Axie Infinity(AXS) is taking the altcoin market by storm: It started the month at $5 but a week later, two consecutive rallies pushed it past $19. The token has since dropped slightly and is currently changing hands at $18.34, yet its 45% gain is nothing short of impressive.

Inspired by Pokemon, Axie Infinity is an open-world game, which allows players to raise, breed, capture, train, and battle tokenized creatures called Axies. These adorable creations are also converted by the platform into nonfungible tokens(NFTs) that can be traded at a digital asset marketplace.

Axie Infinity Reaches Historic Highs in Overnight Rally

Axie Infinity exploded in popularity in June and now hosts over 250,000 active players each day. But its success has surprised many given the demanding prerequisites that players have to fulfill before their entry. 

To become an Axie trainer, players have to first acquire three Axie NFTs — a cost-intensive requirement since the cheapest creature on the platform is currently priced at 0.1014 ETH, or $214. With more than 1 million unique Axies out there,  the most expensive token ever sold was priced at 300 ETH, which is equivalent to $633,000 at spot price.

The AXS, or Axie Infinity Shards, are a type of governance token based on the ERC-20 standard. Players can use them to participate in the platform’s governance protocol or exchange them for ETH to cash out their earnings.

Gaming Coins Post Gains Amid Price Fluctuations

Gaming tokens have fluctuated a lot in the last week. Like AXS, MANA and SAND also recorded a rise in their value. But as of yesterday, all these tokens are on a downward trajectory, which has chipped away at some of the gains from their seven-day rallies. 

As of press time, Sandbox’s native token SAND is trading at $0.52, following a 33.24% spike, while Decentraland’s MANA coin, which was up 18%, stands at $0.75.

Blockchain gaming is still in its nascency and poses several technological and financial challenges before interested investors, but this week’s upward momentum could be a sign of a promising future.