This article will explain what Smooth Love Potion (SLP) and Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) are, highlighting their differences and uses. The goal is to clear up any misconceptions surrounding these two cryptocurrencies.
If you need a general overview of Axie Infinity before diving into SLP and AXS, check out our Axie Infinity Breakdown here. Let’s get started by exploring the differences between SLP and AXS.
Smooth Love Potion (SLP) is a cryptocurrency earned by playing Axie Infinity; it is primarily used to pay for breeding fees but is also tradable on various crypto exchanges. Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) is a governance token that supports staking and payment (breeding) within the game. Continue reading to gain a comprehensive understanding of both cryptocurrencies!
Both SLP and AXS serve distinct purposes and have different tokenomics. SLP is always in full circulation, whereas AXS has around 55% in circulation (as of 2024), with Binance predicting 100% of AXS tokens to be trading by 2026.
What is Smooth Love Potion (SLP)?
Smooth Love Potion (SLP) is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency that Axie Infinity players earn as a reward for playing the game. The primary use of SLP is to breed Axies, although it can also be traded on crypto exchanges for monetary gain. Breeding Axies burns SLP, but playing the game continuously generates more SLP. The SLP total supply is always changing as there is no hard cap but 100% of tokens are always in circulation.
Players earn SLP through in-game activities – that is via Arena Mode. The amount of SLP earned scales with player performance; better players earn more SLP which is scaled via a player’s Matchmaking Rating (MMRs).
In Axie Infinity, players earn 1 SLP per win for MMRs of 0-999, 3 SLP for 1000-1099, 6 SLP for 1100-1299, 9 SLP for 1300-1499, 12 SLP for 1500-1799, 15 SLP for 1800-1999, 18 SLP for 2000-2199, and up to 21 SLP for MMRs above 2200
The main use of SLP is for breeding Axies, with the SLP cost increasing as the breed count of an Axie rises. Breeding two virgin Axies (0/7) requires the least amount of SLP; this is to prevent the overproduction of these NFTs – aka Axies.
This overproduction lead to a significant decrease in players and daily earnings back in early 2022; more on that downfall can be caught in our YouTube video linked here.
Where Can You Buy Smooth Love Potion (SLP)?
Smooth Love Potion (SLP) is available for purchase and trades on several cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Uniswap, and Crypto.com. Additionally, SLP can be purchased on Coinbase, where transactions can be executed via its decentralized exchange feature.
Although players can earn SLP tokens through Arena Mode on the Axie Infinity platform, accumulating enough SLP to breed Axies can be challenging. This led to the creation of a secondary market – originally on Uniswap (a decentralized exchange) – where players can quickly obtain SLP tokens without investing as much time or effort in traditional gameplay methods.
What are Axie Infinity Shards (AXS)?
Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) are an ERC-20 governance token with a total supply of 270,000,000. In early 2026, it is predicted that 100% of AXS will be in circulation. AXS serves three main purposes: governance, staking, and payment within the Axie Infinity ecosystem.
Governance
AXS holders can participate in governance by voting on key issues; holders are able to do this by staking their AXS – each AXS token representing one share or voting power. Learn more about governance tokens – e.g. AXS or MANA and how they work in this article.
By staking, holders receive rewards from the community treasury. The treasury generates revenue from a portion of the transaction fees on the Axie Infinity marketplace, specifically 4.25% of all Axie NFT marketplace transactions and the AXS portion of the breeding fee.
These mechanisms aim to incentivize long-term participation and investment in the Axie Infinity community while ensuring that active contributors have a significant influence on its development.
Payments
AXS tokens are also required within the Axie Infinity ecosystem for payments such as breeding fees, with each breeding being 0.5 AXS.
Players can earn AXS by ranking high on the leaderboards each season, where rewards for top players can be substantial, although the exact amounts vary by season.
Over time, AXS is expected to become even more integral to the Axie Infinity economy, with ongoing updates and new features enhancing its utility and importance within the game.
Where Can You Buy Axie Infinity Shards (AXS)?
AXS (Axie Infinity Shards) is available for trading on a wide range of cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase, Binance, Uniswap, Huobi Global, SushiSwap, and Crypto.com. Given its growing popularity and widespread adoption, AXS continues to be accessible on numerous major platforms.
What Are the Fees for Breeding an Axie?
Breeding Axies is a key activity in Axie Infinity, as this generates new NFTs that can be quite valuable. As of 2024, powerful Axies continue to sell for significant amounts on various NFT marketplaces like OpenSea.
To breed an Axie, two Axies with a breed count below seven are required. Breeding cost are summarized as follows.
- Breed Count 0/7: Least SLP required
- Increasing Breed Counts: Higher SLP costs
In addition to SLP, one AXS is also required for each breeding. These fees are subject to change based on updates from Sky Mavis, the creators of Axie Infinity.
Once an Axie is bred, it can be sold on the Axie Infinity marketplace or other NFT platforms like OpenSea. If you want to learn more about OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, click here.
While some players might opt to sell SLP on exchanges, breeding often remains the most profitable action due to the high value of Axies in the market.
I hope you found this article informative and continue to stay informed with NFT Explained. You can also find us on YouTube!
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