Axie Infinity token AXS posts 137% gain following changes to the game rewards system

Axie Infinity’s token AXS has rallied over 137% since last week and over 11% over the past 24 hours based on CoinMarketCap data. The surge follows developer Sky Mavis’ announcement last week of major changes to the game’s reward system. 

The Axie Infinity game lets players collect, breed, battle, and trade creatures called Axies. The blockchain-based game began its new season on January 21, introducing new features such as AXS tokens no longer being tradable by default. Following the announced changes, gamers will receive bAXS tokens, one-to-one backed by AXS, which can be used for breeding, ascending, evolving, and stacking. The bAXS tokens cannot be transferred to other accounts in the meantime. 

Axie Infinity aims to curb bot activity with new changes to the game

Axie Infinity was introduced in 2018 as a blockchain-based game, then exploded in mid-2021 after it released AXS tokens. The blockchain-based game airdropped 800,000 Axis Infinity Shard (AXS) tokens to its early adopters and enabled stacking. The changes allowed gamers to lock in their rewards and earn additional returns. 

Lunacians, we are on the verge of a massive evolution in how we secure our digital nation.

bAXS (Bonded AXS) is backed 1:1 by AXS, and designed to keep value circulating within our ecosystem and rewarding our citizens.

This is the start of a transformative year for Axie… pic.twitter.com/rpqAt1DZ1G

— Axie Infinity (@AxieInfinity) January 17, 2026

The ability to earn AXS tokens attracted many gamers and made most of them profitable. Many gamers in developing countries, especially in the Philippines, earned up to $600 a month by playing 5 to 8 hours a day. The game quickly became an arena for bots as the number of gamers dried up. Fewer real gamers could no longer earn a living from the game, since bots had taken over. 

The latest change to the AXS token rewards, coupled with previous changes, is expected to change the game and continue benefiting real gamers instead of bots. As a result, the AXS token has surged over 1326% since its launch and over 208% in the past 30 days, reflecting the impact of the latest changes to the game. At the time of publication, the token was up 11% on the daily chart, trading at $2.59, with a market cap of $431.9 million. 

According to the game developer, the changes are designed to benefit real players by removing incentives for bot-driven activities observed across the game. The changes will curb bot activity in the game and reward real Axie Infinity gamers. 

Axie Infinity released approximately 10 million AXS tokens in 2025, worth approximately $23.5 million at the current rate as gamer rewards. As more AXS are consumed when gamers breed, ascend, or evolve Axies, investors speculate that the new situation will squeeze the number of tokens available and create a supply shock, which in turn will drive prices up. 

Axie Infinity game plans to decrease AXS supply via burn mechanisms

Gamers who receive bAXS tokens can still convert them to AXS at a fee and trade them on the market. Long-term gamers will pay lower fees to reward long-term contributors while discouraging short-term ‘farm and dump’ behavior.

Axie Infinity developer has also hinted at potentially decreasing the supply of Axie creatures needed to play the game through burn mechanisms. According to Sky Mavis, the game developer, the only viable paths to increasing the value and utility of every Axie are restructuring plans and addressing the Axie oversupply. 

The GameFi sector has attracted explosive investor interest recently, driving the overall market cap to roughly $6.51 billion. Axie Infinity is among the tokens leading the space with bullish momentum. According to CoinGecko, other tokens performing well across the space include Ronin (RON), The Sandbox (SAND), Smooth Love Potion (SLP), Decentraland (MANA), and Illuvium (ILV). 

AXS leads with a 137% gain this week, followed by KO (Kyuzo’s Friend), with a 47% gain over the past 7 days. The Sandbox (SAND) and Smooth Love Potion (SLP) trail third and fourth with 33.7% and 33.5% gain over the past seven days. 

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