Play-to-earn superstar Axie Infinity became the first non-fungible token (NFT) series to cross the US$4 billion mark in historic sales early Tuesday morning Asia time, according to CryptoSlam data.
See related article: Axie Infinity fans play their way to payday as game token prices soar
Fast facts
- Running on the Ethereum sidechain Ronin, Axie Infinity’s total sales volume is almost double the value of the second-place NFT collection, CryptoPunks.
- The NFT market has had a booming start to 2022, with January recording one of the strongest monthly sale records to date, despite the cooling in the broader crypto market.
- Axie Infinity is a game in which players battle “Axies” — small Pokémon-like creatures that are also NFTs — to earn the in-game token SLP, which is used to breed Axies, trade in the spot market, or stake for profits.
- Players need three Axies to start playing the game but can buy, sell and “breed” more as they move through the game, and it is this demand that continues to drive the record sales.
- The game exploded in popularity in May last year, especially in the Philippines, as the Covid-ravaged economy found a new source of income from home.
- While both of the game’s native cryptocurrencies, AXS and SLP, have tumbled over 7% in the past 24 hours in a broader market downfall, Axie Infinity has seen consistent growth of players with nearly 3 million players worldwide in January.
See related article: Can Axie Infinity go the distance?
