New ‘Axie Infinity’ Ethereum Gaming Token Will Be Airdropped to AXS Stakers

Monster-battling blockchain game Axie Infinity will airdrop a new game token—bonded AXS (bAXS)—to eligible wallets based on a February 5 snapshot, developer Sky Mavis announced on Tuesday. 

The airdrop will consist of 100,000 bAXS tokens—backed 1:1 with its existing AXS token—and will be distributed to wallets that have staked at least 10 AXS, or about $16.90 worth of the existing Axie Infinity ecosystem token. Among those who have staked 10 AXS, their Axie Score and the amount of staked AXS will impact a player’s airdrop allocation. 

When launched, bAXS will act exactly like the game’s original token, allowing players to evolve and breed axie monsters and spend it on the secondary marketplace. However, the new bonded token will specifically encourage and incentivize use within the game’s economy, the game says. 

“A majority of current AXS spending is via Axie core, the system that requires axie upgrades in power to come at the cost of additional AXS spend,” Sky Mavis co-founder Jeffrey Zirlin told Decrypt.  

“For example, every time I want to upgrade the power of an axie body part, I need to spend AXS,” he said. “Continuing to flesh out utility for part upgrades (we call it part evolution) will increase the need to spend bAXS in the ecosystem. With Atia’s Legacy and now Terrariums on the way, we expect demand for these upgrades to surge.”

Aside from the first airdrop, bAXS will also be distributed to players of the game’s upcoming land-based game, Terrariums.

“Think of Terrariums as the foundation of Axie Core: A place where axies live, grow, and earn through mini-games, expeditions, guilds, territories, accessories, collectibles,” an official description notes. 

With the launch of Terrariums, Zirlin also expects more AXS and bAXS spending. 

“AXS (and by extension bAXS) will have new utility in the Terrarium system, where you can imagine them being used to purchase things like consumable power ups for terrariums and axies,” he told Decrypt. 

The land game’s launch is expected sometime in Q2, after the launch of bAXS and two separate bAXS airdrops—the second of which has not yet been detailed.

The new bonded token launch follows a volatile period for Axie’s existing token, which has jumped 57% over the last 30 days to change hands around $1.55. That mark is down about 35% in the last week, though, as the token fell after surging as high as $2.92 in late January. 

Despite the surge, the token remains down 99% from its 2021 all-time high of $164.90, established as its Pokémon-inspired game surged to more than 1 million daily active players at its peak. Axie Infinity’s play-to-earn economy struggled thereafter, while the broader blockchain gaming space has seen substantial turmoil of late.

Axie Infinity is built on Ronin, a gaming-centric Ethereum scaling network developed by Sky Mavis. The franchise will expand further with Axie Infinity: Atia’s Legacy, a new massively multiplayer online (MMO) game that was first revealed last year.