GCash now a crypto outlet for Axie Infinity

March 6, 2024 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — E-wallet leader GCash, in its pursuit to expand in the digital space, has found its way to Axie Infinity, the most popular play-to-earn game at the height of the pandemic.

GCash yesterday announced it is tying up with Axie Infinity to serve as the game’s on-ramp and off-ramp portal through the GCrypto feature.

With the partnership, Filipinos playing Axie Infinity can transfer cryptocurrency from the game to GCrypto, opening up an avenue for the safe remittance of digital assets.

Further, gamers can convert these in-game currencies into fiat money or Philippine pesos within GCash. They can also use GCrypto as a conversion platform for other games developed by Sky Mavis, the team behind Axie Infinity.

GCash head for GCrypto Luis Buenaventura said the collaboration seeks to remove the barriers for entry in cryptocurrency. On top of this, the tieup requires GCash and Axie Infinity to comply with industry standards to promote safety and security.

“This collaboration is another step ahead in our mission to transform the potential of blockchain technology and to democratize it even more, going beyond the purchase, sale and maintenance of cryptocurrencies in the GCash app,” Buenaventura said.

Filipinos comprise more than half of Axie Infinity players, a trend that started during the pandemic when the game was viewed as an alternative livelihood.

Axie Infinity serves as a play-to-earn game where users participate in a turn-based challenge and winners acquire tokens that can be traded for legal tender.

At its peak, Axie Infinity reached a sales volume of $869.5 million in August 2021, according to CryptoSlam, a data aggregator backed by Mark Cuban. The game gained so much popularity and value that the Bureau of Internal Revenue had wanted to set up a taxation for its likes.

Sky Mavis developed another game called Pixels, and it is also gaining traction among Filipinos. Pixels hosts over 170,000 users every day in its open world setup where gamers can earn tokens that can be traded for legal tender, too.

Sky Mavis co-founder and chief growth officer Jeff Zirlin expects the partnership to further grow the community of gamers in the Philippines, acknowledging that the reach offered by GCash can mainstream cryptocurrency.

GCash, with roughly 94 million users as of 2023, hosts GCrypto in its platform, where Filipinos can access cryptocurrency assets and non-fungible tokens or NFTs.