The bAXS overhaul introduces reputation-based selling fees, aiming to reduce sell pressure and retain value in-game.
The AXS token from gaming project Axie Infinity jumped 209% this month, going past $2.70 for the first time since July 2025.
The move has put Axie back on traders’ radar at a time when most of the crypto market remains under pressure, with investors focusing on whether structural token changes can support longer-term demand.
bAXS Plan Reshapes Rewards and Selling Mechanics
The rally followed a statement from Axie Infinity co-founder Jeffrey “Jihoz” Zirlin, posted on X last week, outlining plans to transition AXS rewards into a bonded version called bAXS. He stated that AXS will back bAXS one-to-one and utilize it directly in Axie’s core applications, such as staking and in-game spending.
A key change is the introduction of a reputation-based selling fee. Holders who choose to sell bAXS will pay a variable fee to the Axie treasury, with lower fees reserved for users who hold higher Axie scores. Zirlin said the focus is not short-term price action but “structural changes to supply” planned for 2026.
Axie Infinity’s official account echoed that message in a subsequent post, describing bAXS as a way to keep value circulating inside the ecosystem rather than flowing straight to exchanges.
The community response has been broadly positive, interpreting the change as a fundamental shift.
Influencer Adrian wrote,
“This sounds really solid for the Axie ecosystem. I am looking forward to it.”
Meanwhile, analyst Kevihaiceth called it an “interesting move to integrate reputation into selling mechanics.” However, some, like user Laxo, expressed cautious optimism, commenting,
“felt like axie was fading but theyre cooking now. lets see if rep based selling brings real activity or just new farm meta.”
Price Action Stands out as the Broader Market Struggles
AXS price action has sharply diverged from the wider market. At the time of writing, CoinGecko data showed the token had dropped back to around $2.40 after briefly touching $2.71. The current price still puts it up more than 116% in the last seven days and nearly 195% over the past month.
Trading volume has also jumped, with more than $700 million changing hands in a day, a level that suggests speculative interest alongside renewed attention from long-term players. By comparison, the broader market has moved in the opposite direction. For example, Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $90,000 earlier this week, dragging the total crypto market into losses of over $250 billion, while Ethereum (ETH) slipped under $3,000 amid rising sell pressure.
Despite the recent uptick, AXS is still down nearly 60% over the past year and is trading more than 98% below its $165 peak from November 2021. Still, the latest rally shows how project-specific changes can temporarily break correlation with BTC when market conditions are otherwise weak.
Whether that strength holds will likely depend on how quickly bAXS rolls out and whether reputation-linked incentives change user behavior inside the Axie economy.
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