Cryptocurrency has a massive ecosystem of decentralized applications in the fields of gaming, finance, entertainment and social, which has the potential to replace their centralized counterparts. Even though many applications have been developed, we're yet to see their mainstream adoption. Crypto enthusiasts and analysts believe that it's only a matter of time before it gets exposed to global users.

One such blockchain game is the Axie infinity. There is a huge craze about this game as people make money from them to the point where they are quitting their jobs to dedicate their time to the game.

Axie Infinity is an NFT based online video game developed by Sky Mavis, a company that uses blockchain and incentive design to build games. The company was founded in 2018 by Aleksander Leonard Larsen, Trung Thanh Nguyen, and Jeffrey Zirlin.

Trung co-founded a multimillion-dollar Vietnamese startup and in 2014, a finalist in the International Collegiate Programming Contest. Alexander is the founder of some of the largest gaming communities in Norway. Jeffrey was one of the best WoW players in the United States. He also has a history degree from Yale.

The idea for Axie Infinity came up in December 2017 after the trio met because of crypto kitties, the popular NFT game. They realized how unsustainable crypto kitties and other blockchain games were at the time. 

This game was built on ethereum based cryptocurrency AXS and SLP. Gaming NFT tokens continue to grow and have generated $21 million in revenue for Sky Mavis. The company is currently backed by billionaire investor and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. 

COO and co-founder of Sky Mavis, Aleksander Leonard Larsen says they are serious about their responsibility and are monitoring the in-game currencies and necessary market tweaks.

“Some people say we’re like the Fed,” he said in an interview. “We are ultimately the creators of this universe and are responsible for making sure that it lasts. We are always tracking the economy to make sure it stays at a healthy level.”

NFT based game Axie Infinity is highly secure, the information is recorded in a way to make it impossible to change, hack or cheat the system. Everything in Axe Infinity is an NFT from the land to the item to the axes that you use in the adventures. 

Axie infinity was originally built on the ethereum blockchain with axes as ERC721. As of April this year, Axie infinity exists on the Ronin Side Chain (ethereum compatible), which was created by Sky Mavis, made specifically for hosting the game. Ronin Side Chain is centrally controlled by Sky Mavis. 

Axie Infinity's innovative play-to-earn concept is attracting over 300,000 users every day, and this number is growing. It rewards users for their time and effort, and these rewards come as tokens that can be earned from playing the game. The extra axes from the game can be sold to earn the token. These SLP tokens can be traded on decentralized exchanges or exchange for fiat for other ethereum tokens.

Axes and other in-game items can be sold on the Axie infinity marketplace for ethereum, which can be exchanged for fiat currency. This blockchain game has become a lifeline for many people in the Philippines and Venezuela, where most of their players are based.

Sky mavis will continue to have the voting power for now, as explained by co-founder Alexander Larson, to ensure the game is not destroyed by malicious actors. So, it's going to be until at least 2023 before it is a decentralized autonomous organization.

The company has plans to make Ronin is scalable enough to host hundreds of millions of users. Sky mavis wants to make Ronin a public blockchain, its own token. The founders have dedicated themselves to the core values of cryptocurrency, creating a virtual economy where one can own, save, invest and spend their money without the need for a traditional banking system.

Thousands of people have already benefited from blockchain games. The in-game earnings have made more money to people compared to other mainstream games, where just the makers of the games rake in all the profits, the users barely reap any rewards.

Pavan A

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA