said Merit Circle co-founder and Chief Growth Officer Marco van den Heuvel in a statement. “Our user-friendly applications, combined with Immutable’s zkEVM powered by Polygon, are going to be a key piece of the gaming jigsaw in the very near future.”

Merit Circle is bringing its Beam SDK and tech products to the Immutable zkEVM—but what does that mean for its Avalanche Subnet?

“Beam is absolutely not moving away from Avalanche,” Heuvel clarified in a message to Decrypt. “We’re absolutely excited about the expansion and look forward to building with Immutable but will definitely also continue our efforts on the Beam subnet and relationship with Avalanche.”

Merit Circle DAO’s Beam blockchain—not to be confused with the privacy coin of the same name—officially launched in August this year and has seen over 272,000 total transactions on its mainnet, according to Avalanche data. The Beam subnet currently has about 20 games building crypto integrations with the network, according to a representative.  

“The Beam tech stack is chain-agnostic,” Heuvel told Decrypt. “We build and expand upon what we already have because we want to be where the gamers and game developers [and] studios are.”

Merit Circle DAO is one of many blockchain gaming builders taking a multi-chain approach. In the past two weeks alone, Horizon’s Sequence launched a Builder tool for game developers that supports over 11 different EVM networks simultaneously, Magic Eden released a cross-chain wallet that supports four blockchains, and the Portal Foundation is building a wallet that aims to offer a more interoperable crypto gaming experience, to name a few.

Edited by Andrew Hayward