Axie Infinity’s play-to-earn ‘scheme’ alarms Phillippine National Police

August 17, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Playing crypto games can be riskier than investing in cryptocurrencies, according to the Filipino ACG, considering the ease with which gamers can lose their digital tokens and NFTs.

The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP ACG) scrutinized some of the models used by cryptocurrency games, warning Filipino citizens against the various schemes used to extort money from the gaming community.

While warning against the risks of cryptocurrency gaming schemes, the Phillippine police highlighted the play-to-earn model used by Axie Infinity, a Pokemon-inspired play-to-earn metaverse game created on the Ethereum blockchain.

A player needs to purchase at least three Axie characters to start playing the game, which the PNP ACG believes forces users to shell out $300 before they can start earning. On the other hand, the police department sided with the traditional gaming industry, which averages up to $100 per user.

*Nine different Axie character types. Source: Cointelegraph*

Playing crypto games can be riskier than investing in cryptocurrencies, according to the PNP ACG, considering the ease with which gamers can lose their digital tokens and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

*Two tokens can be purchased on Axie Infinity. Source: Cointelegraph*

From sending tokens to an unsupported wallet address to market volatility and online scammers, the crypto gaming community is under constant threat of losing their investments. The warning read:

“Just because a game’s underlying blockchain is secure does not mean its engine or marketplace is secure.”

The recommendation from the PNP ACG resonates with the best practices tied to crypto investments. Users are advised to conduct thorough research on ecosystems and founders before investing in cryptocurrencies, and users should be cautious when interacting with unknown individuals and phishing links.

The Philippine Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) recently entered into a partnership with the Blockchain Council of the Philippines (BCP) to expedite Web3 adoption in the region.

*BCP founder Donald Lim with participants at an event called The Launch Mixer. Source: BCP*

“We have seen the rise of innovative blockchain in startups, the success of blockchain-based business solutions and the birth of the initiative that makes blockchain for public good,” said DICT Director Emmy Lou Versoza-Delfin during the announcement.

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May 17, 2023 The Daily Hodl

Axie Infinity creator works with studios to push Web3 adoption through new games

March 30, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Axie Infinity

Sky Mavis’s head of business development, Kathleen Osgood, told Cointelegraph that its goal is to onboard as many people into the ecosystem as possible.

Sky Mavis, the company behind the popular blockchain game Axie Infinity, revealed that four gaming studios would be building and launching games on top of the Ronin Network, sparking the creation of its own native gaming ecosystem.

In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph, Sky Mavis highlighted that they have partnered with four gaming studios: Directive Games, Tribes, Bali Games and Bowled.io. In addition, the team also announced the Ronin blockchain’s shift into a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism. Trung Nguyen, the co-founder and CEO of Sky Mavis, explained:

“With the upgrade to DPoS, we are ready to open up our infrastructure and technology to the wider Web3 world. We believe that this is the path toward creating gaming that’s community-centric, more rewarding, and above all, more fun.”

Kathleen Osgood, the head of business development at Sky Mavis, told Cointelegraph that its team reviewed 250 game studios before deciding on the ones that were announced. According to Osgood, it picked studios from various niches in the gaming space to achieve its goal of onboarding “as many people into the ecosystem as possible.“

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“New user and wallet generation is a massive part of our game studio strategy. Our goal is to work with teams to build great games that not only attract Web3 users but also attract millions of Web2 users,” Osgood added.

By working with other teams with a history of Web2 user acquisition, the Axie Infinity creator will be able to get blockchain games exposed to the masses and be a catalyst for more Web3 adoption.

Despite the crypto winter, many still believe more traditional gaming firms will jump into the nonfungible token (NFT) and blockchain gaming space. On Jan. 12, Web3 executives discussed the potential for mainstream gaming companies to jump in, sharing their thoughts on NFT gaming models like play-to-earn and move-to-earn.

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Norwegian Authorities Seize Crypto Worth $6M From Axie Infinity Heist With FBI’s Help

February 18, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Norwegian Authorities Seize Nearly $6,000,000 in Crypto Stolen in 2022 Hack on Axie Infinity (AXS) Ronin Network

February 17, 2023 The Daily Hodl

Norwegian police recover $5.9M stolen from Axie Infinity Ronin hack

February 16, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Axie Infinity

The seized funds will be used to reimburse affected users, and prevent it from funding North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

According to a press release published on Feb. 16 by Norway's National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim), authorities have seized 60 million Norwegian Kroner ($5.85 million) in stolen cryptocurrencies linked to the Axie Infinity Ronin Bridge hack last March. According to senior public prosecutor Bender,

"Økokrim is good at following the trail of money. This case shows that we also have a great capacity to follow the money on the blockchain, even if the criminals use advanced methods."

According to Bender, Økokrim worked with FBI agents and the U.S. Department of Justice to track the trail of stolen digital assets. "We as a society stand stronger in the fight against digital, profit-motivated crime," she said, "This is money that can support North Korea and their nuclear weapons program. It has therefore been important to track the cryptocurrency and try to stop the money when they try to withdraw it in physical value." The U.S. Department of Justice identified North-Korea backed Lazarus Group as the mastermind of the attack last April.

Authorities say that Sky Mavis, creator of the Axie Infinity NFT game and Ronin Bridge, will be notified of the seizure so that affected users "get the money back to the greatest extent possible." Following a hack valued over $600 million at the time of incident, Axie Infinity reopened its Ronin bridge in June 2022 after its founders, along with external investment from Binance, reimbursed users a total of 117,600 ETH and 25.5 million USD Coin (USDC). The remaining 56,000 stolen ETH belonged to the Axie DAO Treasury and remains undercollateralized as Sky Mavis "works with law enforcement to recover the funds."