Gaming Tokens IMX, SAND and AXS Plunge Following Bitcoin Flash Crash

When Bitcoin falls, the rest of the cryptocurrency market often falls with it. In the past 24 hours, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap has fallen roughly 7% in what’s being called a “flash crash.” And it’s taken the crypto market on a bit of a ride, sending gaming-related tokens down anywhere from 5-15%.

Immutable’s IMX token is down roughly 9% in the past day, per CoinGecko data, with The Sandbox’s SAND token dropping about 12%, Axie’s AXS token dumping about 10%, and the GALA token plunging roughly 13%. Merit Circle’s new BEAM token is down approximately 9.5%, and ApeCoin fell 13%.

Many other gaming tokens are down in the past day, like “move-to-earn” game Stepn’s GMT token, Enjin Coin, Parallel’s PRIME token, and WAX.

All of the aforementioned cryptocurrencies are down overall in the past week, with many of the losses worsening after Bitcoin’s flash crash early Wednesday morning.

Over $550 million in crypto long positions were liquidated in the crash, according to CoinGlass data.

While many of the largest gaming tokens by market cap saw prices dump, a few tokens made gains.

Axie’s Smooth Love Potion (SLP) and Yield Guild Games’ YGG tokens are up about 4% and 11%, respectively, and don’t seem to have been much impacted by Bitcoin’s tumble on Wednesday. Oasys is also up about 6.3% in the past day, making it another of the handful of tokens that escaped the chill of the flash crash.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the gaming tokens that are lagging today. Last month, IMX hit a 20-month high at $2.35, reaching prices not seen since the late bull market of April 2022. GALA also saw 18% gains last month—though its price has already dropped back down to the roughly $0.027 seen mid-December.

Crypto gaming token prices will continue to fluctuate—but even more new tokens are on the horizon. The Ronin-based Pixels game has confirmed that it will release a PIXEL token, the PORTAL token’s team is plotting its vision as a “universal” gaming token, and MixMob is planning a token sale for its governance token, MXM, this month.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.