Gaming with Crypto: Axie Infinity explained

Summary 

• One of the most recent developments in the crypto space is Axie Infinity, which combines cryptocurrency with gaming.
• The platform earns money by charging players a 4.25% fee when they buy or sell Axie NFTs as well as collecting fees from players who create or breed Axies.
• Axie Infinity now has a market cap of US$2.796 billion, thanks to an influx of millennials who used its platform during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
• As of July 28, the price of Axie stood at US$46.03, a phenomenal rise from its price in June, which was under US$4.

Blockchain technology has expanded the cryptocurrency space since its inception with Bitcoin in 2009. Since then, upgrades have allowed entire networks containing applications to thrive on their platforms.

One of the most recent developments in the crypto space is Axie Infinity, which combines cryptocurrency with gaming.

Axie Infinity adds to other booming non fungible token (NFT) projects which have increased popularity this year.

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How do NFTs work?

NFTs use blockchain technology to provide an authenticated and unique certificate to digital objects.

NFTs can hold any digital data and has become increasingly popular in the art and music world.

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Earlier this year, the popular YouTube video called “Charlie Bit My Finger”, which has amassed a billion views, sold at auction for just under US$1 million.

What is Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity was originally built on the Ethereum network and is a game much in the style of Pokémon where users must breed and collect digital pets called Axies. Through this, users earn the games token, called the Axie Infinity Shard token (AXS).

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The game was created by Vietnamese tech-based gaming studio Sky Mavis, which in May, raised US$7.5 million to contribute towards the game. Investors included Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

DO READ: Which are the five best performing cryptos of 2021?

How to play Axie Infinity?

To start the game, users must purchase AXS, and if they wish to purchase pets, which the game allows, they can purchase them with AXS.

The platform earns money by charging players a 4.25% fee when they buy or sell Axie NFTs, as well as collecting fees from players who create or breed Axies.

A recent development to the game allows users to earn interest on their tokens by tying them up – a process which they call ‘staking’.  Users are also rewarded for holding their AXS, which creates a large backing for its market value.

Axie Infinity is available on PC, MAC and IOS, with the majority of the 350,000 daily users playing through Android devices.

The future of gaming

Experts predict cryptocurrency games will only increase in popularity as career gamers become more common, particularly in places like the US and the UK. Moreover, the expanse of blockchain technology will likely revolutionise gaming as a whole as it increasingly allows players to earn money.

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Axie Infinity now has a market cap of US$2.796 billion, thanks to an influx of millennials who used its platform during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Axie Infinity’s popularity has soared in developing countries, where its earning power has contributed to its overall success.

Axie Infinity’s developers have attributed its recent surge in popularity to a move from its original blockchain – Ethereum – to their own sidechain, called Ronin. The switch was necessary due to the costly transaction and gas fees charged by Ethereum.

As of July 28, the price of AXS stood at US$46.03, a phenomenal rise from its price in June, which was under US$4.