Cody McGrath 
Axie Infinity (AXS), a popular gaming token, surges in value over the last 24 hours after introducing land staking rewards, while crypto lender BlockFi has also extended support for the token.
AXS surged nearly 20% to $34.56, recovering sharply from a near one-year low earlier this week. The token was the top-performing metaverse currency in the last 24 hours.
After losing over 50% of its value in late March due to a severe $600 million hack, the fast gains are expected to signal a turning point for AXS. The game also appears to be suffering from a decrease in player counts.
Axie had introduced rewards for staking virtual land in its game earlier this week in an attempt to attract more participants and drive up AXS prices. So far, the strategy appears to be working.
AXS and 13 additional tokens are now supported by BlockFi
Non-U.S. users will now be able to trade and earn interest on AXS and 13 other popular tokens, according to a blog post by crypto lender BlockFi. The change will take effect on May 4th.
Other popular metaverse tokens on the list include The Sandbox (SAND) and Decentraland (MANA), as well as crypto heavyweights Terra (LUNA) and Binance Coin (BNB).
Following the move, all of the aforementioned tokens saw significant rises on Thursday. With over 500,000 retail accounts, BlockFi is one of the largest crypto lenders, all of which will now have access to AXS and its peers.
Land staking rewards will be available on Axie Infinity
The popular play-to-earn game announced that it will introduce land staking awards to encourage players to own virtual land and enhance governance.
Players have also put their virtual plots up for sale in response to a delay in the game’s land features, driving land values down significantly. Still, the land staking is just temporary, as the rewards will switch to active gameplay once the land upgrade is launched.
The game now intends to implement more programs to encourage community participation.