Metaverse gaming tokens Ethverse and Axie Infinity avoid crypto downtrend

Metaverse gaming tokens, including The Sandbox’s SAND and Axie Infinity’s AXS, have bucked the downtrend in Bitcoin and Ether.

Metaverse gaming tokens Ethverse (ETHV), The Sandbox (SAND), GameSwap (GSWAP), Yield Guild Games (YGG) and Axie Infinity (AXS) are the few cryptocurrencies seeing gains on Nov. 17 with Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and most of the market in the red. 

Best-performing crypto sector

The emerging division of the blockchain universe saw its market capitalization swell by more than 9% in the previous 24 hours and almost 8% in the last seven days to reach $17.42 billion. Its gains came on the back of volatile upside moves in Ethverse, The Sandbox, GameSwap, Yield Guild Games, Axie Infinity and other markets.

Gaming tokens' performance in the past 24 hours and seven days. Source: Messari

Meanwhile, about 140 tokens belonging to the decentralized finance sector delivered combined losses of almost 10% in the last seven days.

Crypto sector performance in the last seven days. Source: Messari

However, the overall crypto market cap dropped by more than 14.50% to $2.47 trillion.

InterHedging tactic?

Gaming tokens fared not only better in terms of the United States dollar but also against BTC and ETH in the previous 24 hours.

For instance, SAND, the native token of The Sandbox’s virtual world — where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experience — rose more than 27% against Bitcoin and Ether. What’s more, ETHV, a relatively unknown NFT asset, also more than doubled against the top two cryptos.

SAND/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

The capital flow from top crypto assets to the crypto-enabled gaming sector coincided with a flurry of optimistic updates.

That included Andreessen Horowitz leading a $5-million funding round for Seattle-based blockchain gaming startup Irreverent Labs and Polygon’s announcement of organizing a $100,000 hackathon to motivate developers to build and showcase games running on blockchains.

In another event, shares of Korea-based online gaming company WeMade soared by more than 400% to reach a market capitalization of over $5 billion on Nov. 15.

WEMADE daily price chart. Source: TradingView

The firm’s gains appeared after the launch of its blockchain-based game MIR4, which, like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox, allows players to earn cryptocurrencies by converting in-platform items into liquefiable digital assets.

Related: Axie Infinity guild CGU helps players enter the fantasy play-to-earn NFT game with 'scholarships'

On the whole, the blockchain gaming sector appears to be carving its own niche. Arjun Kalsy, vice-president of growth at Polygon, stated:

“With the Web3 paradigm of play-to-earn, where gamers can monetize their time and in-game achievements, this market is set to grow multifold in the coming years.”

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