In brief
- IMX climbed nearly 17% Thursday and is up 50% over the past week, CoinGecko data shows.
- Ubisoft and NetMarble collaborations highlight Immutable’s push to bring crypto rewards into mainstream gaming.
- SEC approval of broader ETF listing standards has added to the upbeat sentiment across altcoins.
Immutable (IMX) led gains among select altcoins on Thursday, buoyed by the Federal Reserve’s decision to slash its funds rate amid positive tailwinds for the gaming token.
The token tied to Australian crypto gaming and Web3 infrastructure firm of the same name is up nearly 17% on the day, CoinGecko data shows. It’s also up a further 50% over the past seven days.
It comes as a relief for the token, currently ranked 90th among top cryptocurrencies, after dipping below the 100th spot earlier this year.
The gains for IMX also arrive amid a challenging backdrop for crypto gaming, where numerous token-driven projects have shut down this year amid funding shortfalls and unsustainable economies.
Industry experts Decrypt previously spoke to pointed to the pressure of launching tokens too early as a key reason behind the failures.
Looking beyond the difficulties faced in the sector, Robbie Ferguson, Immutable co-founder, remained upbeat in a Thursday tweet on the company’s developments this year.
Some of these key milestones include the distribution of 2.9 million IMX tokens in weekly rewards to users. That number has nearly tripled from its May 13 reveal of almost 1 million tokens.
To facilitate accessibility for its users, Immutable disclosed a partnership with Seychelles-based MEXC exchange on August 18, allowing direct transfer of tokens to Immutable’s zkEVM chain without the use of bridges or other swapping platforms.
In the same month, Immutable’s April tie-up with $1.3 billion gaming giant Ubisoft came to fruition. “This will make Immutable the first platform in the world where web2 studios can offer crypto rewards to their players,” the gaming company wrote in an August 12 tweet.
A partnership with South Korean Web2 gaming giant NetMarble in June, as well as a merger between ImmutableX and Immutable’s zkEVM chain in April, are other notable developments observed in the first half of 2025.
Avalanche, Pumpfun, and NEAR Protocol are also up double digits this week. While some altcoins rallied after the Fed’s quarter-point rate cut on Wednesday, Hyperliquid, Avalanche, and others received a boost related to protocol-specific developments.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of generic listing standards for commodity-based trust shares that include crypto exchange-traded products has also helped drive sentiment.
“This step from the SEC will likely see some of the altcoins that are eligible for ETFs get capital inflows as people get excited about ETF launches,” Lai Yuen, investment analyst at Fischer8 Capital, told Decrypt.
While the regulator’s rule change “unlocks buying from equity investors,” the analyst tempered expectations, adding that ETFs will “not make it magically more valuable.”
Still, Yuen said a market correction is unlikely, referring to the recent pullback noted in the S&P 500 index and gold overnight, and that crypto is likely in a consolidation phase, with expectations for further gains this year.
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