The rise and fall of Axie Infinity ($AXS)
In 2021, Axie was the hottest game in crypto. People bred and battled NFT creatures to earn tokens, and some players in the Philippines treated it like a full-time job. It hit about 2.7 million daily players in November 2021, and AXS peaked at $164.90 on Nov 6, 2021.
Then the cracks showed. The rewards only held value while new players kept buying in. On March 23, 2022, hackers drained 173,600 ETH and 25.5M USDC (about $540M at the time) from the Ronin bridge behind the game, using 5 of its 9 validator keys. Nobody noticed for six days, until a user's 5,000 ETH withdrawal failed. The FBI later tied it to North Korea's Lazarus Group.
Today AXS trades near $0.85, roughly 99.5% below its peak.
Two lessons: rewards paid by new money aren't a business, and a bridge is only as safe as its keys. With North Korea hack headlines back this week, it's worth remembering.
$AXS $ETH #CryptoHistory #AxieInfinity #CryptoLessons
NFA
In 2021, Axie was the hottest game in crypto. People bred and battled NFT creatures to earn tokens, and some players in the Philippines treated it like a full-time job. It hit about 2.7 million daily players in November 2021, and AXS peaked at $164.90 on Nov 6, 2021.
Then the cracks showed. The rewards only held value while new players kept buying in. On March 23, 2022, hackers drained 173,600 ETH and 25.5M USDC (about $540M at the time) from the Ronin bridge behind the game, using 5 of its 9 validator keys. Nobody noticed for six days, until a user's 5,000 ETH withdrawal failed. The FBI later tied it to North Korea's Lazarus Group.
Today AXS trades near $0.85, roughly 99.5% below its peak.
Two lessons: rewards paid by new money aren't a business, and a bridge is only as safe as its keys. With North Korea hack headlines back this week, it's worth remembering.
$AXS $ETH #CryptoHistory #AxieInfinity #CryptoLessons
NFA
