Governance token for the Axie Infinity game, AXS lets holders (as opposed to developers) shape the game’s direction and help populate its Pokémon-inspired universe of cartoon creatures. AXS is earned and staked along the way. 

An Ethereum-run ERC-20 token, AXS has risen up quickly just like the Axie project with which it is connected. Axie can be considered a non-fungible token (NFT) sales machine. Its play-to-earn model exploded in popularity during the summer of 2021, garnering one million daily users and generating more than $2 billion worth of NFT transaction volume. 

Entry into this digital domain does not cheap, as Decrypt has noted. "An NFT acts like a deed of ownership to a digital item, or, in this case, an interactive creature, or a chunk of customizable terrain." To play, you need three NFTs each costing at least $150 worth of ETH, "a sizable upfront investment that hasn’t deterred the project’s exponential growth of late," Decrypt said. 

Building a hearty platoon of Axies and conquering all comers requires an even larger investment; and players can create their own kingdoms, build empires, looping in allies, raising the potential to earn that much more. 

This NFT-based video game was developed three years ago by Vietnamese game developer Sky Mavis. In May of 2021, the startup raised $7.5 million from a group of backers that included entrepreneur/Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Blocktower, one of the first crypto hedge funds.

The current price of AXS

As of early October 2021, AXS was roughly $130, or more than  100,000% higher than where it sat in November 2020.

AXS's market capitalization is roughly $8 billion, making it the 24th-largest crypto asset, as ranked by CoinGecko. During the course of a few days in early October, AXS doubled to a new all-time high of $155 as of Oct. 4, 2021. One day later, it fell 15%.

During a roughly three-month stretch (mid-May 2021 through early August) as major coins, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, fell sharply, AXS began to climb steadily. On Sept. 4, 2021, AXS reached an all-time high of just above $93. Then it sold off sharply. Late August/early September was a period when crypto at large began to regain momentum which waned later in September against a backdrop of global macro forces that left BTC down 7% for the month of September, in contrast to AXS which remained flat.

How the price of AXS is determined

Public and private sales of AXS took place at the end of 2020. As a result, AXS has a circulating supply of 58 million coins, out of a total supply of 270 million. It is one of two tokens in the Axie universe, with Smooth Love Potion (SLP) being the other. That humorously named coin gets used purely for in-game rewards. Supply is unlimited. Any collected SLP gets burned by the Axie treasury.

As for AXS, and its limited supply, competitors earn it, and use it to fund the breeding of their cute cartoon combatants; AXS has seen growing demand, and, owing to the limited supply, its price can greatly fluctuate.

AXS token supply distribution, per its website, is as follows: 49% for in-game rewards by either playing or staking AXS; 8% for community growth and development; 21% for Sky Mavis and the team; 7% for advisors; 15% for the AXS private and public sales. 

What the bulls are saying about Axie Infinity (AXS)

“Axie’s play-to-earn model unlocks new types of work around digital Metaverse economies, just as Uber, Airbnb, and DoorDash created new types of jobs and professions. In the Philippines, the rewards from the game are worth multiple times the minimum wage.” - Venture Beat

”As the platform acquires more players and the staking program goes live, we can expect it to cross the $100 by the end of the year.” - BeInCrypto

Coinquora said: "With upcoming partnerships and developments, Axie reaching $200 is undoubtedly feasible for the near future."

What the bears are saying about Axie Infinity (AXS)

A Bunicorn.com thread explained the inflation rate of the Axies: "Each Axie can breed 7 times, and there is no way to reduce the number of available Axies in the game. If there are fewer new users in the future and the number of Axies keeps increasing, it will either reduce its valuation or collapse."

"There is a bearish scenario for Axie Infinity price that would terminate any near-term bullish sentiment – and the move on the short side is considerably larger than any upside potential." - FXStreet.

"AXS, which had a massive sell-off in early September 2021, could crash again in weeks to come. The crash could worsen if AXS breaches below $67.61." - iTech Post.