Axie Infinity rallies 17% after Origins game release on the Apple App Store

• Axie Infinity price yielded double-digit gains with the launch of the Origins game on the Apple App Store.
• Sky Mavis, the creator of the game, confirmed its release in a limited number of countries in Latin America and Southeast Asia. 
• AXS price climbed to $8 before pullback to $7.7, alongside a spike in daily active addresses and transaction volume. 

Sky Mavis on Wednesday announced the launch of the Origins online game on the Apple App Store in several countries. The announcement led to an increase in on-chain activity in Axie Infinity (AXS) on the Ethereum blockchain, signaling a rise in retail participation and sending its price up to $8. 

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Axie Infinity card game Origin released in Latin America, SE Asia 

Origin is a card game, a battle version of Axie Infinity, that is now available for iOS users in some Latin American and Southeast Asian countries through the Apple App Store. The game was previously available to Android users on the Google Play store and through Sky Mavis’ Mavis Hub, a launchpad for games. 

iOS users in Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam now have access to the card-based strategy game. Origin has been installed 1.5 million times globally across all platforms, and Sky Mavis is eyeing further expansion with the latest release. 

AXS rallied 17% with Origin’s release announcement

AXS, the governance token of the Axie Infinity, saw a massive spike in its price after the release announcement. AXS price climbed nearly 17% to hit the $8 level before a correction to $7.7. The token trades at around $7.5 at the time of writing.

The news of Origin’s release on Apple App Store also resulted in a spike in open interest and a parallel decline in funding rates, as seen in the chart below. 

AXS/USDT price chart on Binance 

An increase in open interest implies an inflow of capital in the market, while  a decrease in funding rates means short positions are paying for longs. Both metrics support a bullish thesis for AXS. 

The inflow of capital suggests that traders caught the news-driven AXS price rally in time. However, it remains to be seen whether Axie Infinity’s governance token will sustain its new gains in the short-term. 

On-chain activity of AXS on Ethereum explodes

The announcement resulted in an increase in transaction volume and daily active addresses in AXS on the Ethereum blockchain, according to  data from crypto intelligence tracker Santiment.

Daily active addresses and transaction volume of AXS from Santiment

The rise in these on-chain metrics is typically considered bullish for the asset and has historically been related to  price hikes. 

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