Videogames have been with us for around 50 years and in all this time, we have seen how this form of entertainment has evolved in a remarkable way; from something as basic as Pong or Tetris to the open worlds of Zelda.

However, we know that the evolution of videogames goes hand in hand with technology, so it was inevitable that a technology like blockchain would sooner or later become part of modern gaming.

Today, thanks to the new “Play-to-Earn” genre, players can earn money while playing and even use such games as a form of investment.

Industry analysts show strong signs that the videogame industry will continue growing and with this growth, will come new opportunities to make money. For that reason, today I present, 9 Blockchain Games to Earn Money. A list of what I consider to be the Play-to-Earn games with the greatest potential of the moment. Insha’Allah, you find one that fits your needs.

1. Axie Infinity

Buy adorable monsters, raise them, put them to fight each other, and earn money with it. That’s what Axie Infinity, the most popular blockchain/NFT game of the moment is all about.

Axie Infinity has a similar mechanic to that of the popular Pokémon, only that instead of gaining experience when fighting – either against the AI or against other players – your monsters (Axies) earn SLP tokens, which you can later exchange for real money.

In Axie Infinity, both the Axies and the game plots are represented by NFTs and that’s the key to this matter. The game runs on Ethereum and uses Ronin, an independent wallet to speed up transactions.

What you need to play Axie Infinity

To start, you’ll need to create a Ronin wallet and also have an Ethereum wallet, transfer ETH to Ronin, create an account on the Axie Infinity website, and download the game on your device.

After this, you’ll need to buy three Axies to form a fighting team. At the time of publishing this blog post, acquiring a “decent” monster for combat costs about $500, so the initial investment can be around $1,500 – although you can also opt for a scholarship to play for free.

Is it easy to earn money?

Although the initial cost can be very high for many players, Axie Infinity is a game with wide possibilities that rewards players the more time and effort they put into it. It also has other options to earn money, such as token staking, Axies breeding, and buying/selling virtual plots.

2. Alien Worlds

Alien Worlds is a game in which players can explore and mine on different planets, use weapons, artifacts, and minions in space battles. In Alien Worlds you can win Trilium (TLM), a cryptocurrency token that you get through real crypto mining represented in the game, in addition to NFTs for free.

TLM is a token that joins the Wax and Ethereum blockchains and allows the economies of both chains to function as one. Subsequently, you can trade and sell both TLMs and NFTs on various exchanges and earn money from them.

What you need to play Alien Worlds

Getting started in Alien Worlds is as simple as creating a wallet in Wax Cloud Wallet and an account on the game’s official website associating your Wax wallet.

It’s also possible to start in Alien Worlds without investing any money. In this case, you start with a standard character and a shovel, then travel to different planets to find Trilium. During mining, there is a chance to find some NFT for free.

Is it easy to earn money?

In Alien Worlds, it’s possible to earn a good amount of money, but this will depend a lot on several factors, including the quality and quantity of your tools, as well as the planet you are mining on. In many cases, at the time of publishing this blog post, there is the possibility of finding NFTs with a value between $30 and $40, and even more valuable ones.

3. CryptoBlades

CryptoBlades is a web browser RPG released on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) that also uses NFT technology. The game revolves around obtaining powerful swords and fighting in an epic fantasy world. CryptoBlades also rewards players with cryptocurrency tokens called SKILL, when they participate in battles against other players and in some in-game challenges.

In addition to that, you can also upgrade your characters and weapons as you progress through the game, which also serves to increase your earnings.

What you need to play CryptoBlades

To get started in CryptoBlades, you only need a web browser and a compatible wallet configured for BSC. Once you have connected your wallet to the game’s DApp, you should have at least 0.5 SKILL on hand, something quite inexpensive compared to other similar games.

Is it easy to earn money?

In CryptoBlades you have the possibility to forge new and more powerful weapons to increase your chances of winning more SKILL. In addition to earning money from battles, you can also claim daily SKILL bonuses, trade in-game, and put your tokens on staking.

4. MegaCryptoPolis 3D

MegaCryptoPolis 3D (MCP3D) is a game that focuses on building cities. As a user, you can run the game through any browser, including your mobile phone, while in-game assets are stored on the Ethereum and TRON blockchains, where the game runs.

As a player, you can create your own buildings or just rent them, produce new construction materials, new generations of citizens, create services, place ads, tour the city, and more. All this while earning money in the form of $MEGA tokens.

What you need to play MegaCryptoPolis 3D

Being based on the Ethereum and TRON blockchains, you’ll need a digital wallet compatible with these networks, acquire some ETH or TRX, depending on the network you choose, and start buying blocks of virtual land on the city map before proceeding to create buildings. Each lot of land is represented as an ERC-721 token that you can transfer and trade as a cryptocurrency on external markets.

Is it easy to earn money?

Each building in MCP3D is represented by an NFT. Take into account that you can do everything in the game related to construction and real estate, so the options to earn money are many. On the other hand, you don’t even need a building or land to play; you can buy game assets on the market and sell them at a higher price when they go up in price, either whole or even in parts to earn more money.

5. The Sandbox

The Sandbox is an Ethereum-based open virtual world that allows players to build, play, own, and monetize their virtual gaming experiences and ideas.

In The Sandbox, you’ll find 3D modeling software tools that will allow you to create your own voxel assets and then move on to animate your creations, which can be anything, including people, tools, monsters, buildings, etc.

Finally, you can export your creations in The Sandbox, to The Sandbox Marketplace, where you can sell them in the form of NFTs.

What you need to play The Sandbox

Once you have created and configured your Ethereum wallet, you need to buy LAND. These LANDs are chunks of virtual land on which you can shape your NFT creations. Once you do this, you get SAND, The Sandbox’s native utility token that is used throughout the ecosystem to perform transactions.

Is it easy to earn money?

The key to making money is in the quantity and quality of your creations: the more of these two factors you have, the more SAND you will get.

Then you can use this SAND as a means of exchange in The Marketplace or other external markets, or invest part of your SAND tokens to earn additional rewards thanks to staking. With SAND’s current price around $1, this may be a very good option.

6. Crazy Defense Heroes

Crazy Defense Heroes (CDH) is a game developed and published by Animoca Brands. It’s the largest and most expanded version of the Crazy Kings game, which was released on iOS in 2017 and Android in 2018.

CDH belongs to the popular “defend the tower” genre, but it has a somewhat more complete gameplay enriched with elements such as resource gathering, new heroes, buildings, and spells.

This app offers you more than 500 levels of frantic gameplay, in addition to the possibility of playing against real opponents in strategic online PvP games. On top of that, being based on Ethereum, you can earn TOWER tokens as you progress in your adventure.

What you need to play Crazy Defense Heroes

For starters, Crazy Defense Heroes is a free-to-play game, so you don’t need to make any initial investment to start playing. What you’ll need is to link your game account to your Ethereum wallet to claim your rewards or buy tokens to make purchases or exchanges within the game.

Is it easy to earn money?

The more time you spend playing CDH, the more TOWER tokens you will earn. Take into account that it’s possible to acquire better weapons, equipment, and cards to advance within the game and for this, users need TOWER tokens. In this way, you can put your surplus TOWER tokens up for sale on exchanges such as Sushiswap or Uniswap.

7. Ethermon

Ethermon is a game built on the Ethereum network in which you can unleash your passion for collecting monsters, in this case, Ether Mons. You must capture them, put them to fight, and exchange them for other monsters to earn $EMON, the game currency.

Thanks to Ethermon’s smart contracts and their programming, you’ll have the guarantee that your monsters are yours and nobody else’s property and since each monster has a unique and unrepeatable personality and characteristics, you can sell and trade them like any collector’s item.

What you need to play Ethermon

As always, an Ethereum wallet, buy Ether on any reputable exchange, and play to win $EMON.

Like “MonSeeker,” you must interact with smart contracts to achieve three objectives:

• Capture Ethermons – There is a limited number.
• Train your monsters – You can even raise hatchlings from them and then sell or rent them to other players.
• Fight other MonSeekers – You know, more $EMON.

Is it easy to earn money?

As you can see, Ethermon’s mechanics are very similar to those of Axie Infinity. You’ll use $EMON to send your Ethermons on adventures for a chance to find new and exclusive monsters, or buy Ethermon eggs from the shop and see what they hatch.

From time to time, new collections of Ethermons appear available in official stores and since the platform has a limited distribution, the more rare and powerful your monsters are, the more valuable they will be.

8. Lost Relics

Lost Relics is an RPG action game similar to the famous Diablo, in which you must explore dungeons full of enemies to meet certain objectives. However, the game also has some roguelike touches, so the difficulty is somewhat higher.

The best thing about this game is that you can find items in the form of NFTs based on the Enjin blockchain, which gives them value in the cryptocurrency market.

You can have several roles within the game including miner, fisherman, alchemist, blacksmith, and depending on which one you choose, you can obtain specific benefits.

What you need to play Lost Relics

You will need to have an Enjin wallet in order to transfer the NFT items you find in the game to sell them on the Enjin marketplace. The game is Free-to-Play, but note that you will need to have a – more or less – powerful computer to play, with a graphics card of at least 8GB RAM.

Is it easy to earn money?

The game requires some time and dedication to gain experience and level points. As you progress, the chances of getting more and better NFT items to sell on the market also increase.

Meanwhile, you can accumulate “gold coins.” This is another type of incentive that you can get by completing an adventure – and sporadically in barrels or boxes – and that are used to carry out in-game transactions – something similar to Runescape gold.

9. Upland

Upland is a Play-to-Earn game based on the EOS blockchain, in which users can build, buy, sell, and trade virtual properties assigned to the real world to earn UPX coins. The project uses blockchain to link each property within Upland to an NFT.

Thanks to its recent partnership with Tilia Pay, Upland users can now sell their NFT virtual assets through the Second Life payment network, which supports PayPal to withdraw their earnings in USD. This should give you an idea of the capabilities of the platform.

What you need to play Upland

You can start the game by registering on the official website and connecting your compatible EOS wallet. The game is also available for iOS and Android.

In addition to this, you’ll need UPX to be able to carry out in-game transactions. The good part is that when you first sign up, the game gives you a welcome bonus of several thousand UPX. But it’s certain that sooner or later, you’ll need to buy more UPX in the game.

Is it easy to earn money?

Each property you build or acquire will generate passive income in the form of UPX. The problem is that they generate a very low monthly income. Another perhaps more profitable option is collections, which are nothing more than a certain number of properties in some specific place on the map. These collections can give you additional benefits in the form of bonuses.

Is playing video games halal?

Is playing video games halal? Yes, scholars say that it is permissible to play video games so long as the focus and/or content of the video game is not on haram things such as murder, stealing, gambling, nudity, etc. Also, the video game must not promote hate towards or the destruction of Islam and if you are earning money from playing video games, then the money should not come from prize money that is sourced from the collection of contestant fees.

And even though playing video games is halal, scholars still do not encourage it as playing video games may lead some to neglect the rights of Allah, others, or even themselves by forgetting prayer times, not giving proper time to one’s spouse, or other necessary obligations.

For a more in-depth perspective on the permissibility of playing video games, please see the article, Axie Infinity Overview and is Axie Infinity Halal?

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Nowadays it’s becoming more and more common to hear conversations between teenagers such as the following:

– Hey! Do you play Axie?
– Of course! I can’t complain, Alhumdulilah I make around $900 a month. What about you?
– Yeah. I just started a few months ago, but I’m already close to $400…

It’s the boom of the moment, a new trend in the videogame industry that was birthed from the crypto world.

I’m not talking about a simple game with which to kill leisure time, but about a video game that has already generated more than $400 million in profits and is placed in the top position among “play-to-earn” games.

It turns out that thanks to blockchain technology, it’s now possible to make a lot of money by playing videogames related to the crypto world, and one of the best examples of this is Axie Infinity.

To give you some idea of just how popular and transformative this game has been for some, know that Axie Infinity is already considered by many as the “Bitcoin” of NFT-based videogames, and its popularity has reached the point that in some countries, people are paying their bills and quitting their jobs thanks to the income they earn playing the game. Madness or a playful crypto revolution?

Let’s figure that out today with an Axie Infinity Overview while also exploring, is Axie Infinity halal? Yallah!! (Let’s go!)

What is Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity is a Player-vs-Player (PvP) and Play-to-Earn online video game developed in 2018 by the Vietnamese company Sky Mavis and based on the Ethereum blockchain technology.

In Axie Infinity, as a player, you can create characters that have the appearance of monsters in the Pokémon style – in fact, Axie is inspired by this famous game – called Axies and that are represented in the form of NFT tokens, thus becoming cryptographic collectibles that you can later improve to put them in battles against other Axies and make some virtual money.

You can later use that money in the form of cryptocurrency tokens to improve your character’s strengths and abilities, get new monsters or sell them on the market for higher profits.

These characteristics have made Axie Infinity one of the most interesting games in the crypto world, already surpassing veteran platforms such as Sorare or CryptoKitties.

What is the goal of Axie Infinity?

The main goal of the game is to collect the best Axies and put them to fight against other players or against the artificial intelligence in the game. In this way, the more powerful your creatures are, the more possibilities you’ll have when facing other players and therefore, to make more money in battles as your level increases.

Axies can be improved because each one has a series of unique features that you can improve as you carry out activities in the game, which include battles, as well as missions, and other extra activities. But as I already mentioned, the most interesting thing about these creatures is that thanks to blockchain/NFT technology, each Axie has a set of unique and unrepeatable features.

This is reflected in the fact that each Axie has unique “digital genetics” that gives it characteristics that make it more or less efficient in combat, depending on each situation. For example, a particular Axie could have been “born” with great resistance to fire attacks. Your duty as a breeder is then raising it in the best possible way so that it develops this ability to the max level.

If you’ve ever played Pokémon, you may notice that Axie Infinity’s dynamic is very similar to that of the popular game by Nintendo.

What are AXS and SLP tokens in Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity has two unique tokens based on the Ethereum blockchain technology which are called AXS and SLP tokens. Let’s take a closer look at what each one of them consists of.

AXS Token

AXS stands for Axie Infinity Shard and consists of an ERC-20 type token that allows players to receive rewards for their participation in the game. For example, if you wish, you can take all your AXS and stake them and earn extra AXS tokens as a reward for supporting the Axie ecosystem. These AXS tokens also serve to participate in the game’s decentralized governance, in addition to serving as a form of support for the community treasury that helps drive the development of the entire ecosystem.

The AXS token was made public in November 2020, which is one of the reasons why this token is not yet fully functional. However, it’s easy to see that the AXS token was created to offer access to a decentralized finance system to incentivize and make future development and improvement of the game easier.

I should highlight that AXS has a limited supply of 270,000,000 tokens, which makes it a scarce resource with good potential to increase its value in the future insha’Allah.

SLP Token

SLP or Smooth Love Potion, is another token of the ERC-20 type that is used so that players can receive their rewards when winning battles within Axie Infinity. As it’s a PvP game, when you win each battle, you should receive experience points or XP – which is the norm for PvP games – but in Axie Infinity, instead of XP, you receive SLP tokens that you can later use as you wish.

These SLP tokens are essential within the game since, for example, if you want to start breeding an Axie, you must have at least 100 SLP to be able to do so. Each upgrade or enhancement you want to make to an Axie, will have a specific cost in SLP, and the more Axies you’d like to have or the better the Axie you’d like to own, then the more SLP you will need.

Is Axie Infinity safe to play or invest in?

As has happened – and continues happening – with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and more recently with NFTs, a debate directly linked to these two types of crypto assets also falls on Axie Infinity. In this sense, many people wonder:

Is Axie Infinity a financial bubble?

Is it safe to invest in Axie Infinity?

It’s easy to understand that these questions will arise for many, especially every time a new boom appears in the crypto world that generates exorbitant amounts of money overnight, but you should remember that the possibility of making money playing blockchain games is indeed real. After all, we already know that it’s possible to make money professionally by playing videogames such as eSports games.

But in addition to eSports games, for many years, there has also been a gray market on the internet where users of certain games can make an economic exchange that moves millions of dollars a year.

Some of these games that generate millions of dollars in revenue per year would be World of Warcraft or Runescape, to name just a few examples.

Now, thanks to blockchain, developers have been able to create and promote a new business model in videogames. Axie Infinity has demonstrated that it’s possible to generate an entire internal economy in a game, strong enough for players to keep motivated to dedicate more and more time to this activity, even professionally.

In the Philippines and Vietnam, it’s already happening; there are people who have quit their jobs to earn money playing Axie Infinity and other similar games. It’s not the first time that this type of action has taken place, especially with projects that move huge amounts of money.

However, even with the enormous figures that Axie Infinity moves, it’s also true that the economic return can have its terrible ups and downs.

What Axie Infinity has done is take advantage of the NFT trend and the speculation that exists around that sector, to get the attention of the masses. But be that as it may, for many, this is a serious investment, not just a game.

Today, thousands of users pay 20 times more than what a next-generation console game is worth to enter the game in the hope of recovering their investment and obtaining superior benefits. And so far, the business model works.

But what if a strong competitor – or several – arrives overnight and makes the game lose popularity?

The entire game economy could be affected as users lose interest and NFT items lose value. After all, there is a certain level of risk when investing in blockchain games.

So when it comes to playing or investing in Axie Infinity, as always, the key factor here is to be cautious, do your research, and never invest more money than you can afford to lose. Muslims should not take extreme risks with investments; always being mindful of the provision that Allah has given them and who they are responsible for with that provision.

What do I need to play Axie Infinity?

If you’ve already gotten excited about Axie Infinity and want to ride this new wave, here’s a rundown of what you need to get started.

Create an account at Axie Infinity

The first thing to do is create an account with the MetaMask crypto wallet, and another in Ronin Wallet, the latter from the official Sky Mavis website.

In MetaMask you must have funds in Ether – the Ethereum currency – which you must then transfer to the Ronin wallet, which is the one used internally in Axie Infinity.

Then, from Ronin, you must transfer the money to buy the first three Axies necessary to start playing. At the time of writing this blog, the cost would be a total of about $1,200. Although, if you don’t have this amount of money, you can try to get a scholarship to play for free – more on this later insha’Allah (God willing).

After spending some time playing and accumulating victories, you can withdraw Axies to your Ronin wallet in the form of Ether, the second most important cryptocurrency, and exchange this for fiat money or spend it in the many online stores that accept the currency.

How do I play Axie Infinity?

As I mentioned before, the game is similar to Pokémon, only that the abilities of the Axies are reflected in cards. In this case, each monster has a series of features such as:

• Type – fish, beast, etc.
• Amount of damage it can cause
• Health levels
• Skill levels
• Special abilities
• Roles

Among others.

As a player, your goal is to strategically combine cards that reflect the abilities of your Axies to attack your opponents and try to defeat them. The player with the last Axie standing is the winner of the match. It’s as simple as that.

But again, what if you don’t have money to start playing Axie Infinity? Well, you could look into getting an Axie scholarship.

What are Axie scholarships?

A scholarship at Axie Infinity allows a novice user to receive an Axie for rent so that they can start playing and earning SLPs. These earnings will then be divided between the player, the Axie owner, and the scholarship manager, resulting in all users making a profit.

So, Axie Scholarships are comprised of three:

1. A person who owns Axies to lend out to players
2. A Scholarship Manager who manages the players
3. A Player or one who is in need of Axies and is willing to play once they are lent Axies to play with

To qualify for a scholarship, you only need to have enough time to play, a desire to learn, and a commitment to following the scholarship guidelines. Take into account that in this case, both the owner of the Axie and the administrator, or scholarship manager, are trusting you to generate profits and distribute them.

If you are interested in obtaining a scholarship, you can try to apply through the official Axie Infinity Discord channel in the scholarships section. From there you can apply, but you must be prepared to demonstrate your skills and motivation.

And here’s a pretty good article that gives step-by-step details on how to create and manage an Axie Scholarship if you are interested in doing so.

How to make money with Axie Infinity

Currently, there are several methods to earn money playing Axie Infinity, let’s take a look at a few of them.

Fighting

The most obvious method is to fight other players in the arena, or in adventure mode against the AI. Every day, you’ll receive a certain amount of energy to be able to fight and thus earn SLP, which you can then exchange for fiat money, and even other cryptocurrencies. At the time of writing this article, you can possibly generate between $8 to $40 per day.

Breeding Axies

You can also make money by buying Axies and breeding them. Once you get new hatchlings, you can try trading them for Ether. In this case, the price of each Axie will be different depending on its characteristics, as well as the supply and demand in the game – the cheapest Axie costs about $300. You can also offer your Axies in scholarships for other players to use.

Staking

Axie Infinity has plans to allow AXS token holders to stake their AXS tokens within the Axie universe.

Axie Infinity developers would like to see Axie Infinity become a more decentralized ecosystem and has thus developed a reward system that will reward additional AXS tokens to those who not only stake their AXS tokens within the Axie universe, but also actively play Axie Infinity, and also participate in governance initiatives by voting on community projects.

Staking is normally seen as a passive way to earn income, but with Axie Infinity, staking will require some work. The developers would like to see Axie Infinity’s development and growth come from its community and believe that the best way for this to happen is through active participation, and this is why its reward system is designed to reward those who not only stake, but will actively play, and actively vote on project initiatives. So, we cannot say that staking on Axie Infinity is merely passive. It will require some effort from the one who stakes.

At the time of writing this blog post, staking has not been initiated on Axie Infinity so we do not know the following:

• We do not know how long one has to stake their AXS tokens to receive rewards. 3 months? 6 months? One year? We don’t know as of yet
• We do not know how often one has to play Axie Infinity in order to qualify to receive staking rewards
• We do not know how often one must participate in governance voting or voting on community projects in order to qualify to receive rewards

Insha’Allah the developers of Axie Infinity will make this clear in due time as it appears that many people seem eager to participate in staking on Axie.

Buying and selling virtual lands

Currently, it’s possible to buy plots of virtual land within the metaverse of the game and whose minimum prices are close to $12,000, and wait for prices to rise before selling or even renting them. Some of these lands have been sold for $1.5 million and more!

Is Axie Infinity worth it?

Right now, Axie Infinity may be more or less worth it, depending on the strategy you follow. As I said before, it’s an investment linked to the volatility of cryptocurrencies, so you must measure very well which are your best opportunities based on your investment possibilities. If you have the time and you like to play, this may be the best option, either as the owner of your own Axies or as a user with a scholarship. In this way, you could possibly generate more than $1,000 a month, depending on your abilities.

Now, if you don’t want to play, remember that Axie Infinity offers several ways to invest in the game that can be more or less profitable. You can take advantage of the current boom in NFTs by buying or selling Axies or if you have the money, buy and sell virtual lands, and new ways of generating income are sure to come in the future if the game maintains its popularity insha’Allah. Just remember to always do proper research before you invest and never invest what you are not willing to lose.

Is Axie Infinity halal?

Is Axie Infinity halal? When examining a consensus of fatawa (legal opinions) from scholars as it relates to playing video games and earning money from playing video games, then we would say, yes, Axie Infinity is halal but not encouraged. Axie Infinity is not a game of chance, nor is the game structured as a tournament where prize money is given from participant registration fees as a reward, nor does the content and theme of the game conflict with Islamic principles, so we can say that it would be permissible to play and earn income from Axie Infinity but scholars still would encourage players to find another means of earning income.

As for the AXS and SLP tokens, scholars who generally rule that cryptocurrency is halal would consider AXS and SLP as halal. Scholars would consider both tokens as utility tokens and would classify both as assets and not currency.

So now let’s discuss why playing and earning money from Axie Infinity is permissible while at the same time some scholars would still discourage seeking to earn money from Axie Infinity and videogames in general.

Game of Chance

First let’s look at what is called, “game of chance”. “Game of chance” is commonly understood to mean gambling, or getting something too easy, or getting a profit without working for it. This is forbidden in Islam. The ayat in the Quran that clarifies gambling as haram are the following:

“O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone altars [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful. Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not desist?” – Holy Quran, 5:90-91

“They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, “In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit.” – Holy Quran, 2:219

“Game of chance” does not apply to Axie Infinity as Axie Infinity is a skill-based game where one focuses on building their Axie’s strength and powers through battles and breeding, and in return, they can earn income from selling their Axie NFT or SLP tokens in a marketplace. In other words, Axie Infinity requires effort, strategy, and time. This is not gambling and Axie Infinity is most certainly not a “game of chance”.

For further reading on “game of chance”, please read an excellent Islamic explanation here.

Tournaments and Prize Money

When it comes to earning money, scholars also mention that it is haram to earn money from competition tournaments where prize money is awarded from registration fees paid by those who participate in the tournament. Scholars view this as a form of gambling. The only exception for this is for certain competitions such as horse racing, camel racing, archery, swimming, or activities where the competition could be seen as enhancing one’s knowledge of Islam or training for jihad (defending or protecting the Muslim community).

Earning money from tournament competitions does not apply to Axie Infinity. As mentioned before, the main method of participating in gameplay on the Axie Infinity platform is by purchasing 3 Axies. Once the player has purchased 3 Axies, they can then play against opponents (Arena battle) or the AI (Adventure battle). Money is earned by selling Axie NFTs or SLP tokens or lending out Axies via a scholarship program. There is no registration fee and no grand prize money to win.

For further reading on tournaments and prize money, please read Islamic opinion here.

Theme and Content

Scholars also state that videos games should not go against Islamic principles such as the showing of awrah (intimate parts), using vulgar language, promoting immoral acts such as stealing, cheating, lying, etc., and the game should not promote the destruction of or show hate towards Islam. The theme and content of Axie Infinity do not go against Islamic principles nor does the game promote the immoral.

For further reading, please see an Islamic perspective on electronic games here and another scholar’s opinion on videogames here.

Gharar

However, there are some things to keep in mind for anyone seeking to participate in play-to-earn games. In Islam, it is impermissible to deal in sales, business, or investment transactions that have high or extreme uncertainty. This is commonly referred to as gharar (uncertainty, risk, deception) in the sharia.

It may be that one person invests their surplus money to play Axie Infinity for leisure. This person has a solid understanding of how Axie Infinity works and they are investing money that if they were to lose what they have invested, it would not be of consequence to them or their family.

On the other hand, it may be that you have another person who is desperate and seeking a way to provide for their family. They know only a little of Axie Infinity and have only heard of positive stories of those who are making so much money in the game. This person takes their life’s savings to play with the hopes of supporting his/her family. It is in this situation where a scholar may say that this is impermissible because for this particular individual there is extreme uncertainty and speculation (gharar) as to their investment in Axie Infinity.

So when playing Axie Infinity or any other play-to-earn game, it is important for Muslims to have a proper understanding of what they are getting involved in and to be mindful of how they spend or invest their money, always being mindful of their responsibilities.

Axie scholarships

In Islam it is permissible to receive scholarships, however, it is incumbent upon the Muslim to fulfill their duties of the scholarship they have received assuming the obligations of the scholarship are halal. So, as long as the Axie Scholarship does not request or require the player to engage in what is haram then it is seen as permissible.

Why some scholars do not encourage playing

Finally, when it comes to playing Axie Infinity, or any videogame for that matter, we must always keep in mind how much time we devote to this activity. As Muslims, we know that when we meet Allah, one of the things that we will be questioned on is how we utilized our time.

There are some who will play Axie Infinity for income to support their family and there are others who will simply play for leisure. Regardless of where they fall, as Muslims, we should be cognizant of how much time we spend on this activity being mindful to not let this activity take away from the rights of Allah, others, or even ourselves.

And this is the concern of scholars. Scholars realize that it can be easy to find ourselves consumed in gameplay only to end up wasting time, especially if there is no true benefit of gameplay. Scholars encourage that we use our time to engage in what will benefit us in both this life and the next and see video games as a possible distraction.

This is not to say that one cannot play from time to time for leisure or even to earn income, but even for the latter, scholars recommend seeking other means of seeking income.

Conclusion

In recent years, several games have emerged to take advantage of the boom in cryptocurrencies and NFTs, generating a lot of money for both developers and users. In addition to helping generate real money for players, these games have also contributed to creating an entire ecosystem, a community, and a new economy that is changing various rules in the world, both real and virtual.

And with the growing advent of artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and robotics changing the landscape of the labor market by displacing humans for machines and with the negative effects of fiat currencies leaving nations economically poor, I believe that we will see a growing trend of people trying to find new ways to earn income for their families and they will do so in the metaverse.

The eyes of those who have large investment capital are seeing the enormous possibilities in the world of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and the virtual world, and in the future, it is likely that more and more games of this type are going to appear in the market, so it’s time for Muslims to have our eyes wide open to the potential halal possibilities and opportunities in this space always remembering that whether it is the “real” world or the “virtual” world, Allah is Rabbil-‘Alamin, Lord of ALL the worlds.

And in the end, Allah knows best.

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There is no doubt that the Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) revolution is here to stay insha’Allah (God willing); it’s enough to look at the astronomical sums that people are willing to pay in some cases for these digital assets. This is one of the reasons why these tokens are becoming the favorites of creators, entrepreneurs, and fans of the crypto world, and their popularity doesn’t stop growing.

Naturally, this is sparking more and more the interest of the general public, especially those starting out in the crypto world with the hope of making good money with relative ease.

For this reason, and considering the great recent demand for information on this topic, I decided to prepare this post, How to make money with NFTs, to help you start on the path of making money with your NFTs. If you already know what an NFT is, skip the next section, otherwise, I’ll explain it briefly.

What are NFTs?

NFTs are digital assets that have been in circulation since 2012 and that, as with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, are created and stored on a blockchain.

This means that NFT tokens cannot be duplicated, but unlike what happens with cryptocurrencies, each NFT has its own features that make it unique and unrepeatable. In other words, no two NFTs are equal.

This is the simplest explanation, but if you want to find out more info about the basics of NFTs, I recommend reading this post, What are NFTs and Do They Have a Future?

Can you really make money with NFTs?

Indeed, it’s possible to make money – a lot of money – with NFTs, as has happened in some cases like this. Take into account that the world is becoming more and more digital, which combined with the worldwide health crisis of COVID, has only increased the popularity of this trend. Like it or not, the digitization of assets/tokens are gaining an increase in monetary value.

The reality is that there are many, many people willing to pay large sums of money for these digital assets and NFT tokens are already revolutionizing the market in areas such as art, videogames, collectibles, and more. In this sense, opinions are divided since, while some consider that NFTs are just a bubble about to explode, others see them as the future of art. Time will tell.

Of course, you must be clear about one thing from the beginning: Due to the volatile nature of the crypto industry, investing in NFT tokens is a HIGH RISK investment. The return on investment can be really good, but investing without knowledge can lead to losing a lot of money as well. In any case, remember to always do your own research before taking any financial risk.

Top 4 ways to make money with NFTs

Let’s now look at the most popular methods for users to monetize their NFTs.

1. Create and sell your own NFTs

If you have the soul of an artist and fancy yourself to be creative, along with having good ideas, then creating artwork in the form of NFTs can be a great option to monetize your work. You can create almost anything you can think of in NFT form, including:

• Digital art
• Memes
• Music
• Audio clips
• Videogames items

Your imagination is the limit.

With that being said, as Muslims, we must also be mindful of what type of music and artwork is permissible according to the Sharia. Here is an excellent article that covers the Sharia perspective on drawing, Real Talk: Is Drawing Pictures Prohibited in Islam?

As for music, here is an article that covers the Sharia perspective on music, Real Talk: Is All Music Forbidden In Islam?

And if you are curious as to if NFTs are halal, then see my blog post, What are NFTs and Do They Have a Future?

And as for NFT platforms, there are several platforms on the Web that allow you to create NFTs quickly and easily, in addition to offering you a market where you can put your works on sale. Some of these are:

• Makersplace
• Rarible
• Mintable
• OpenSea
• SuperRare
• Enjin

Now, if you like this idea and want to start creating your own NFTs, follow these steps:

1.1 Create a cryptocurrency wallet

This is necessary to be able to store and move your digital assets. Some of the most popular are Metamask, Enjin, and Trust Wallet.

1.2 Open an account on any NFT platform

As I already mentioned, these are platforms that allow you to create and market your own NFTs. See the options above.

1.3 Create your NFT

Once your user is created, proceed to create an NFT token using the tools offered by the platform you chose.

1.4 Publish your NFT

Enter the marketplace of the selected platform, put a price on your creation, either fixed or auction type, and stay alert to possible offers.

1.5 Sell and receive your money

When a buyer makes their offer and ends the negotiation, the money will go directly to your crypto wallet – remember that the NFT platform will charge you a commission for its services.

2. Buy and sell digital artworks

This option can probably be the most profitable of all, although it’s also quite risky. Did you know that on March 11, the famous auction house Christie’s sold an NFT artwork for the first time in its history, worth $69 million? And the artist was a total stranger at that moment!

In order to use this method, you must have a very good artistic eye to be able to discern between works that can really be worth a lot of money and those that do not.

You can enter the platforms that I already mentioned and then search for works by new artists that you consider have potential and whose works are at a low price. After this, put your NFTs for sale on another platform, make du’a (prayer) and pray that the price of these works goes up and you can make a good profit.

3. Licensed collectibles

Considering the nature of the technology behind them, this seems like one of the most logical ways to make money selling NFTs. Basically, you can digitize almost any type of traditional collectible item, including trinkets, memorabilia, and trading cards.

At least in the United States, the most popular collectibles are sports cards, mainly for baseball, football, and basketball teams, so if you live in this country, you can start there. The best part is that thanks to blockchain technology, it’s very easy to prove the authenticity and uniqueness of any of these collectibles.

4. NFT videogames

Blockchain-based games use the real property of in-game items thanks to the characteristics of this technology. In-game objects based on NFT tokens allow players to verify that these items are unique and unrepeatable. Naturally, this gives an extra value to such items, so it is feasible to collect, sell, buy or trade them. This feature has made users flow to blockchain/NFT games because they can do something they’ve always wanted: buy and sell items in an open market.

And how does it work?

The first thing to consider is that you need to invest time and work – and in some cases, money as well – to win items. Many people are professional players dedicated to this and spend hours playing to accumulate what is necessary to get the best items, skins, or characters from their favorite game.

Although these NFT-based items are somewhat more like trading cards, they actually have the advantage that they can change over time, for the better, or to acquire multiple additional features. Some of these unique and special objects or characters can become true objects of desire for which many people would pay even thousands of dollars.

What are some of the best games to make money with NFTs?

Alien Worlds

In Alien Worlds, you can play and collect unique digital items in the form of NFTs. The game consists of a metaverse in which there are several independent planets, each with its autonomous decentralized organizations. Players interact with these planets through mining, acquiring or renting land, and voting for planetary governance to affect payouts.

Mining comes first in the game because as you mine, you can earn TLM (Trilium) and have a slim chance of finding an NFT. These NFTs can be anything from a super rare avatar, to a legendary sword.

CryptoBlades

CryptoBlades is a medieval fantasy browser game that revolves around acquiring legendary swords. Players have characters and weapons that they can improve through a token called “Skill,” which they can obtain as a reward for winning battles. Every character in the game works as an NFT, which means that they’re virtual objects that cannot be cloned. However, these can be traded or sold to other players on other platforms, and this is where the possibility of making money with this game comes in.

Axie Infinity

The NFT game of the moment. Axie Infinity is a game very similar to the popular Pokemon, since here you must also face, defeat, and collect monsters (Axies) throughout a huge virtual world. In Axie Infinity, each monster is represented by an NFT token, each having unique features. These monsters can be bought, raised, and even traded with other players.

To start in the game, you must acquire a minimum of three Axies, which you must buy; although there is also the possibility of acquiring a “scholarship,” so that you don’t have to make the initial investment – which can actually be prohibitive for many people. After this, you can acquire other Axies by completing missions and facing other players.

The game is powered by Axie Infinity (AXS) currency and Smooth Love Potion (SLP) and is available for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

Upland

Upland, another excellent NFT-based game that has become very popular since its inception in 2018. This is a multiplatform videogame whose mission is to, “break the barrier between the real world and the digital world.”

Upland is very similar to the popular Monopoly, in which users can buy, sell, and exchange virtual properties. The best part is that these properties have real blockchain addresses – implemented in the form of NFTs – and can be bought with the UPX token or fiat money.

Something great about the game is that each time you create buildings, you’ll earn UPX, which added to the rewards for stacking that each property generates, can give you a very interesting income in cryptocurrencies in a monthly basis. Once you have a considerable amount of UPX, you can withdraw this money to a Paypal account.

Additional ways to make money with NFTs

NFTs for fashion products

This method is similar to selling NFT digital art. Fashion, clothing, and accessory brands are making a profit by launching limited edition NFT tokens.

These tokens are based on pieces from their fashion collections, fully digitized, but with some added value, such as iconic celebrity pieces or design signatures. In some cases, brands place their NFT assets in exclusive marketplaces where consumers can purchase them alongside their fashion products.

There are numerous hijabi sisters and Muslim designers who post their latest fashion designs on Instagram. Why not take those designs and digitize them into an NFT?

Staking NFTs

If you own a certain amount of NFTs, you can place and keep them on some platforms that allow you to make a profit by staking your digital assets. Best of all is that this method can bring you a good amount of rewards without having to do basically anything. Many of the platforms I already mentioned earlier in this blog post allow for NFT staking.

Invest in NFT startups

There are numerous startups that are developing practical applications for all types of industries using NFT technology. This can be an opportunity for those who wish to invest in this technology indirectly and in a more traditional way by buying stocks from these companies.

Conclusion

It’s very likely that in the coming years – sooner rather than later – NFT technology will advance and capture a larger share of the digital marketplace.

The reality is that this technology has numerous practical applications for all types of industries, not only collectibles and videogames. This new wave of opportunities is just beginning, but it already has huge profit potential. What I have mentioned here are just a few examples of the current best ways to make money with NFTs.

There still exists a whole world of possibilities to discover as NFT and blockchain technology improve and more and more people adopt it insha’Allah. Time to enter?

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