WAX is the native coin of a smart contract-enabled blockchain network by the same name, which focuses primarily on NFTs (non-fungible tokens). There are three variants of WAX’s coin: WAXP, the protocol’s native utility token; WAXE, the Ethereum ERC-20 version that can be converted from WAXP at a ratio of 1,000 WAXP to 1 WAXE; and WAXG, an ERC-20 governance token earned by stakers of WAXE. This page is for WAXP, the coin native to the Wax blockchain. WAXP is usually referred to as WAX.

WAXP Price

WAXP hit its all-time high on its first day, but as of May 2022 never reached that level again. When WAXP went ive in December 2017, the price immediately shot up to $5.01. Then it fell to 60 cents a few days later, before rising to $2.56 at the start of 2018.

When the 2017/2018 crypto bubble popped, so did WAX, which stumbled to and fro between 2 cents and 5 cents until 2021. In the spring of 2021, when bitcoin hit an all-time high, WAX reached about 30 cents, and then 40 cents in August. By November 2021, WAX briefly touched almost $1.

WAXP’s good fortune didn’t last, and by the spring of 2022 – about a year after it had started to rise, WAXP’s price headed toward the floor once again, falling to about $0.11 by May 2022.

Wax’s native token, WAXP, has a total supply of 3.7 billion and the Ethereum version, WAXE, has a maximum supply of 3.7 million. Governance token WAXG has a total supply of 10 million.

As a deflationary measure, the blockchain used to burn WAXP whenever users converted the coins to WAXE ERC-20 tokens. In November 2021, WAX started to transfer converted WAXP coins to an escrow account. When WAXE is converted into WAXP, the protocol will borrow funds from the escrow account to cover the transaction; if the account is dry, it will borrow the funds from EOS, another blockchain. This ends the deflationary practice of burning WAXP.

The intention of the new tokenomic model was to switch WAX to an ”inter-blockchain model” that allows ethereum holders to access WAX’s market while simultaneously maintaining the primacy of the WAX blockchain.

How does WAX work?

WAX is a blockchain primed for e-commerce, decentralized finance protocols and NFTs. It operates via a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) method, just like EOS. Stakers on DPoS blockchains periodically elect leaders who handle the confirmation of blocks.

The blockchain’s name is a ham-fisted acronym: Worldwide Asset eXchange. The exchange focuses on NFTs. The blockchain doesn’t charge customers fees, and two blocks are mined every second. Bitcoin, by contrast, charges several dollars per transaction and blocks take 10 minutes to mine.

WAX wants to popularize vIRL NFTs, which, according to an introductory video, “let you earn physical stuff without dealing with delivery.” Similar in principle to commodities futures, which allow traders to trade things like wheat and iron without having to haul the raw materials around the world, vIRL (pronounced viral) NFTs let holders trade assets and redeem them only on command.

Brands on board with WAX include Sony Pictures, the Saw movie franchise, Atari and Mattel). WAX also advertises its NFTs to video game designers.

Key events and management

WAX was founded by William Quigley and crypto veteran Jonathan Yantis. Quigley holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is WAX’s CEO. Yantis is WAX’s chief operating officer.

Quigley also co-founded Tether, the U.S. dollar stablecoin that in 2021 settled with the New York attorney general for $18.5 million. NYAG Letitia James alleged that Tether and Bitfinex “unlawfully covered-up massive financial losses to keep their scheme going and protect their bottom lines.” As of May 2022, Tether had a market capitalization of $83 billion.

Quigley is also the managing director of Magnetic, a crypto investment firm. He used to run Crypto Currency Partners, an investment firm that was an early investor in crypto exchanges Coinbase (COIN) and Kraken and in Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin.