Skip to main content

Somebody Might Say AXA is a "Scam" While Probably Playing 'Axie Infinity' Thinking It's an "Investment"

I was thinking about this video above where somebody said, "Don't invest in AXA or make the loss that I did." It was a person named Bill Baker. Try checking out the comments in this video and be ready for facedesk comments. I was thinking about how this guy doesn't realize that AXA isn't about instant gains, there are premium charges to pay which is money allocated to the insurance portion of the investment. Did this guy expect his money to multiply fast? Some people commenting on the video are commenting out of ignorance. It might be worth asking, "Did you keep withdrawing your funds or do you even bother to understand the ups and downs of the equity market?"

The money market is no easy game. I remembered being told to hold my Retail Treasury Bond (RTB) after selling my first bond and reinvesting it again. I decided to get a Long-Term Negotiable Certificate of Deposit (LTNCD) as another investment. I'm trying to learn petty cash investments on GCash hoping to get more money in the long term. I was thinking those comments made out of ignorance are people who were hoping for instant gratification. Apparently, some people never learned even after the Legacy Grouo of Companies, after KAPA (a scam pastoral ministry), and after many organizations made promises too good to be true. I never remembered AXA promising me that I'd become a billionaire in five years or so. No, it was all about managing the funds.

Somebody might want to think about the Total Fund Value (TPV). Sometimes, the money is decreased from administration charges, premium charges (for the insurance portion), and buying more units for investment. The price per unit changes depending on how the market goes. If the stock market or money market is at an upward trend--the money will go up. A good example is if I own a certain number of units and the unit price goes up or down. Right now, I check my investments and the TPV goes down when the price units go down. It's like how I had a total of this amount one day and it decreased on the next. If the price units go up then it naturally goes up. These things are subject to volatility. If stocks are involved then note that stuff like company performance, industry performance, public perception, and economics play in part. Economic factors include interest rates, inflation rates, economic-political events (ex. Ukraine War), economic outlook, and local currency value. Granted, if the USD is going strong against the PHP then I can expect my dollar investments to have better power. If the PHP is going strong then my PHP investments will go stronger.

Meanwhile, I've been thinking that these people who turned down AXA as a "scam" might be playing Axie Infinity somewhere...

Yup, I'm talking about Axie Infinity--that game that has been said to be life-changing. However, it's actually revealed to be nothing more than a house of cards. France 24 has these details which one should truly heed as a warning if they think Axie Infinity is going to be the better way to earn money:

But some gaming industry analysts say its business model is unsustainable, pointing to the need for new players to keep money coming in.

Jonathan Teplitsky of blockchain firm Horizen Labs warned most play-to-earn games were a "house of cards", fuelled by "hype and price speculation".

"This entire system works well while the Axie company is flush with cash and willing to fuel a massive marketing machine," he said.

"If Axie wants to survive the next market crash, they will need to build some real-world utility into their game that does not depend on the mood of the markets."

Sky Mavis co-founder and chief executive Trung Nguyen told AFP Axie Infinity, which is partly owned by players, was "not a zero sum game".

"There are a lot of things other than monetary value that people can get from the game."

It would make me laugh if someone (hypothetically) will refuse to get an AXA investment (or any legitimate investment for that matter) but thinks Axie Infinity is the answer. Besides, CNBC also points out last March 30, 2022, the weak security of Axie Infinity:

The makers of one of the most popular blockchain-based online games said Tuesday that hackers were able to steal assets worth about $625 million from the gaming company and its players.

The theft immediately became one of the largest in the history of the burgeoning world of cryptocurrencies and decentralized online gaming, both of which have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years.

The hackers targeted Ronin, a blockchain service run by the owners of Axie Infinity, which is an online game that attracts around 2 million daily users and sees tens of millions of dollars in daily sales volume. Ronin said Tuesday in a blog post that hackers were able to essentially take control of the network and send 173,600 ethers, worth about $600 million, to an anonymous ethereum wallet. The hackers were also able to withdraw about $25.5 million of USD coin, which is a digital currency pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar.

Ethereum, like bitcoin, is a cryptocurrency based on blockchain technology, in which many computers contribute to a shared database that is not controlled by any single entity. Hacks of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum have jumped in recent years as they’ve grown in value. They are different from traditional, government-backed currencies such as the U.S. dollar in that they’re purely digital and all transactions are recorded on a decentralized computer ledger known as a blockchain

It would really be ironic if someone decides to forego insurance and investments to go gambling.  I'm really laughing at the idea of somebody rejecting AXA to play Axie Infinity. The chances are somebody might be withdrawing their investments from AXA because they want to play Axie Infinity. Right now, Axie Infinity sees no signs of buyers after that incident. Meanwhile, AXA is getting some more buyers which actually holds the organization together. Obviously, AXA will have to ask for some of that deposit to pay premium charges whenever necessary. It's like I must pay a percentage to go to insurance (just in case) while what remains is like a piggy bank. Though, I don't suggest withdrawing it.

What I'm thinking right now is how people may easily get their money from playing Axie Infinity. It's like getting paid to play the game. It feels good at first to play a game of menko and get paid when you win, right? From what I heard--people easily get their wins if they win with their Axie trades and battles. However, the profits are rather short-lived from what I heard. It's pretty much like how the initial investors of Charles Ponzi got a huge return, they invited more people, and then the whole system crashed because it was a house of cards from the beginning. It's because Axie has that trade started then they might be converting the cryptocurrency into money somewhere. What starts with a USD 100.00 "investment" can grow so fast over time. However, money that's easy to come is easy to go, right?

I guess some people felt AXA was a "scam" because it didn't give them the money immediately or that the value can go down if the stock market is down. Sometimes, you're best required to hold on to that investment. It's because AXA only allows limited withdrawals as some money will be used to buy more units in an investment. Not so with Axie, right? If people can get the money right away from the trades and battles then I guess it's "not a scam" for people who want instant gratification. Why I can say AXA isn't a scam is because it doesn't promise instant gains. Yet, some people who want instant money--think it's a "scam" if the investment value goes down but it's "not a scam" if they get instant gratification. Yet, no scammer will ever flat-out admit that they're scamming you with a promise too good to be true, am I right, right? 

References

"Axie Infinity sees 'no signs of buyers' as AXS price tumbles 30% in two weeks" by Yashu Gola (April 11, 2022)

"Hackers steal more than $600 million from maker of Axie Infinity" by David Ingram and Jason Abbruzzese (March 30, 2022)

"What's to know about gambling addiction" by Tim Newman, Reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, PhD, PsyD (June 19, 2018)

"Top 10 Reasons Filipinos Don’t Get Insurance" (Updated: February 15, 2022)

Popular posts from this blog

Pinoy Pride Economics Helps in Drug Mule Recruitment

Al Jazeera Who can remember the execution of three drug mules in China on March 30, 2011 ? These were three separate cases where the three convicts were  Sally Villanueva , Ramon Credo (who was cremated before his remains were brought home, and Elizabeth Batain (whose face was never shown). Sally had an episode in the GMA-7 TV show Magpakailanman,  where her husband was personally interviewed by Mel Tiangco. We never got Sally on the big screen. The husband's side of the story said that his wife was guilty of a frame-up, while Mel herself said, "If the offer is too good to be true, don't take it, or you could end up in the same pickle." Take note that I'm just paraphrasing Mel's words, not saying the words she said.  Reviewing the three drug mules who got arrested, based only on what's available for public viewing on the Internet If we read through the circumstances , this is how they were arrested, proving they weren't a trio: China has brushed aside...

New Study Confirms Oil Degulation Law is Bad, Oil Nationalization is Better

Yes, you found that right. Did you know that the Filipino First Policy caused the Philippines to succeed and Carlos P. Garcia was the best president ever? Today, because of the Iranian War crisis, we need to talk about a new important discovery. What I realized is that the oil deregulation policy is bad . Do you want the oil prices to fall under control? Then read this new blog to find out.  A new audit was revealed in the world's greatest economic forum. The Trust Me Bro School of Economics invited the trustworthy IBON Foundation to speak at Intrigador Financials . I was so wrong not to notice the genius behind the likes of Makabayan Bloc.  What have I done compared to the youths  of Kabataan Partylist ? I even discovered that  the IBON Foundation is the most credible economic think tank . As I realized that  Filipinos should only listen to Filipino economists ,  I have found that there are literally  tons of studies  from the famous Trust Me Br...

Social Media Gossipers' Ad Hominems Against Actor Robin Padilla Regarding His Proposal to Remove 60-40

Make no mistake that I didn't vote for Robin Padilla. I feel like I've had enough of voting for celebrities, athletes, and those who I felt are know-nothings in the legislative. However, Padilla recently had his proposal to remove the 60-40 restrictions regarding foreign direct investments (FDIs) . Former Philippine Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona-Robredo was even in favor of that amendment. I guess that's why Philippine economist Andrew James Masigan endorsed Robredo. I may have not endorsed Robredo while Masigan remains to be one of my favorite local sources. The news from GMA News Online reveals these plans by Padilla himself: Senator Robin Padilla said he wanted to revise the Constitution to scrap the 60-40 rule on foreign ownership of businesses to accelerate job creation and competition among industries . In a Monday interview, Padilla said the move would attract more foreign investments to support the country’s economic recovery. “Para sa akin mas...

Toxic Positivity: Shielding Our ECONOMICALLY OUTDATED Constitution

ABS-CBN News I thought about what life was like in the late 1990s. It was a boomer vs. millennial clash . I remember how often I kept complaining about high school during the K+10 era. Even worse, the real problem why I hated school was that school cared more about grades for the sake of grades , instead of teaching students how to get good grades based on learning first. What may have compounded it is that we've had boomer parents who thought that fatigue is a badge of honor .  What I realized is the common problem of toxic positivity . We have the "good vibes only" or "everything will turn out right in the end". Sadly, life doesn't always turn out that way. You can tell a terminally ill cancer patient that, and the cancer patient would die anyway. No amount of toxic positivity ever fixes the problem. This time, I'd like to rant once more about how toxic positivity has been used to defend the outdated 1987 Constitutio of the Philippines.  The classic r...

It's More Fun In The Philippines Thanks to the Filipino First Policy

I guess it can be called a day, right? This April 1, 2023 , I'm finally calling it quits with fighting for economic liberalization! Yes, that's right! All the advocacy for economic liberalization is just garbage. Why did I even spend so much time writing this blog only to find out that I've been duped? I hereby renounce everything I wrote here. I finally saw how brilliant the Filipino First Policy is. Man, what have I done? How much damage have I caused in advocating for economic liberalization?  The greatest president we ever had was... High School Philippine History Movement It's time to listen to the economic genius known as the late Carlos P. Garcia. Yes, he has to be one of the greatest presidents that ever existed.  I took this note from the Bohol Provincial Library and found this about CPG's Filipino First Policy ; CPG adopted the “Filipino First” Policy to promote greater Filipino participation in business, and to put the Filipinos in control of the economy...