Axie Infinity (AXS)

Overview

Axie Infinity is a collection of games and digital experiences built around creatures called Axies. Players can collect, battle, breed, and use these creatures in different parts of the Axie world, known as Lunacia. Many Axies and land plots are non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. An NFT is a blockchain record that identifies a particular digital item and lets its holder transfer it to another wallet. (support.axieinfinity.com)

Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) is the ecosystem’s main governance token. It supports community voting, staking, and certain activities involving Axies. The wider economy also uses Smooth Love Potion (SLP), mainly as a breeding resource. These tokens have different jobs: AXS connects holders to decisions and ecosystem incentives, while SLP helps players create new Axies. In 2026, Axie Infinity added Bonded AXS (bAXS) as another way to use AXS value within its games. (blog.axieinfinity.com)

History & Team

From digital pets to a gaming ecosystem

Sky Mavis began developing Axie Infinity in 2018. Its founding team includes Trung Thanh Nguyen, Aleksander Leonard Larsen, Tu Doan, Andy Ho, and Jeffrey Zirlin. Their roles have covered company leadership, business development, art, engineering, and community growth. Sky Mavis is based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. (whitepaper.axieinfinity.com)

Axie first drew players through collectible creatures and battles. Its economy grew as players began trading Axies and using tokens earned through play. Sky Mavis reported more than two million daily active players in October 2021, a historical milestone that showed how widely the game had spread at that time. That year, the company announced a $152 million Series B funding round to support Axie Infinity and the Ronin network. Investors included Andreessen Horowitz and Accel. (blog.axieinfinity.com)

The project has continued to change its games and rewards. Axie Infinity: Origins introduced a newer battle experience, while later releases gave players more ways to use their creatures and land. Those changes make Axie Infinity an ongoing game ecosystem rather than a single, fixed set of rules. (support.axieinfinity.com)

Technology & How It Works

Axies, wallets, and Ronin

An Axie NFT records ownership of a particular creature. Its traits help shape how it looks and how a player uses it in games. Land plots are also NFTs, allowing them to move between wallets or be used in land-based experiences. The Ronin Wallet holds these assets and connects a player to Axie applications. (binance.com)

Axie Infinity uses Ronin to handle much of its blockchain activity. Ronin was originally built as a separate network for Axie’s frequent game transactions. In May 2026, Ronin completed a migration to become an Ethereum layer-2 network built with the OP Stack. A layer 2 processes activity outside Ethereum’s main network while connecting back to it. Ronin continues to use its own RON token to pay network transaction fees, often called gas fees. AXS serves Axie-specific purposes rather than paying Ronin gas fees. (blog.roninchain.com)

A player’s experience combines ordinary game actions with blockchain records. Choosing a battle move happens inside the game. Moving an Axie NFT, swapping a supported token, or paying an on-chain breeding fee involves a wallet transaction. This design lets the games respond quickly while keeping transferable assets on the blockchain. (wiki.roninchain.com)

Tokenomics & Utility

AXS supply and allocation

AXS has an established total allocation of 270 million tokens. Its original distribution set aside 29% for staking rewards, 20% for play-to-earn incentives, 21% for the team, and 8% for an ecosystem fund. The rest was assigned to advisers and public and private token sales. These allocations describe the token’s original economic design, not the number held by any group today. (binance.com)

Staking means committing tokens to an Axie application to take part in its reward system. Staked AXS can also support voting through the Axie Governance Portal. The project uses an Axie Score to recognize forms of participation, such as game activity and holding collectible assets; this score can affect a participant’s voting power. Community votes have included proposals about the rules that guide Axie governance. Sky Mavis still plays an important role in developing and carrying out changes. (blog.axieinfinity.com)

SLP and Bonded AXS

SLP is a resource used to breed Axies. Breeding uses game resources to create another creature, so the number of new Axies depends in part on players’ decisions to breed. AXS can also be used for breeding fees and other Axie activities, including certain creature upgrades. (blog.axieinfinity.com)

Bonded AXS, introduced in 2026, adds another layer to this system. One bAXS represents one AXS for supported uses within Axie, including breeding, upgrades, staking, and governance voting. Players cannot transfer or trade bAXS directly. They can convert it into transferable AXS through App.Axie, with the amount received affected by their Axie Score. This approach directs more rewards toward use inside the ecosystem. (blog.axieinfinity.com)

Ecosystem & Use Cases

Battles, breeding, and land

Axie Infinity: Origins centers on battles that ask players to build teams and make choices during play. Axie Classic offers a different battle experience. Classic requires three Axie NFTs in a player’s Ronin Wallet, while Origins also offers ways to begin with starter Axies. Owning NFT Axies opens up more ways to use them across games and community-built experiences. (support.axieinfinity.com)

Axies also have uses beyond battles. Players can breed creatures, develop their parts, collect accessories, and trade eligible NFTs through App.Axie. In Terrariums, landholders place Axies on their plots to take part in a bAXS reward system. A plot’s share depends on a measure called Atia’s Flame, which draws on features such as the Axies and items assigned to it. Terrariums launched in June 2026 as the successor to the earlier Homeland land experience. (blog.axieinfinity.com)

Community creation is another part of the ecosystem. Sky Mavis has made Axie assets and development resources available for builders, giving them ways to create games around the creatures. This broadens the possible uses of an Axie beyond those designed directly by the original team. (blog.axieinfinity.com)

Advantages & Challenges

What the model offers

Axie Infinity gives players a way to hold and transfer many of the creatures and land plots they use. Its games, marketplace, and community tools provide several reasons to use those assets. Ronin was designed for frequent gaming transactions, and its layer-2 migration keeps Axie connected to the wider Ethereum ecosystem. AXS voting gives holders a channel for participating in selected decisions. (blog.roninchain.com)

The main challenge is keeping the game economy balanced as player habits change. Breeding creates more Axies, while rewards distribute tokens to participants. The usefulness of those assets depends on games and activities that players want to keep using. Sky Mavis has changed reward designs over time, including the introduction of bAXS, to shape how tokens move through the ecosystem. Ronin also experienced a major bridge breach in March 2022; Sky Mavis subsequently described changes to its network security and validator arrangements. (whitepaper.axieinfinity.com)

Where to Buy & Wallets

AXS is available on Coinbase in the United States and on Binance in supported regions. It can also be swapped through Katana, Ronin’s decentralized exchange, using supported tokens already held on the network. Exchange access and payment methods vary by location. (coinbase.com)

The Ronin Wallet holds Ronin-based AXS, Axie NFTs, and other supported assets. It connects to App.Axie for marketplace activity and staking. Transfers between an exchange and a personal wallet use a specific network, so the selected withdrawal network must match the destination wallet. Ronin transactions use RON for gas fees. (wiki.roninchain.com)

Regulatory & Compliance

Legal and religious considerations

Rules affecting AXS depend on the activity and the jurisdiction. In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s framework considers the features of a crypto asset and the circumstances in which it is offered or sold. In the European Union, the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, known as MiCA, sets requirements for many crypto-asset offerings and service providers. These frameworks address matters such as disclosures and the operation of trading services. (sec.gov)

Taxes are another part of compliance. Philippine officials have stated that income earned through Axie Infinity gameplay can fall under tax rules, with the applicable treatment depending on the activity and the person’s circumstances. (pco.gov.ph)

Shariah compliance is a separate religious assessment. A published screening by the Shariyah Review Bureau lists Axie Infinity as non-compliant under its criteria. Islamic finance assessments consider how an asset and its related activities fit principles concerning gambling, uncertainty, and permissible income. The practical features of AXS—such as game rewards, staking, and paid activities—therefore matter to that assessment. (shariyah.net)

Future Outlook

Axie Infinity’s development is centered on making its creatures useful across more experiences. Terrariums connects land, Axies, and accessories through a shared reward design, while builder tools offer paths for games made outside Sky Mavis. Governance gives AXS holders a growing role in decisions about the community’s direction. (blog.axieinfinity.com)

The lasting test for the project is whether its games remain engaging as the asset economy develops around them. Ronin’s move to an Ethereum layer 2 and the addition of bAXS are substantial changes to its technical and economic foundations. Their importance will be shaped by how players use the games, tokens, and digital assets over time. (blog.roninchain.com)

Summary

Axie Infinity combines creature-based games with transferable digital assets and a community token. AXS supports staking, governance, and selected in-game activities; SLP helps power breeding; and bAXS keeps certain rewards usable within the ecosystem. With Axies, land, Ronin, and tools for community builders, the project remains an example of how blockchain ownership can be built into games. (blog.axieinfinity.com)