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The price of Axie Infinity’s native token, (AXS), is up 8% today, rallying to $7.26 at the back of expanding volumes, CoinMarketCap data on May 17 shows.
The sharp expansion of AXS prices is amid a drop in blockchain and non-fungible token (NFT) activity in the recent months.
Falling bitcoin (BTC) prices at this time also made things worse. As an illustration, BTC prices peaked at $31,000 in late April before falling to spot rates, dragging down altcoins, including AXS with it.
At spot rates, AXS changes hands at $7.26 but is down roughly 25% from April 2023 peaks.
Why is AXS Rallying?
The spike in AXS prices coincides with the approval of Origins to list on Apple’s app marketplace following a successful review. This approval is significant for the NFT ecosystem since the development team claims that this is the first time Apple has “agreed to make an externally-purchased NFT usable on the app store”.
1/ Origins has passed review with Apple and is now available on the App store!
— Axie Infinity | #AxieOrigins, #AxieHomeland (@AxieInfinity) May 17, 2023
We believe this is the first time that Apple has agreed to make an externally-purchased NFT usable on the App Store.
Let’s dive in 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/LYPLnHEVF6
The listing on Apple app store is less than six months after the team released a feature-limited Origins on Malaysian Google PlayStore. The release on Malaysia allowed the team to fine-tune the game before deploying it to other countries.
Axie Infinity will use the same strategy for Apple app store users. In the early version of iOS, the team says users have a choice of either using their NFT axies or upgrading starter axies before playing. In either case, they will still be used in adventure or arena mode.
Besides the listing, a technical candlestick arrangement supports bulls. The spike to spot rates is with expanding volumes pointing to high participation.
At the same time, it follows a period of extended consolidation after a 30% drop from April highs.
Axie Infinity is popular
Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game that allows players to earn cryptocurrency by playing.
The game has been very popular in recent months, with over 2 million daily active users. However, the game has also been criticized for its high entry barrier, as players need to purchase three Axie NFTs in order to start playing.
It is yet to be seen how AXS prices will trend in the coming months. The expansion of AXS is at the back of low blockchain and gaming activity.
For context, non-fungible data shows that NFT trading volumes have shrunk from over $42 million to around $112,000 in early May.