AXS Crypto Price Pops as Axie Infinity Embraces User-Created Content

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Axie Infinity developer  Sky Mavis has been looking to reinvigorate interest in its brand. After all, P2E games took a big hit at the beginning of the year. A broad market selloff that occurred as Bitcoin (BTC-USD) prices tumbled below $30,000 led many investors out of novelty or speculative niches like P2E in favor of safer plays like stablecoins. Many of these plays suffered their own downturns; Axie Infinity’s was perhaps one of the most dramatic. AXS crypto prices dropped from $100 to about $20 in the first five months of the year.

Adding to the woes in 2022 is the  Ronin  (RON-USD) network hack that drained $600 million in assets. Ronin, the blockchain network upon which Axie Infinity is built, was exploited in late March by a user who stole more than 173,000 Ethereum (ETH-USD) from it. This had an acute impact on AXS prices as well as RON, adding yet another hurdle for developers to overcome.

As the market regains its stability, coins are beginning to climb back toward old values. And yet, the AXS crypto has mostly been flatlining. Prices have remained between $20 and $25 in recent days, even as Bitcoin is up 9% on the week and staying mostly above $30,000. Luckily, Sky Mavis has a trick up its sleeve to help bring back some users, and it’s proving to be effective.

AXS Crypto Gains on First Builders Program Selections

The AXS crypto is seeing gains of more than 11% today — a sharp contrast to the sideways trading it saw throughout the last week. The momentum comes thanks to what is one of Axie Infinity’s biggest upgrades of the year so far.

Sky Mavis is officially rolling out its Axie Builders Program with 12 new projects. The Builders Program is an avenue through which aspiring developers and Axie fans alike can formulate their own games within the Axie universe. These 12 projects are the first to come out of the program, winning over thousands of applicants.

These winners will be provided with plenty of assets through which they can advance their projects to market. Notably, teams for each project will receive $10,000 in funding from Sky Mavis. They will also get access to different Ronin chain integrations.

The news is great for Axie, as it shows the network adding plenty of new flavors to its product. Indeed, each of these 12 projects differs greatly in style from the next. The diversity of games will help Axie cast a large net over a sea of potential new users.

AXS crypto fans seem to have high hopes the program will succeed, too; these gains are accompanied by an AXS trading volume of more than $917 million. The influx of AXS swaps is one of the largest the network has seen in weeks.