How to earn money playing Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity is a play-to-earn game powered by Ethereum and its own sidechain Ronin. It’s the fastest-growing blockchain game to date, and the only one featuring non-fungible tokens that we can call a success. And to you technical blockchain nerds, yes you did read that right, Axies simply built their Layer2 solution to beat the high network fees of Ethereum. So we can say they’ve got a talented team of developers behind them! Furthermore, its player base and popularity are going through a huge increase lately. And its play-to-earn tokenomics are providing thousands of people worldwide with a reliable income stream. So how do you earn money playing Axie Infinity? And what are the pros and cons of Axies? Here we will list the different ways you can participate in the Axie Infinity economy, becoming a citizen of the metaverse world of Lunacia.

The Economy of Axie Infinity

Smooth Love Potions (SLP)

The main backbone of Axie Infinity’s economy is the SLP token. This is because SLP tokens are required for players to breed new Axies, meaning they always have a demand. Currently, they’ve been trading around 28 cents. Importantly, it’s possible to earn SLP tokens just by playing the game. As a result, Axie Infinity is truly a play-to-earn game. Essentially, players grinding out a monthly salary in the game for themselves are doing it by selling SLP tokens.

Because if you put in the daily hours then you can earn up to 200 SLP per day. And even if on average you earned 125 SLP per day, that’s ~$36 at current rates. Meaning if you can pull off 21-30 days of work then a player’s monthly income can be ~$900-1080. In developing countries such as the Philippines, India, Venezuela, Brazil, and Indonesia this is well above their minimum salaries. As a result, the player base is exploding in these regions. Not to mention, it’s a fun game to play as a hobby, so why not earn some extra money?

AXS Governance Token

The other token we find is AXS, short for Axie Infinity Shards, which is a governance token for the game. It’s the main payment currency for Axie’s NFT marketplace, such as buying an Axie, upgrades, in-game items, potions, and more. Currently, a big part of the NFT’s marketplace volume is for land purchases. Of course, there are marketplace fees (paid in AXS) which it is believed will be used to fund tournament prizes and rewards for stakers.

Because, in the future, holders will be able to stake AXS to participate in key protocol votes and earn rewards. Just 9 months ago AXS was trading at $0.12, whereas today, it trades for ~$40. Which is an increase of over 39000%, such price momentum in the world of crypto, is impossible to ignore. Mostly, the big price increase is due to a recent change in gameplay where breeders now need to pay a 4 AXS fee to mint new Axies.

OKAY now that you have the basics for the universe’s economic structure, let’s take a look at the best ways to earn money playing Axie Infinity.

Different ways to earn money playing Axie Infinity

Player or Scholar

To start earning SLP tokens as a player, you need to own at least three Axie NFTs. Of course, given the game’s rise in popularity, the price for Axies has been going up. Just take a look at how they’ve been trading on Opensea. Currently, the price floor for a bundle of the cheapest ones will set you back $600. Meaning the price of entry is a barrier for some players to get started. Not to worry though as you can start playing immediately through the scholarship program.

Essentially, you can get access to three Axies without actually owning them. Think of it kind of like a leasing/franchise situation where you share SLP earnings with the owner. For example, if you own the Axie assets then you will earn 100% of the SLP rewards. However, scholars have to pay a fee so will earn generally 70 to 90%. It all depends on the business agreement you decide to with the Axie owner and their scholarship managers(more on that below!).

Axie Owner

As an owner, there are several ways to earn money via Axie Infinity. Firstly, you could simply aim to breed Axies and flip them on the NFT marketplace. Of course, you need to understand all the traits of Axies to understand their rarity and price, so do recommend playing the game first. Luckily there are lots of tools providing analytics, so you can just base your prices off the market.

Another way is to create jobs through the so-called scholarship accounts. Essentially, you loan out your Axies for other players to use. If you own many Axies this is a great way to set up a passive income stream. On average, an owner takes home anything from 5 to 10 percent of the SLP earnings.

Scholarship Manager

Some owners have hundreds of Axies, and much like any business of size, it can’t be done by one person. Thus, the role of Scholarship Manager exists, to act as a middleman between owners and scholars. Many owners want to be sure their Axies are earning the most amount of SLP per day. As a result, they need to ensure their scholars are using the best in-game strategies and tactics.

Scholarship managers are usually players with experience who can coach scholars to optimize their SLP earnings. On average, a manager might have 10 to 20 scholars under their wing. And they will be taking anything from 5 to 10 percent of their scholar’s earnings. If you’re tired of the daily player grind, then this role is ideal for you to advance into and continue earning money playing Axie. A perfect opportunity for someone who already knows an Axie owner with a vast portfolio.

Artist (Content Creation)

Axie Infinity to date has been quite protective of its artwork, this is sure to reinforce a major selling point of blockchain-powered games. In Axie Infinity, the assets are owned by the holders and not the game developer. As a result, content creators cannot grab an image from the universe to make and sell artwork. However, the gamers can commission artists to create art pieces around their Axies. Meaning there is a spot for artists to work on commission and provide services to Axie owners. Essentially, you would be creating marketing and brand recognition for an Axie.

For example, this can work extremely well for owners who decide to fractionalize their Axie into a token. Check out the story of Cloudwhite, fractionalized into COKE token, which saw a price pump due to demand with some creative artwork.

Breeder (Minting)

This could be considered similar to being an Axie Owner, however, there is a difference. Namely, that various owners ignore breeding completely due to the fees involved and simply buy Axies directly off the marketplace. And it’s not an easy profession in the Axie community, given that you have to adapt to the price of AXS and SLP. Plus, you have to watch out for transaction costs cutting into your profit when minting a new Axie asset. Every Axie can only breed 7 times in total, each time the breeding cost goes up. Honestly, it’s an amazing game design choice to influence the tokenomics of SLP and AXS token. Because, as long as new players turn up, breeders will keep minting new Axies. Which in turn raises the demand for both of the game’s native tokens.

So to be a profitable breeder, you need to play it smart: stock up on SLP and AXS if the price dips. Make sure you’re selling Axies when the demand is high, because selling at cost or loss will not earn money playing Axie. We can draw parallels with being a successful token trader.

Investor or Token Trader

We’ve discussed both of the native game tokens, which you can buy as an investment. Meaning if the tokenomic & game design have you feeling bullish about the project’s future. Then you don’t have to play the game to earn money from Axie. Both of the native tokens SLP or AXS are listed on major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance or Bybit (use our referral links for 5-10% rebates on your fees!). And you can also find them on DEXs such as Uniswap or Sushiswap. As a result, you have the more traditional crypto investing opportunities of holding or trading.

Given the amount of money Axie Infinity is currently generating every month, it seems a good bet both tokens will continue to grow. Of course, always do your research!

Landowners

Historically, land plots in the metaverse such as Decentraland have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some even in the millions, time and time again we’ve seen plots of virtual land being the best non-fungible token investment (in terms of quick returns). And while Axie Infinity’s land gameplay isn’t 100% live yet there have been several land sales already. However, it’s important to note that purchasing land at this point would be speculative.

Given we don’t know how land will be used in the game and how landowners can generate value. We would assume there will be opportunities to open services or businesses on your land which other players can use? Therefore, giving you, the possibility to earn fees, maybe even rent/payments for some sort of Axie house or hotel? Not much is known on that front yet! Be sure to familiarize yourself with these four tools for NFT analytics, as it will help you flip land at a profit.

Hope you’ve enjoyed our introduction to earn money playing Axie Infinity!