The Axie Infinity (AXS) token is an [ERC-20](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/erc-20) token launched on the [Ethereum](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/) blockchain. As a result, it is secured by Ethereum’s [proof-of-work](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake) (POW) consensus mechanism. In early 2021, Axie Infinity plans to migrate its [NFT tokens](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/how-to-mint-an-nft), including Axies, Land and other in-game item tokens from the Loom Network to a custom-built [sidechain](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/side-chain) on Ethereum known as Ronin. Ronin is an application-specific sidechain built just for Axie Infinity. It is being developed by Sky Mavis — the development firm behind the Axie Infinity game, and is designed to support almost instant transaction confirmations, reduced gas fees and be capable of helping Axie Infinity scale.

he native ecosystem token, Axie Infinity Shard (AXS), was launched in November 2020. AXS is the central mechanism for running the Axie Infinity game. Players can buy, trade and earn tokens simply by playing it. In addition, the best players of the season receive rewards in AXS. Moreover, AXS serves as a governance token that allows holders to vote on gameplay changes and influence the evolution of the platform. Axie Infinity (AXS) tokens have a total supply of 270 million tokens. Out of this, around 53.5 million tokens were in circulation as of mid-November 2020. In total, 11% of the total supply was allocated to participants in the [Binance Launchpad](https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/1c097191f01345b090018ffcd30e445c) [IEO](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/initial-exchange-offering) sale (each Axie Infinity token price was $0.10) and 4% was sold in a private sale. In addition to this, 29% is allocated for staking rewards, 20% to the [play-to-earn](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/play-to-earn-play2earn) pool, 21% to the team, 7% to advisors and 8% to the ecosystem fund. Based on the current release schedule, as indicated by [Binance Research](https://research.binance.com/en/projects/axie-infinity), 100% of AXS tokens will be circulating by early 2026.

The gameplay of Axie Infinity is focused on fighting & breeding Axies. It consists of the following steps: buying Axies, participating in battles with other players, breeding Axies, and selling them on the marketplace. Players need to have an Axie to join the battle and select Adventure Mode (PvE) or Arena Mode (PvP). Axies can be bred, but each Axie cannot be bred more than 7 times. Lunacia is the homeland of digital creatures. It is divided into tokenized parts where players can search for resources and upgrade their plots. On the marketplace, players can trade their Axies and land plots. A key feature of Axie Infinity is community engagement, where each member contributes, participates in governance, and generates content. The developers have also introduced a number of mechanics that distinguish Axie Infinity from its analogs. For instance, built-in population control. Furthermore, a wide range of Axies due to various combinations of attributes builds additional demand among gamers and collectors of rare NFTs. To solve the scalability problem, Axie Infinity created its sidechain on Ethereum called Ronin Network. It ensures instant transactions not involving the Ethereum blockchain. Users can safely store AXS and collectible NFTs in Ethereum and Ronin wallets, and send tokens from Ethereum wallet to Ronin wallet via Ronin Bridge.

Each Axie possesses six out of the hundreds of different potential body parts — each of which has its own battle move. This produces essentially endless variety among Axies, with most Axies having relatively weak statistics, while those with the strongest combination of body parts can have incredible stats. Unlike some other blockchain-based battling and breeding games, each Axie can only be bred a total of seven times to help control the population of Axies. Axie Infinity has its own mating hub to help players find a suitable match to breed their Axie with to stand the best chance at producing a rare or powerful offspring. It costs 0.005 ETH in addition to Small Love Potion (SLP) tokens to breed Axies. AXS token holders will soon be able to [stake](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/staking) their tokens to receive regular rewards. But unlike some other stakeable assets, AXS holders will also need to vote and play to claim their rewards.

Axie Infinity was created in 2018 by Sky Mavis — a technology-focused game developer with a team primarily based in Vietnam. It was co-founded by Trung Nguyen and Aleksander Larsen. Trung Nguyen is the current CEO of the platform. Nguyen graduated with a BS in computer software engineering, and worked as a software engineer at Anduin Transactions prior to founding Axie Infinity. Former competitive gamer Aleksander Larsen is also credited as a co-founder and COO of the platform. Larsen has been working in [blockchain](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/blockchain) gaming since 2017. He previously worked as the executive security officer for the Norwegian Government Security Organization and still sits as Secretary of the Board of Directors at the Blockchain Game Alliance. In total, the Axie Infinity team consists of 25 full-time employees — many of whom have experience with game development.

Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based trading and battling game that is partially owned and operated by its players. To learn more about this project, check out our [deep dive of Axie Infinity](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-axie-infinity). Inspired by popular games like Pokémon and Tamagotchi, Axie Infinity allows players to collect, breed, raise, battle and trade token-based creatures known as Axies. These Axies can take various forms, and there are more than 500 different body parts available, including aquatic, beast, bird, bug, plant and reptile parts. Parts from each type class come in four different rarity scales: common, rare, ultra rare and legendary — and Axies can have any combination of body parts, making them highly variable and often rare and unique. Each Axie is a [non-fungible token](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/non-fungible-token) (NFT) with different attributes and strengths and can be entered into 3v3 battles, with the winning team earning more experience (exp) points that are used to level up an Axie's stats or evolve their body parts. These Axies can be bred together to produce new and unique offspring, which can be used or sold on the Axie marketplace. The Axie Infinity ecosystem also has its own unique [governance token](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/governance-token), known as Axie Infinity Shards (AXS). These are used to participate in key governance votes and will give holders a say in how funds in the Axie Community Treasury are spent.