STAKING

REVAMP

AXIE ECONOMY

Q4 2025

PROBLEM STATEMENT

• Fixed 23,687 AXS/day, pure pro-rata by stake
• Record on-chain data and distribute rewards based on block (each 3s)

CURRENT SCHEME

• No signal for contribution quality.
• Fixed daily emission ignores adoption cycles and encourages mercenary capital.
• Runway visibility ends with current vesting (Q2’26).

ISSUES

• What is staking used for? Did AXS Staking achieve what it was supposed to do?
• If not, what should it achieve going forward?
• Is funding staking more valuable than other uses of Treasury resources?

PROBLEM TO DISCUSS

WHAT IS STAKING USED FOR?

• Staking rewarded believers who held AXS, offering passive yield as a sign of trust in Axie’s future.

REWARD LONG-TERM HOLDERS

• By locking tokens for yield, staking cut circulating supply and eased sell pressure, helping stabilize AXS during rapid growth.

ENCOURAGE HOLDING OVER SELLING

• Rewards were distributed purely by stake size, not by contribution or engagement. 
• High emissions and high APR, which weren’t optimized.
• In short, staking succeeded in rewarding holders - but didn’t yet connect those rewards to active participation in the Axie Economy.

THE LIMITATION

WHAT SHOULD STAKING ACHIEVE

GOING FORWARD?

Despite the ongoing technical research, there are a few key points to discuss.

​

Right-size emissions:

Introduce step-down/decay so APRs are sustainable across cycles.

Add utility layers:

Stake-to-play unlocks (content access, multipliers, lower fees, faster progression, social perks). We also want to integrate Defi feature with Staking.

REWARD THE RIGHT BEHAVIOR:

High-value contributors earn more than passive capital.

Distribute by effective stake

AXS staked

AxieScore weighting

x

=

Anti-dump design:

Smarter distribution (e.g. vesting/claim cadence) to encourage holding and in-ecosystem spend.

IS FUNDING STAKING MORE VALUABLE THAN OTHER USES OF TREASURY RESOURCES?

When we think about where the Treasury AXS can create the biggest impact, 2 groups stand out:

Rewarding high-value users, alongside funding builders, represents the two highest-impact ways to grow the Axie ecosystem.

• They believe in Axie’s long-term vision and actively contribute to the community.
• Rewarding them strengthens the core of loyal holders and engaged players who drive Axie’s network effect.
• It’s not just token rewards — it’s about aligning loyalty and contribution to make Axie stronger.

(Top AxieScore Players + AXS Holders)

HIGH-VALUE USERS

• Growth also comes from teams building games, products, and experiences in the Axie universe — from Sky Mavis to other developers supported by the Ecosystem Fund.

BUILDERS

(Developers + Creators)

HOW SHOULD WE OPTIMIZE?

Staking should amplify builder output and player value, not compete with them. When rewards are based on contribution and paired with real utility, staking becomes a true growth engine that reinforces AXS value.

• Targets high-value users (stake + AxieScore),
• Runs with reasonable emissions, and
• Returns value via retention, engagement, and in-game utility.

FUNDING STAKING IS VALUABLE IF IT:

CONCERNS

• Staking is meant to encourage users to hold AXS rather than sell it. But currently, its only utility is earning passive AXS rewards, which keeps emissions rising. The key question is - if we stop AXS emissions, how many users unstake and add selling pressure to the market?

• We understand that staking will need more utility within the Axie ecosystem, but that can’t be built overnight. So, before that happens, what can we do in the meantime?

01/01/2025 - 30/06/2025

01/01/2025 - 30/06/2025

APR =

36%

TVL increase from

58.9M -> 64.6M

Reduce APR from

36% -> 13%

APR decrease from

64.6M -> 60.9M

IN REALITY

STAKING REVAMP

• Stakers to stay, not just farm and leave.
• Keep AXS valuable by reducing sell pressure.
• Reward real community members - not only big holders.

WHAT WE WANT

• Reward people who believe in Axie and help it grow.
• Make AXS staking part of a bigger Axie economy loop, not just passive yield.

OUR GOAL

SHORT-TERM ACTION (1/2)

​

EXPERIMENT: 1 POOL, 2 REWARDS, 3 EXPERIMENTS

• Rewards high-value behaviour through Axie Score.
• Reduce the emission for passive behaviour.
• No action needed on users.

• #1 Experiment: We can study how TVL changes as staking is decayed for passive wallets (those without Axie Score).
• #2 Experiment: We can study how TVL of high-value users change in response.
• #3 Experiment with how contribution-based rewards affect user behavior by integrating AxieScore into future on-chain distribution models

• Current AXS Staking Pool - stays onchain.
• Axie Score Staking Reward Pool - stays offchain as a database that records onchain stake + offchain Axie Score.

NEW REWARD SCHEME:

Start in Dec 1st. Reduce daily emission after a certain period.

SHORT-TERM ACTION (2/2)

Goal: To study how semi-active and contribution-based impact to users

• Gradually reduce 5% of daily emission reward after every 9 days with current staking protocol.

• We plan to airdrop a certain amount of AXS each month based on AxieScore (and potentially staked size) as a way to align rewards with contribution. The first distribution is expected in January. We’ll share more detailed information in upcoming posts.

LONG-TERM THOUGHT

NEW SCHEME

• Integrating AxieScore and AXS staking amount to weighting the reward allocation.
• Stakers with higher AxieScore gain more effective rewards.

ADD UTILITIES LAYER

• Build a system where AXS = power, status, and access.
• Add more utilities layers for staking on App.Axie and Atia’s Legacy. Staking will connect to future game perks and exclusive features. We are conducting researches on:

• Exclusive access
• Progression boosts
• Crafting bonuses
• Guild benefits

• Special promotion
• Governance access
• DAO & Treasury participation
• Yield boosts

• Defi features: Lending, Buy-now-pay-later, AXS-backed stable asset to increase liquidity,...

While observing the short-term experiments, we are conducting research on new scheme and utilities for Staking. This also encourages users to hold and stake AXS for the long term.

THANK YOU

FOR READING!