Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based trading and battling game that allows users to breed, raise, battle and trade Axie creatures. Inspired by the likes of Pokémon and Tamagotchi, Axie Infinity incorporates blockchain technology and the highly popular NFTs (non-fungible token) into their new-age video game.
Through combining advanced tech with video game functionality, the Axie Infinity platform has proven to be at the cutting edge of the gaming revolution, for players and investors alike. Discover more about this decentralised asset in the article below.
What is Axie Infinity (AXS)?
Built on the Ethereum blockchain platform, Axie Infinity is a video game that uses NFTs to represent unique creatures, abilities, land plots and other in-game assets. Through the game, users can earn Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) and Smooth Love Potions (SLP, formerly Small Love Potions).
Proving to be one of the most successful blockchain-based games in the industry, Axie Infinity has built a wide following indicated by its impressive USD market capitalization, price gains and on-chain trading volume.
Each Axie is created unique, with varying attributes that players can choose from. With over 500 body parts available across creature categories like beast, bird, plant, bug, aquatic and reptile, these also fall into rarity scales including common, rare, ultra-rare and legendary. With such a range of options, Axies have become rare commodities within the game and are based on ERC token standards.
Who created Axie Infinity?
Axie Infinity was officially founded in 2018 by Trung Nguyen, an accomplished entrepreneur, engineer and CEO of Sky Mavis, alongside Aleksander Larsen, an accomplished business developer and COO of Sky Mavis. Sky Mavis is a technology-focused gaming studio based in Vietnam. Another notable name contributing to the development and success of the decentralised gaming tech is Viet Anh Ho, CTO of Sky Mavis and accomplished engineer.
The company has attracted the attention of notable investors, including Blocktower Capital and Mark Cuban, and has gone through several successful rounds of funding. In the project's final round of funding on the Binance exchange Launchpad, it managed to raise an impressive $2.97 million.
How does Axie Infinity work?
In Axie Infinity, players battle their Axies, each based on an ERC-721 non-fungible token (a unique form of digital currency that centres around ownership). Monitoring stats across Health, Morale, Skill, and Speed categories, the Axies play against one another in order to determine the strongest of the lot.
Axies come in various classes, notably the Aquatic, Beast, Bird, Bug, Plant, or Reptile class or one of the secret classes, Dawn, Dusk, or Mech. Each Axie also has six body parts: back, ears, eyes, horns, mouth, and tail, each category coming with a range of options.
These unique creatures can then earn SLP for participating in the PVP Arena, Adventure Mode, or quests, and can be bred to create even more unique creatures. The maximum amount of times one Axie can be bred is 7, costing the breeders 4 AXS plus SLP (which varies from 150 SLP for the first round of breeding, reaching 3,150 SLP on the seventh and final round).
These characteristics and classes all play a role in determining how it will fair in gameplay. At its core, Axie Infinity is a video game based on battles and breeding, however, there is another valuable component to the game: land. Players can purchase and trade homes for Axies, called Lunacias, which are essentially plots of land in the Axie Infinity world.
There is also the Axie Infinity Marketplace where players can buy and sell Axies.
What are Axie Infinity Shards (AXS)?
AXS are non-fungible tokens based on the ERC-721 Ethereum-based token standard. While used in the game for payments, these tokens also serve as governance tokens, allowing holders to have a say in the development of the project. These digital currencies can also be traded on external exchanges.
On the other hand, SLP is the in-game token used to breed Axies. With increased growth in the community, these tokens have gained investor interest outside of the gaming community.
Can I earn from playing Axie Infinity?
The Axie Infinity game is at the forefront of the latest play-to-earn video game economy. Through the game, players are able to earn money through three avenues: selling SLP (smooth love potions), breeding rare Axies, and AXS staking.
Selling SLP
Players can earn SLP in the game by fighting other players in Arena Mode, battling monsters in Adventure Mode and completing a variety of daily missions and quests. These NFTs can then be sold on outside marketplaces.
Breeding rare Axies
As mentioned earlier, the breeding process can be lucrative as more rare combinations are created. Axies can then be sold in the Axie Infinity Marketplace, usually fetching around $200. In late 2020, an Axie by the name of Angle sold for $120,000.
AXS staking
Coming soon, users will be able to stake AXS in interest-bearing smart contracts.
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