Crypto Gaming Meets Governance: Examining Axie Infinity

DeFi isn’t the only sector finding product market fit in crypto. Gaming and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are shaping up to be the next trend to watch with the popularity of platforms like SuperRare and Axie Infinity continuing to grow. With an active Uniswap market, healthy secondary trading market, and pending governance token launch Axie Infinity is poised to take advantage of these trends in DeFi, gaming, and NFTs. The users of gaming and DeFi are starting to converge which could spark further growth for NFT games.

To Axie – Infinity – and Beyond

Founded in 2018, Axie Infinity is a Pokemon-inspired digital pet universe where players can battle, raise, and collect fantasy creatures called “axies”. Each Axie is represented as a non-fungible token and are publicly tradable on the Axie Infinity marketplace as well as third party marketplaces like OpenSea.

Further, Axie Infinity utilizes an ERC-20 token called Small Love Potion (SLP) which is required to breed axies. Breeding two different axies creates a new, baby axie. Small Love Potions (SLPs) can be earned by playing the game in adventure mode or by battling in a player-versus-player (PvP) arena with other axie owners. Lastly, Axie Infinity is developing a digital universe called Bloodmoon Rising, where players own plots of land. There are other nuances to the game, such as decreasing breeding counts per Axie, but those are the basics.

Axie User Metrics

The company behind the Axie game, Axie Infinity has sold over $1 million in auctions since inception, $250,000 of which has come in 2020. Auctions conducted by the company are considered primary auctions (first time) while secondary sales are any subsequent transfer or sale of an NFT axie creature.