There is always a bull market somewhere. While the crypto market might seem boring now with its rangebound bitcoin trading, the non-fungible tokens (NFT) space continues to buzz. One lesser-known coin coming out of the NFT industry has charted a triple-digit price rally in two weeks.
Axie infinity shards (AXS) isn’t an NFT per se but the governance token of the Axie Infinity platform, an Ethereum-based digital marketplace for the game Axie Infinity. AXS has nearly quadrupled in price to $11 since June 22, according to data source Messari. Such gains have given the AXS token a market value of $638 million.
While bitcoin’s dip to $28,800 observed on June 22 was short-lived, buyers largely remain on the sidelines, leaving the cryptocurrency locked in the range of $30,000 to $40,000. But in the search for yield, buyers are turning elsewhere.
“AXS has been on a tear,” Denis Vinokourov, head of research at Synergia Capital, said. “With all the yield compression in bitcoin futures and decentralized finance, the hot money is now flowing into NFTs.”
Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based trading and battling game that allows players to collect, breed, raise, battle and trade token-based creatures known as “axies,” which are digitized as their own NFTs. Per Startups Zone, new players need to buy at least three axies, while existing players are rewarded for breeding new axies.
Players can trade axies with their AXS tokens, stake their coins for weekly rewards and participate in governance voting. AXS tokens can be purchased, traded, or earned through playing the game, and their maximum supply is capped at 270 million. These tokens can be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies.
