Animoca Brands sends out Pixels (PIXEL) days after selling ETH holdings

Animoca Brands is sending out Pixels (PIXEL) tokens to Binance. The shift in holdings arrived just a day after the investment and Web3 company sent out more than 5K Ethereum (ETH). 

The corporation may be taking profits from its wallets, with the latest transaction in Pixels (PIXEL) tokens. 

Animoca Brands is the leading investor for some of Pixel’s funding rounds . However, the recent selling is not a total liquidation. Instead, a hot wallet was used to buy up, then resell PIXEL. Animoca Brands accumulated the asset at a price of $0.13 and sold after PIXEL hiked up to just $0.14 . The recent sale for 20M PIXEL, valued at $2.44M, divested all the recent balances of Animoca Brands. 

In the past month, the same address acquired $1.3M worth of PIXEL, then divested to zero within a week. The recent PIXEL transactions are the conclusion of buying the tokens on September 16, then reselling days later. The recent buildup of funds did not even place Animoca Brands among the top 150 PIXEL addresses. 

The final effect mostly affected the PIXEL token, achieving the highest volumes for the past month. It is possible the buying and reselling from Animoca Brands is a way to revive the token’s visibility and boost the Pixels game.

The Animoca Brands wallet started accumulating PIXEL after recent selling pressure, essentially buying the dip. PIXEL awaits a potential breakout from lows, after erasing more than 66% of its value since the latest rally in June, when the token returned above $0.50.

In 2022, Animoca Brands oversaw the seed round for Pixels, capped at $2.4M. Most of the early investors are in the money at this price range, with up to 29X gains from some of the private presale rounds. 

PIXEL expects more token unlocks

PIXEL is a low-float token, with just 22% of the assets unlocked. In 2025, the speed of unlocks will accelerate, releasing some of the tokens from the earliest presale rounds. The token is a relatively recent launch, trading during the market peak in March 2024. PIXEL peaked at $0.96, and has since declined to its current levels, on a mix of selling and the overall market correction in Q2. 

The token has a limited number of holders, just 5,613. Pixels launched later than the initial play-to-earn boom, and started as a free game to onboard users. Token usage remains relatively low, despite listings on Binance and other major exchanges. 

PIXEL has some of the characteristics of a VC-backed token, but trades on a smaller scale. The project has never gained overwhelming hype and prominence, instead trying to focus on actually growing a gaming audience. 

Pixels reports high-frequency activity on-chain, with more than 509K daily active wallets, a feat for a Web3 game. However, only around 870 players own Farmland NFT, while the rest choose the free versions to build their farming empire. 

Pixels is also part of the Ronin ecosystem, which also supports Axie Infinity. The network supports trading the Pixels farmland plots. The game follows a model similar to Sunflower Land, with constant upgrades to a pixel farm. Playing the game requires a farmland plot NFT, while in-game items are dropped for leveling up. 

Farmland by Pixels is also trying to retain its activity through game incentives. As of September 2024, farmland NFT is ranked at position 66 based on its floor price. Recently, the floor price for farmland increased to 1.08 ETH .

Animoca Brands also suspected of selling ETH

Animoca Brands is also an Ethereum whale, after completing as many as 20 funding rounds during the peak of play-to-earn gaming. After raising more than $795M and building five native games, Animoca Brands switched to being an investor in the Web3 space. 

Another recent sale suggests Animoca Brands may be taking profits from Ethereum (ETH). A wallet identified as belonging to the gaming VC fund moved 5,500 ETH into Binance’s hot wallet. The address is marked as possibly belonging to Animoca Brands, and is a general high-balance wallet. 

The latest ETH sale was part of active trading, with a fast purchase and resale during the recent fast market recovery. 

Cryptopolitan reporting by Hristina Vasileva