- Filipino police make an example out of Axie Infinity.
- Cybercriminals continue to target P2E crypto users.
- Axie Infinity remains a significant player in the P2E space.
Axie Infinity was once the darling of the Play-2-Earn (P2E) space, boasting a $165 token price and close to three million monthly average users. However, things worsened following a $620 million hack in March 2022. Compounding the decline, Filipino police have now issued a risk warning on P2E gaming, making an example out of Axie Infinity.
The Philippines was once the largest cohort country for Axie Infinity users, accounting for 40% of the share of players in 2022. It should come as no surprise that Filipino authorities singled out the project.
Filipino Police Sound Alarm
The Anti-Cyber Crime Division of the Filipino police recently posted a security bulletin warning of the dangers of P2E gaming. It detailed background on the mechanics of P2E, with law enforcement singling out Axie Infinity to illustrate how things work.
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Expanding into the generalities of P2E gaming, the report also warned about the complexities of token transfers, interacting with operators who do not comply with standards such as Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rules, loss due to malicious attacks, and scams that involve establishing relationships with victims that lead to the introduction of fake online games.
Axie Infinity Struggles
Since achieving a peak price of $164.90 in November 2021, the AXIE token has seen a significant drop, leading to a 97% drawdown based on the price at the time of writing.
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In addition, monthly player count data from ActivePlayer.io highlights a sharp tapering-off in the number of users. The chart below shows a peak average monthly user count of 2.8 million in January 2022. Each consecutive month saw further slight declines until May 2022, when the number of active users fell off a cliff, dropping 56% from 2.2 million to 958k in June 2022.
Over the last 30 days, average monthly users came in at 359k – a fraction compared to the January 2022 top.
Although the Ronin Bridge hack was a factor in Axie Infinity’s decline, the token price and number of active users were on the wane before the hack occurred – suggesting that users had already begun looking elsewhere to generate income.
On the Flipside
- Some of the risks highlighted by the Filipino police apply to online gaming in general, not just cryptocurrency P2E.
- Despite the drop in user numbers, Axie Infinity remains among the most played P2E games. For example, the Sandbox had 41k monthly users in June versus 369.5k Axie users during the same period.
Why This Matters
The police warning underscores that hacks and scams remain a threat to cryptocurrency users, even during the depths of the bear market.
Read about the recovery of stolen Axie Funds here:
Millions from Axie Infinity Hack Recovered by FBI and Norwegian Authorities
Discover what the future of P2E gaming holds:
Yield Guild Games Unveils Plans to “Write the Destiny” of P2E
