Axie Infinity brought GameFi and NFTs to the forefront with its play-to-earn model. Ergo, it is not surprising that it is the most sought after NFT to date.
Unfortunately, in a market where NFTs are becoming the next big thing, can Axie keep its crown?
Axie Infinity is still at #1
According to a research report by Design Bundles, Axie Infinity was the most searched for NFT on Google in a month.
With over 3.86 million searches, Axie was way ahead of its closest competitors. The Sandbox had far fewer searches with a 555k figure, while NBA Prime Shot came in third with 477k searches.
Still, many wonder how and why Axie is in more demand than the many other well-known NFTs on the market. CryptoPunks, known as some of the most expensive NFTs, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), which sells for nearly $40 million, exists. And yet these were ranked ninth and tenth respectively in the research report.
The reason behind this is Axie Infinity’s GameFi model, a model that has made its NFTs a very important resource.
At some point during the pandemic, Axie Infinity became a primary source of income in the Philippines and had to be classified as a currency there by the government.
As the income from the game attracts more players, the mandate to own 3 ‘Axies’ also adds to the demand.
In fact, about two weeks ago, Axie Infinity became the first NFT series to reach $4 billion in sales. In comparison, CryptoPunks has managed to make only $2 billion in sales so far.
Axie Infinity’s Revenue Exceeded $4 Billion | Source: CryptoSlam
However, the price movement of the Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) is still affected by the broader market trend. A big reason behind this is the correlation between AXS and Bitcoin.
The same has been above 0.8 since December. So in the future, the king’s coin will also rule in the case of AXS.
Even after the aforementioned news came out, there was not much bullishness to be seen. That’s why the proof is there.
Axie Infinity Correlation to Bitcoin | Source: Intotheblock – AMBCrypto
Additionally, Axie’s Ronin bridge on the DEX front hasn’t made any significant gains either. Three of the major Ronin bridge tokens – Ethereum, AXS and Smooth Love Potion (SLP) have mainly charted outflows rather than inflows on a daily basis.
Even if there is no outflow, there has been no inflow for over a month.
Axie Infinity Ronin Bridge net flows | Source: Dune – AMBCrypto
So the only leverage that Axie Infinity has is the “play-to-earn” model. This will lead to more players and higher NFT sales.
This post Axie Infinity: A lot to ask, yes, but does it deliver well enough?
was published first on https://ambcrypto.com/axie-infinity-in-demand-yes-but-is-it-delivering-well-enough/
