Introducing: Sphere
Over the past couple of months, we have been busy developing a new product that will tie the entire Merit Circle gaming ecosystem together; Sphere. This marketplace seeks to cement our key position within the gaming industry. Incorporating improved design, usability, efficiency and security, we know that this marketplace will set a precedent for the industry.
Join us now as we relive Sphere’s development process and share what we see as the future of this marketplace and the role it will play in the Merit Circle ecosystem.
What is Sphere?
Sphere is a marketplace for gaming assets in the broadest sense of the word. The term ‘gaming assets’ has been completely transformed over the decades. Once, these only meant physical items like dice or cards. With the digitalization of gaming, these started to include cartridges, CDs and consoles, and today they encompass so much more.
Today, thanks to the introduction of NFT technology, everything and anything within a game can become an asset, from your very account to the land where battles take place and the weapons your character uses to slay the ultimate boss. All of these assets can be freely transferred and exchanged from person-to-person on a marketplace like Sphere.
Sphere will open its doors to all gaming assets utilizing NFT technology that the gaming industry has to offer. As we’ve shared previously, with Sphere we are taking the wishes and needs of all parties into consideration from the creator and the collector to the gamer.
Focus on what’s important
Sphere creates an additional layer of interaction. An extra dimension to what we’re doing at Merit Circle. Through opening this platform we allow anyone to exchange gaming assets peer-to-peer without an intermediary. The shape of a sphere fits perfectly as a symbol for us to carry forward.
Navigating through the marketplace you will notice the conscious use of color. On the NFT detail pages, color is used sparingly, in an effort to bring attention to the artwork and the things that matter (i.e price, rarity, and the sales status of the NFT).
We have paid special attention to areas which are usually boring (e.g waiting for a transaction to complete) and turn these into what they should be — moments of joy.
How has Sphere been built?
Optimal efficiency
Acquiring and exchanging gaming assets should occur in the blink of an eye. Imagine spending hours on-end grinding in your favorite game to defeat a boss, but you realize you’re missing just one potion before you can go to battle. Instead of grinding even longer, you decide to simply purchase this potion on Sphere, quick and easy.
Acknowledging Ethereum’s dominance over other chains in seniority, decentralization and reliability, many games currently operate on the Ethereum mainnet. Its fees, however, make it inaccessible for the masses, especially for smaller transactions. Therefore, we have optimized our smart contracts in a way that is at least 50% more efficient than current solutions, and we’re striving to increase that number.
To cover the smaller transactions and a larger audience within the gamefi industry, we will initially launch on Polygon too. Obviously, there are dozens of promising games launching on chains like Solana, Avalanche and Arbitrium, so as Sphere expands, it’s important we include these games as well.
Security remains key
As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. The handling of precious assets that can hold significant value should be treated as such. When building Sphere, we chose to focus on four core pillars: design, user experience, gas efficiency and, crucially, security. Having witnessed various marketplaces leave their doors wide open to vulnerabilities, we were convinced that we had to raise the industry standard from the very beginning.
Initially, we approached Quantstamp for a run-through of the solidity codebase as we did previously with our staking contracts and the Edenhorde smart contracts. Going through this first audit and reiterating on found vulnerabilities, Quantstamp will do a re-audit paving the way for the second layer of security. That’s where Sherlock comes in. Sherlock describes itself as follows:
“Sherlock provides security reviews (from top security experts), reimburses protocols when they get hacked (from the Sherlock protection fund) and also helps protocols stay secure with bug bounties. There are many organizations that provide security reviews but almost no one is willing to back up their reviews with real money. Sherlock is the first protocol that puts skin-in-the-game and pays millions of dollars to protocols if they get hacked”
In short, Sherlock will perform another audit after the Quantstamp audit and provide insurance up to $5,000,000 TVL towards any breach that may have slipped through Quantstamp’s audit. On top of that, we are offering a $500,000 bug bounty that will be live on Immunefi. We will release in-depth coverage of Sphere’s entire security set-up from Sphere’s official accounts in due course.
Core of the ecosystem
The addition of Sphere is a milestone in the on-going creation of an indestructible system. We developed Sphere after recognising the demand for something new from within our community and our partners. Now, realizing its potential through recent conversations with these partners, our beloved community and other external parties, we are more excited than ever about Sphere.
Right around the corner
The very first version of Sphere is just around the corner. Without pinning ourselves to a specific date, we can share that there’s a team of experts working around the clock to launch in the near future. Please note that this first version is far from how we envision a gaming asset-marketplace in the future but it’s a start, the foundation is solid.
There are plenty more ways we can further improve the marketplace and many plans are already in the works. However, the best way to improve is by getting feet wet and receiving real feedback from users. As with other products, an official governance proposal must pass that will entail various details, mainly about future development.
Are you ready to move markets? We are ready to have you!
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, financial or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any digital assets and the use of finance-related terminology are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute any recommendation for any action or an offer to provide investment, financial or other advisory services. This content may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to purchase any digital asset referenced herein. There can be no assurance that the investments mentioned herein will be profitable. The digital assets referenced in this report currently face an uncertain regulatory landscape in several jurisdictions. The legal and regulatory risks inherent in referenced digital assets are not the subject of this content. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any reference to investments made herein are made by Merit Circle Ventures, held on trust for a purpose to accelerate and further the growth of the Merit Circle ecosystem. The assets held by Merit Circle Ventures are not controlled by the DAO or held on behalf of it. The DAO can however exert certain limited checks and balances on it and signal non-binding wishes to it via governance. Merit Circle Venture’s mission and purpose is aligned with the DAO’s.
Want to be the first to learn about Sphere?
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GetOnSphere
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