Axie Infinity Details bAXS and Terrariums in Game Economy Overhaul

Axie Infinity set out a major change to its game economy on February 3, 2026, formally introducing Bonded AXS, or bAXS, a new in-game token backed by its existing AXS token. In the same blog post, the team announced two bAXS airdrops and said Homeland, its current land game, would be replaced by a new mode called Terrariums.

Historical news event: 2026-02-03. Retrospective report prepared November 2026.

The idea wasn't a complete surprise. Sky Mavis co-founder Jeffrey "Jihoz" Zirlin had previewed bAXS on X in mid-January, which helped push AXS sharply higher that month. February 3 was when the team published the full plan.

What is bAXS?

According to the post, AXS would become a reserve currency for bAXS, a new "app token". bAXS is an ERC20-C token, a standard from Limit Break designed to let game developers set rules on how a token moves. Each bAXS is backed one-to-one by AXS.

In the game, bAXS was meant to do the same jobs as AXS: ascending, evolving and breeding axies, forging items on the Axie app and staking. Over time, the team said, most rewards would be paid in bAXS. The difference was in how it circulates. "bAXS will have features that encourage Lunacians to spend it within our ecosystem," the post said.

BlockchainGamer reported in January that selling bAXS would carry a fee that falls as a player's Axie Score rises, with fees going to the Axie treasury. The goal was to slow the selling pressure that had weighed on Axie's tokens for years.

"A good day for $AXS, but the true story here is the structural changes to supply that we're making this year," Zirlin wrote on X in January 2026, as quoted by BlockchainGamer.

Image: Axie Infinity

The first airdrop

The February 3 post set out the first of two bAXS airdrops:

• Snapshot: February 5, 2026, at 00:01 UTC.
• Pool: 100,000 bAXS.
• Eligibility: wallets with at least 10 AXS staked.
• Allocation: based on each wallet's Axie Score and amount of staked AXS.
• Distribution: at the bAXS launch, with no date given at the time.

A second airdrop was promised, again weighted by Axie Score and staking, with details to follow. Being eligible didn't guarantee any particular allocation, and an airdropped token carries no promise of market value.

Terrariums replace Homeland

The team also confirmed that Homeland would be sunset. Its replacement, Terrariums, was described as "the foundation of Axie Core", a place where axies live, grow and earn through mini-games, expeditions, guilds, territories, accessories and collectibles, with links to Atia's Legacy, the studio's upcoming MMO.

Sky Mavis said Terrariums would be a key place to earn bAXS and called it "a return to our original vision for Lunacian Land." It targeted the second quarter of 2026 for a minimum viable version, by which point bAXS would be live and the airdrops complete.

That roughly held. Sky Mavis launched Terrariums V1 in June 2026, with the first earning cycle scheduled for June 19, and followed with updates over the summer.

Lessons from the play-to-earn era

Axie Infinity was the defining game of the 2021 play-to-earn boom, when players, many in the Philippines, earned tokens by battling and breeding axies on the Ronin network. When new players stopped arriving, token rewards lost value and the model struggled. The team has been reworking the economy ever since, from the launch of Axie Infinity: Origins and its AXS prize pools to changes in how players are rewarded.

Zirlin acknowledged the dynamics of that era back in 2022. "People poured into Axie because it was the main thing that was working and the best product on the market," he told The Block in September 2022, in a discussion of games moving away from pure play-to-earn.

bAXS reflects that shift. Instead of one fungible token serving as both a tradable asset and a game reward, Axie split the roles: AXS as the reserve and governance asset, bAXS as the in-game currency designed to be spent. For background on how game tokens have worked over the years, see our earlier look at game-based cryptocurrencies.

Ronin itself had also been changing, opening up to permissionless deployment in 2025 as more games, such as Pixels, built their economies on the network.

For players, the real measure is whether Terrariums gives them a good reason to spend time with their axies, not whether a new token sparks a few weeks of trading.

Frequently asked questions

What is bAXS in Axie Infinity?

bAXS, or Bonded AXS, is an in-game app token backed one-to-one by AXS. It can be used for breeding, evolving and ascending axies and for staking, and is designed to encourage spending inside the Axie ecosystem.

When was bAXS announced?

Sky Mavis co-founder Jeff Zirlin previewed bAXS on X in mid-January 2026, and the Axie team formally introduced it, along with its airdrops and Terrariums, on February 3, 2026.

Who was eligible for the first bAXS airdrop?

Wallets with at least 10 AXS staked at the February 5, 2026 snapshot were eligible for the 100,000 bAXS pool. Allocations depended on Axie Score and the amount of AXS staked.

What are Axie Terrariums?

Terrariums are Axie Infinity's new land-based mode, replacing Homeland. Axies live and earn there through mini-games, expeditions and guilds, and the mode pays rewards in bAXS. Version 1 launched in June 2026.

Is AXS being replaced by bAXS?

No. AXS remains the reserve currency backing bAXS. bAXS takes over most in-game rewards and spending.

Sources

• Axie Infinity: A new token is coming to Axie! (February 3, 2026)
• BlockchainGamer: Axie Infinity replacing AXS rewards with new AppToken bAXS (January 2026)
• Decrypt: New Axie Infinity token will be airdropped to AXS stakers (February 4, 2026)
• BlockchainGamer: Sky Mavis launches Axie's new land game Terrariums (June 2026)
• The Block: Crypto games are moving away from play-to-earn (September 28, 2022)

Featured image: Axie Infinity

Last updated NOV 7, 2026