Axie Infinity

Source: Axie Infinity.com

Axie Infinity describes itself as a "digital pet universe on the blockchain" where players look after their digital pets. However, in order to start playing, small digital animals called Axies need to be purchased. Ironically, the game (which was developed in Vietnam) has been dominated by people in the Philippines who make up 40% of the players. Now the Philippine government is also looking to profit as it seeks to levy tax on the gains its citizens are making. Due to the popularity of Axie, the price of Axies has risen immensely - meaning for those who cannot afford the initial purchase price, they are able to enrol for Axie scholarships at Axie Universities. A ‘scholarship’ in Axie Infinity is when an owner of Axies gives free Axies to someone, resulting in the original owner/donor earning a % of the players’ income. These types of scholarships are a helpful way for those people new to cryptos to learn how to use digital wallets and how to cash in the ‘Secret Love Points’ that one earns while playing Axie Infinity. Depending on the scholarship terms, the profit share can vary between having to pay away 30% to 40% of the income generated.

Another Play to Earn on-line game is Blankos Block Party, from Mithical games. Its developers also worked on highly successful video games including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero. When playing ‘Blankos, one can earn Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) which can be traded on marketplaces. Rudy Koch, a co-founder of Blankos, has said: “What NFTs allow us to do is to bring the player into the economy so they can participate in the value that they bring to the game. Through the items that they earn, through the levels that they build, through the customizations that they make - they own the NFTs. They own the items, for the first time. And they can play with them, they can sell them.” Whilst the idea of buying and selling items you have won/earnt from playing on-line games is not new, the ownership and transparency that comes with Blockchain technology is. Burberry, the fashion designer and retailer has its Non-Fungible Token (NFT) collection on the Blankos Block Party. Rod Manley, chief marketing officer at Burberry, has stated: “That pushing boundaries through experimentation is at the heart of what the company does and it is excited to unlock genuine value for the gaming community by encouraging players to interact with the brand in an environment that celebrates art, design and exploration”.

Burberry’s collaboration with Block Party demonstrates how traditional global brands are engaging further with Digital Assets as a means in which to raise their profile among a new and growing audience which is paid to play.

The challenge is, how do consumers and travellers prove their vaccination status or their most recent test results? Whilst there is no definitive answer to this question, we are increasingly seeing a number of organisations turning to the use of Blockchain technology as the basis of a digital, transparent solution. Indeed, the World Economic Forum has proposed that for travellers to foreign countries “a ‘vaccine passport’ or ‘e-vaccination certification of compliance’ for border crossing regulations” could be required “to enable seamless border-crossing”. In Europe, the Digital Green Certificate, a digital certificate for travel available to cover anyone vaccinated against COVID-19 or those who have recently been tested and proved to be negative, is seen as a possible solution.

One of the first platforms to use Blockchain technology was by the International Chamber of Commerce and the world’s largest medical, security and travel repatriation firm, SOS. They launched AOK in May 2020, allowing users to keep control over their personal data whilst allowing them to share an authenticated digital copy of their COVID-19 compliance status certificate. IBM’s Digital Health Pass, using a Blockchain-powered platform, is now  integrated with Amadeus which, itself, is an airline booking system that is used by more than 450 carriers worldwide and means that your health and vaccination status can be securely stored and then shared when you book in at an airport. It seems that governments are pushing the responsibility for covid health and vaccination proof onto the airlines; in a similar way that it is the airline that checks to ensure you have the correct entry vias before you board a plane. Hong Kong University has teamed up with ConsenSys to build the Medoxie COVID-19 Digital Health Passport which will run on the Ethereum Blockchain. As reported on the website Business Blockchain, Karen Cohen, deputy chair for Blockchain Australia believes a blockchain-based COVID-19 certificate could pave the way for the protected circulation of health data worldwide, stating: “This would be a really wonderful test case as a globally secured way of sharing health data.”

However, the use of Blockchain technology is not without its challenges when it comes to using this technology to store and cryptographically share information, including issues such as:

• speed of the blockchain 

• cost to record data

• security of data - personal information will need to be hashed/stored in a manner such that the data could not be subsequently removed at a future time. There is very much the need to be mindful or privacy laws and regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

• close attention to the management of vaccine certifications and test results 

• the success of immunity and vaccine certifications will be largely dependent on the trust in the public authority which, in many countries, cannot be taken for granted. 

• vaccine passports could inadvertently lead to ‘false assurances’ for travellers and discriminate against those populations not having access to vaccines.

The existence of an internationally acceptable vaccine certificate, whether it be held on a blockchain or not, ought to reduce the levels of quarantine endured by travellers and allow more countries to open their boarders faster. Undoubtedly, this virus will be an integral part of our lives going forward, together with the possibility of being exposed to future pandemics. Having a way to prove your health status is almost certainly going to be in a digital format - be it on a blockchain or not.