Axie Infinity (AXS) Faces Major Sell-Off as $215M in Tokens Approaches Unlock
Axie Infinity, the pioneering play-to-earn game focused on crypto, is facing significant sell-off pressure as $215 million worth of AXS tokens is set to be unlocked in the coming days.
Approximately 10 million AXS tokens, currently held by insiders and early investors, are contributing to selling pressure ahead of the unlock.
On October 24, around 21.5 million AXS tokens—nearly 8% of the total supply—will be released as the vesting period concludes. Aleksander Larsen, COO of Sky Mavis and developer of Axie Infinity, has announced that the unlock schedule is based on anticipated block times, with the unlock expected to occur on October 26.
About half of the AXS tokens being unlocked will be distributed as follows:
- Developer team members: $57 million
- Project advisors: $25 million
- Early investors from the private sale: $20 million
In theory, these holders may choose to realize their gains by selling their tokens.
The remaining half, approximately 11 million tokens, is reserved for future staking rewards, play-to-earn incentives, and ecosystem funds. However, these tokens will not be released into circulation immediately.
Sky Mavis, the blockchain game studio behind Axie Infinity, has recently staked 11 million AXS and plans to stake the upcoming unlocked tokens as well.
Prior to the unlock, AXS price has started showing signs of decline. This pattern has been observed with previous AXS unlock events.
According to the project’s whitepaper, Axie Infinity sold 10.5 million tokens in a private sale in mid-2020, raising $864,000. This results in an average price of $0.8 per token. As of writing, AXS is trading around $9, meaning early private sale investors are holding substantial profits.
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— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 19, 2022
A thread about Axie Infinity( $AXS) Unlock.
21,543,000 $AXS($233M) will be unlocked in 5 days (October 25th).
It should be noted that Advisors will unlock 2,501,750 $AXS ($27M), and Private Sale will unlock 1,997,500 $AXS ($21.6M). pic.twitter.com/HgNM3mCrym
A previous Axie Infinity press release listed private sale investors including crypto investment firms Arca, DeFiance Capital, Delphi Digital, Hashed, and Three Arrows Capital (which has since defaulted).
4H Chart of AXS/USDT on Binance at 02:30 PM on October 21, 2022
