Buy Immutable X

IMX is the token of Immutable, an Australian company that builds blockchain infrastructure for video games. It can be used to pay transaction fees on Immutable's network, it can be staked, and it carries a vote in the project's governance process.

The name needs untangling before anything else. CoinJar and most other exchanges list this asset as Immutable X, which was the name of the company's first network. That network no longer exists. IMX is now the token of Immutable's current chain, and the company itself has moved a long way from what it was doing when the token launched. Our guide to Ethereum covers the network Immutable is built on top of, and our guide to blockchain layers explains where chains like this one sit.

Where Immutable came from

Immutable was founded in Sydney in 2018 as Fuel Games, by brothers James and Robbie Ferguson with Alex Connolly. Its first product was Gods Unchained, a digital trading card game in which the cards are non-fungible tokens the player owns rather than entries in a publisher's database. That idea, that players should own game items outright, is the thesis the whole company was built on.

Immutable X launched in 2021 as the infrastructure to make it work: a network built with StarkWare that could move and trade game items without Ethereum's fees. IMX launched alongside it. Australian and international investors backed the company heavily through the 2021 and 2022 cycle.

What happened to Immutable X

Immutable X was retired. It was merged into the company's newer network, now called Immutable Chain, in early 2026, and Immutable's own documentation states that all Immutable X functionality is deprecated and will be removed, with the marketplace already gone and the transaction endpoint no longer accepting new activity. The deprecation notice is the primary source.

Tokens held on Immutable X, including IMX itself, were migrated across automatically to the same wallet addresses, and the two bridges were combined. Game items were less tidy: most were migrated automatically, but a number of games chose to handle their own migrations, so the outcome for a specific collection depended on the studio behind it.

This matters for reading anything written about IMX before 2026. Descriptions of Immutable X as a zero fee network for trading game items, of its global order book, or of its inability to run general smart contracts are descriptions of a network that has been switched off.

How Immutable's network works now

The current network is Immutable zkEVM, also referred to as Immutable Chain. It is a chain that runs Ethereum's smart contract code, was built with Polygon's development kit, produces blocks every couple of seconds, and uses IMX as the token that pays for activity on it. Its technical documentation covers the design.

Two points deserve care, because the branding suggests more than the network currently delivers.

Despite the name, it does not prove its work to Ethereum. A zkEVM implies that a chain produces cryptographic proofs that Ethereum verifies. Independent research site L2BEAT records that the proof system is not fully functional, that state validation is none, that the data needed to reconstruct the chain is not published on Ethereum, and that it therefore classifies the network as a sidechain rather than a rollup, with a stated intention to become one later. Immutable X, for its part, was a validium: it did produce proofs, but kept its data off chain with a small committee attesting that the data existed.

The bridge and the upgrade keys are the risk, not the chain. Assets move between Ethereum and Immutable Chain through a bridge that depends on an external validator network, and the bridge contracts can be upgraded by a small group of signers with no delay. L2BEAT flags that a malicious upgrade could result in the loss of bridged funds and that there is no window for users to exit ahead of a change. This is the ordinary shape of a young gaming chain, and it is not what most people picture when they read the word Ethereum.

What IMX is used for

Transaction fees. Activity on Immutable Chain is paid for in IMX, though the company also sponsors fees for players using its wallet product, so many players never touch the token. Protocol fees. Immutable charges a fee on trades made through its order book, and a portion of that fee must be settled in IMX. Where a trader holds none, it is bought on the open market. That pool is what funds staking rewards. Staking. IMX can be staked for a share of that fee pool. Governance. IMX carries a vote on proposals about the project's direction, published for token holders to signal on. Control of the network's contracts sits with the company's signers rather than with voters, so this is closer to consultation than to control.

IMX has a hard cap of two billion tokens, set when the token launched, and no mechanism to create more. The distribution schedule that released tokens to the team, investors and the ecosystem has run its course, which removes a source of selling pressure that shaped the token's first years. There is no burn or buyback mechanism that we could identify.

What Immutable does now

This is the part most coverage of IMX has not caught up with, and it is the most important thing on this page after the network change.

Immutable has repositioned. Its public face is now an artificial intelligence platform for game marketing and player acquisition, sold to mainstream studios that have nothing to do with cryptocurrency, and the company's own website leads with that product and its mainstream publisher customers rather than with tokens or digital collectibles. The blockchain products, the chain and the wallet, are still listed and still operating, but they are no longer the headline.

The games business has narrowed to match. Immutable cut roles and moved the development of its own titles, including Gods Unchained, out to a third party during 2026, with its mobile title placed into maintenance. Third party games continue to launch on the chain, and the most prominent partnerships of the previous cycle have not survived: GameStop, which built its digital collectibles marketplace on Immutable X, closed it in 2024 and cited regulatory uncertainty.

None of that is hidden, and none of it means the chain has stopped. It does mean that anyone buying IMX is buying the token of a network that is no longer the centre of its own company's strategy, and no summary of this asset is honest without saying so.

What are the risks of holding IMX?

The company's priorities have moved. Immutable's growth story is now a software product that does not use IMX. The token's value depends on infrastructure that is no longer the company's main commercial focus. Dependence on one category. IMX is a bet on players wanting to own game items on a blockchain. That category has been promised for years, has consumed a great deal of capital, and has not produced a mainstream hit. If it does not arrive, there is no second use case waiting. Concentrated control. The chain's contracts and bridge can be upgraded by a small group of signers with no delay, and only approved parties can publish the chain's state to Ethereum. Token holders vote on direction, not on the code. Bridge and technical risk. Moving assets in and out relies on an external validator network. Bridges have historically been the most exploited part of the industry, as our guide to bridges explains. Retired products. Immutable X was shut down, the marketplace was removed, and the tooling built for it is being withdrawn. A project that retires its flagship network can retire other things. Thin fee demand. The staking rewards and much of the token's demand come from fees on trading activity. Quiet markets mean thin rewards, and there is no burn or buyback to offset that. Competition. Immutable competes with other gaming chains, with general purpose networks, and with the overwhelming majority of the games industry, which has no interest in blockchains at all. Volatility. IMX is not a stablecoin. Its value moves sharply and can fall substantially. Our guide to altcoins covers what that means for smaller assets. Limited protection. Cryptoassets are not covered by the Australian Government's Financial Claims Scheme, and holding IMX does not give you the protections that apply to regulated financial products. You should be prepared to lose all the money you put in.

Buying IMX with Australian dollars on CoinJar

CoinJar has operated since 2013 and lists IMX against Australian dollars, so you can buy, sell and hold it without converting through another cryptocurrency first. Current charges are on our fees page, and live Australian dollar rates are on our cryptocurrency prices page.

CoinJar is registered with AUSTRAC as a digital currency exchange provider, Registration No. DCE100749118-001. That registration covers anti money laundering and counter terrorism financing obligations only. It is not endorsement of CoinJar's products, and it is not approval of any cryptoasset listed on the platform.

How is IMX taxed in Australia?

The ATO generally treats IMX as a capital gains tax asset. A disposal can occur when you sell it for Australian dollars, exchange it for another cryptoasset, spend it or give it away.

The ATO sets out its position on its crypto asset investments pages. Our guide to crypto tax in Australia provides a practical overview. This is general information, not tax advice. Consider speaking to a qualified tax adviser about your circumstances.