P2E token trading volumes slump by 98%

Trading volumes of top tokens in the Play-to-Earn (P2E) segment slumped by 98% from the market peak in November 2021. The Block reports this, citing Kaiko Research.

The data show a decline in trader activity among leading P2E assets, including Axie Infinity (AXS), Enjin (ENJ), Gala Games (GALA) and The Sandbox (SAND).

“After the sharp rise in popularity at the end of 2021, the monthly trading volume of top P2E tokens in June fell by almost 98% to just $2 billion, and in July the figure remained roughly the same — around $1.9 billion,” said Dessislava Obert, senior Kaiko Research analyst.

According to her, the main markets for the assets are Binance and Korean platforms. At the peak of popularity, P2E tokens were most popular in the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America, she added.

Obert says the main incentive for users was monetary, but the value of in-game rewards collapsed.

“AXS, the governance token in the Axie Infinity ecosystem, has fallen more than 90% since the start of 2022, while SAND, MANA and GALA have experienced the same price decline,” she noted.

A former head of Growth at Tamadoge, Karl Dockins, also believes that the low activity in the segment is driven by gamers’ disappointment with P2E assets, which hardly yield rewards and are “essentially Disneyland play money.”

In April, CoinGecko researchers compiled a list of popular Web3-games for 2023.