Why Is Axie Infinity (AXS) Up 10% Today Amid Crypto Crash?

The native cryptocurrency of the Axie Infinity AXS/USD blockchain has gained 10.8% over the last 24 hours.

What Happened: According to data from Benzinga Pro, AXS rallied to an intra-day high of $31.50 late on Sunday.

It was one of the top gainers amid a falling crypto market. AXS traded 12.33% higher than Bitcoin BTC/USD and 13.36% higher than Ethereum ETH/USD.
The surge came amid social media buzz surrounding an "Axie Secret Party" and, separately, sanctions being placed on a cryptocurrency mixer allegedly involved in the laundering of funds stolen from Axie.

The hashtag "AxieSecretParty" trended on Twitter with Axie Latam Lead Lima Osito posting several updates from a get-together in Argentina.

La familia crece 🔥#AxieSecretParty pic.twitter.com/VsVab7P3MA

— Lima 🔥 (@AxieLima) May 8, 2022

See Also: HOW TO BUY AXIE INFINITY (AXS)

Last month, hackers stole $655 million worth of crypto from Axie Infinity’s Ronin RON/USD chain. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation linked the bad actors involved in the attack to North Korean-based hacker entities, Lazarus Group and APT38.

Over the past few weeks, the hackers were observed moving the stolen funds into coin mixers such as Tornado Cash TORN/USD.

On Friday, the U.S. Treasury Department issued its first-ever sanctions on a cryptocurrency mixer, Blender.io. The Treasury’s press release stated that Blender.io was used by Lazarus to launder $20.5 million worth of stolen funds from Axie Infinity.

“Virtual currency mixers that assist illicit transactions pose a threat to U.S. national security interests. We are taking action against illicit financial activity by the DPRK [North Korea] and will not allow state-sponsored thievery and its money-laundering enablers to go unanswered,” the Treasury’s Brian E. Nelson said.

Photo courtesy: Axie Infinity