How to make money with Axie Infinity


Dear Bankless Nation,
Axie Infinity has been on fire lately. đ„
The NFT-based game generated more than $39m in revenue over the last seven days. Thatâs almost more than Bitcoin and Ethereum combined. Absolutely insane. đ€Ż
The reason? WellâŠfirst of all, itâs a fun game to play.
Second: thereâs a ton of opportunity for gamers. Axie Infinity, and crypto games at large, are pioneering the Play to Earn sector in gaming.
You play the game, you earn digital assets. Those digital assets have real value (which have also been skyrocketing), meaning you can sell them for cold hard digital cash as you work.
So how exactly are people earning?
Here are 5 opportunities ranging from play to earn, to active LPâing for Uniswap V3, to passive staking of the AXS token (coming soon).
Thereâs going to be billions of dollars worth of opportunity in crypto gaming over the decade to come. You should get started now.
Do the Bankless thingâŠfront-run the opportunity!
Letâs learn how to make money with Axie Infinity.
- RSA
P.S. Sign up for the Smart Contract Summit! Itâs a FREE virtual summit featuring top speakers from the industry. David and I will be hosting a panel on EIP 1559. Register here.
How to make money with Axie Infinity: Play and Earn Money
The leading NFT game, Axie Infinity, is booming with economic opportunities right now.
However, letâs be clear: There are right ways and wrong ways to go about approaching these opportunities. As such, this Bankless tactic will show you how to capitalize on  Axie Infinityâs play-to-earn possibilities in savvy fashion.
- Goal: Learn different ways to earn money around the Axie Infinity ecosystem
- Skill: Intermediate to advanced
- Effort: Varies
- ROI: Potentially considerable if you play your cardsâor should I say Axiesâright!
Axie Infinity: A New Kind of Economy
Axie Infinity has generated over $39 million worth of total revenue between July 10th and July 17th, 2021, according to Token Terminal! đ€Ż

To put into perspective just how astonishing that figure is, in the same span Ethereum and Bitcoin generated $37.9 million and $4.7 million in total revenues respectively.
Not only did Axie Infinity bring in more fees this week than the cryptoeconomyâs two most popular blockchains â itâs within striking distance of acutely bringing in more fees than both of these blockchains combined!
So while some of us in crypto joke that BTCâs ossified into little more than a pet rock, it is true â at least for now â that the top crypto is currently being blown out of the water revenues-wise by a single digital pets battle adventure game on Ethereum.

But itâs not just any olâ game. Itâs Axie Infinity, a project thatâs become a shining example of how heads-down work in the previous crypto bear market is paying huge dividends today. Itâs also pioneering a new game design: play to earn.
That work allowed the Axie team to build a diehard community of players spread out across the world. This community has now become the lifeblood of Axie Infinityâs rising economy, which is giving users of all stripes opportunities to make money around a game thatâs fun and enjoyable.
Sound like an economy you want to be a part of? Well then, youâve come to the right place!
Donât be a tourist!
Axie Infinity is far from a âget rich quickâ scheme. Indeed, the folks who are doing the best with Axie now are the ones whoâve been dedicated players and community members for some time now, just as youâd expect.
That said, if you come to Axie Infinity with a tourist mentality â i.e. youâre just stopping by to make some easy money â youâre likely going to be disappointed.
Why? Because Axie has its share of unique nuances and complexities. Donât be fooled by the gameâs adorable aesthetics, its battles are chess-like and require considerable strategy to win. Moreover, the Axie economy is a breathing organism. The prices of Axies and the gameâs $AXS and $SLP tokens fluctuate constantly.
In other words, success and profits arenât guaranteed. If you dive in without paying attention to the gameâs subtleties, you may even end up losing money.
For the best results, play Axie Infinity because itâs fun, stick around the community because itâs teeming and helpful and you can help steer it, work at the gameâs mechanics because itâll make you one of the first people in the world to gain expertise in play-to-earn gaming.
This is how to grind the real returns, both in money and beyond.
How to make money around Axie Infinity
So youâre really interested in Axie Infinity and want to learn more about the gameâs various economic opportunities. Below Iâve compiled a selection of five strategies you can consider. The first four are available to you today, and the final one â $AXS staking â is coming soon.
Opportunity #1: Play & Earn
A natural starting point for wetting your beak with Axie Infinity is playing it!
The cool part is after winning battles and completing quests you earn the gameâs Smooth Love Potions ($SLP), which currently trade at ~$0.26 each and are required to breed Axies.
Sell âem, use âem, whatever â itâs your $SLP after you earn the tokens! As for the actual play-to-earn process, youâve got three main avenues to earn $SLP in Axie Infinity: Quests, Adventure mode (player vs. environment, or PvE), and Arena mode (player vs. player, or PvP).
Quests
Axie Infinity offers a Daily quest players can complete to earn 50 $SLP currently. A Weekly quest and other limited-time special bounties are coming down the line.

Adventure mode
For more casual gameplay, you can try out Axie Infinityâs Adventure mode and earn tokens for beating down computer-controller monsters. If you can, that is: the fights get harder as you proceed from level to level.

Arena mode
You can also test your resolve by battling your Axies against the best that other real players have to offer. Itâs play for keeps, too, so trainers earn $SLP for every Arena victory.

At this point, things youâll want to keep in mind:
- The upcoming Battles V2 system will include free âstarterâ Axies for you to play with, but until then you must first buy (or borrow) 3 Axies to create a team and start playing.
- The main hub for buying Axies is the official Axie Marketplace, now live on the gameâs bespoke Ronin sidechain. For a quick guide on migrating assets to Ronin, check out the great video tutorial below by Axie Infinity co-founder Jeff âJihoâ Zirlin.
- Download the Mavis Hub Launcher, which is used to launch and update Axie Infinity, directly from axieinfinity.com.
Opportunity #2: Breed Axies
Another economic opportunity in the Axie Infinity universe comes via breeding Axies. As you breed more Axies, you can sell, lend, and create Axie Scholarship teams (where you let other players use your Axies in exchange for a non-exploitive cut of the $SLP they earn) from your inventory.
Breeding costs a flat fee of 4 $AXS and a variable fee of $SLP depending on how many times the participating Axies have been bred before. For example, breeding two virgin Axies will always cost 300 $SLP and then scales up from there, as the image below indicates.

Quick Guide: How to breed Axies đ¶
Note: this quick primer assumes you already have the requisite assets migrated over to Axie Infinityâs Ronin sidechain!
- Select your desired Axie, and on its profile page click on the âBreedâ button. Input which two Axies you want to breed, and itâs time to proceed. Click âLetâs Breed!â

- Youâll get a prompt in your Ronin wallet to approve the breeding fees. Press âConfirm.â
- Once this transaction confirms, youâll receive a newborn Axie egg in your inventory.
- After you breed your Axies and have eggs, itâll take 5 days for them to be ready to morph into adult status. Once that period has passed, head to your Inventory in the Axie Marketplace and click on your egg of choice.

- With your newborn Axieâs profile now pulled up, click on the âMorph to Adultâ button. Your Ronin browser wallet will prompt you to sign a transaction. Press âConfirmâ to complete the signature. The morphing will take a few minutes, and then youâll have a new adult Axie on your hands!
Opportunity #3: Provide Liquidity for Axie Tokens
Weâve already discussed how $SLP functions like a utility token for Axie Infinity, and then thereâs $AXS, the gameâs native governance token.
Both assets are instrumental to Axie Infinity, and thus as the game grows more popular demand for these tokens should grow in kind. One way to participate in the Axie Infinity economy is to service this demand by serving as a liquidity provider (LP) on leading decentralized exchanges.
In particular, you might consider providing liquidity to:
đ§ Remember: you take on the risk of impermanent loss (IL) by LPing in these pools, but you also earn trading fees + maintain exposure to the upside of the Axie Infinity economy.
Opportunity #4: Speculate on Rare Axies in the greater Axie Marketplace
Do you think Axie Infinity is going to keep booming? And that its rarest Axies will continue to age like fine wine?
If thatâs the case, one potential way to earn is by speculating on fractionalized Axies, (i.e. Axies that have been âshardedâ into many fungible ERC20 tokens to make collective ownership easier).
In this arena, there are two avenues to consider: single Axies that have been fractionalized, or collections of Axies that have been fractionalized.
An example of the former is Almace, an ultra-rare Axie thatâs been sharded into 10,000 $ALMX tokens via NIFTEX. An example of the latter is Uniclyâs uAxie token, which represents a basket of 24 mystic Axies.

Opportunity #5: AXS Staking (Coming Soon)
Remember how we started out this tactic by noting how Axie Infinity was bringing in incredible amounts of revenues lately?
These revenues accrue to the Axie Infinity Community Treasury, governed by the AXS token. With the upcoming rollout of the gameâs AXS staking system, these impressive revenues will start being distributed to players who stake their AXS.
Howâs that for passive income?

AXS staking will presumably kick off at some point later this year, so be sure to keep it on your radar.
The Big Picture
Axie Infinity is teeming with opportunities right now. To make the most of them, approach this blossoming NFT game with equal parts dedication and curiosity and youâll be a savvy veteran in no time.
Just remember, the Axie Infinity journey is like the Bankless journey: this is a frontier where there are risks (price swings, IL, etc.) and where you have to put in the work to succeed.
If youâre up for the challenge, then thereâs a lot of fun to be had along the way, which is its own reward đ
Action steps
- Play Axie Infinity and start earning!
- Check out the Axie Infinity Alpha Guide. đ