Sky Mavis has laid off 21% of its workforce The web3 firm said the decision was not related to its finances.

The layoff reflects a strategic move to focus on its projects, including a new Axie Infinity game, according to its CEO.

For quite a long time, NFT space remained under shadows as the newly created space has dominated the crypto markets. Moreover, the rising interest of the market participants in memecoins had prevented the other segments of the crypto space to thrive.

As Bitcoin (BTC) closed the third consecutive week in the price discovery phase, the altcoin space gained significant bullish sentiment. During the past week, the altcoin market – led by Stellar Lumens (XLM), Decentraland (MANA), and The Sandbox (SAND), among others – registered palpable gains.

SAND, the token powering the metaverse platform The Sandbox, has seen a meteoric rise, surging 55% in the past 24 hours. This performance far outpaces leading assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which each gained just 1% during the same period.

This week's 'top cryptocurrencies to watch' are all from the gaming market segment: Sandbox, MANA and Axie Infinity.

The crypto market is expecting Bitcoin price to break the $100k mark imminently, with analysts saying the altcoin season is next. Meanwhile, Solana, XRP and Cardano have soared to new highs after the SEC Chair announced he will be leaving the agency on January 20.

Axie Infinity (AXS) and Smooth Love Potion (SLP) tokens have crawled back in the past few days as the ecosystem started to bounce back. The SLP coin was trading at $0.0035 on Friday, up by 65% from its lowest point this year. Similarly, the Axie Infinity coin was trading at $5.

SAND may be building momentum as key technical and on-chain signals pointed to a breakout.

Sandbox (SAND) gains momentum, with $0.50 in sight if it clears $0.35.

Amid bullish market sentiment, SAND is poised for a 30% rally as it forms a bullish pattern on the daily chart.

BBVA is launching a tokenized fund integrated into the Spanish securities regulator's sandbox. The fund will be open only to BBVA employees to research the benefits of applying blockchain technology to these applications.

ZA Bank, Hong Kong's digital bank, has launched a sandbox trial of its crypto trading service, aiming to provide retail investors with a regulated platform for virtual asset trading.

Amid confusing cryptocurrency market sentiment, the creator of The Sandbox (SAND), Animoca Brand, has gained notable attention from crypto enthusiasts due to its recent acquisition. On October 26, 2024, the blockchain transactions tracker EyeOnChain made a post on X (Previously Twitter) that Animoca Brand bought 20 million SAND tokens worth $4.95 million from Binance.

Despite a recent pullback, AXS is set for a strong recovery.

The semi-autonomous region of Tanzania is taking advantage of a sandbox regulatory framework adopted in July.

The Zanzibar government has introduced a blockchain sandbox program to encourage entrepreneurship and technological advancements. The program, powered by the Xinfin XDC network and designed by Ledgerfi IT solutions, allows startups to safely test their blockchain-based solutions within the National Blockchain Network.

Are NFTs making a comeback? Following the surge in BAYC's ApeCoin after the ApeChain launch, investment is now shifting towards Axie Infinity, The Sandbox, and emerging layer-2 blockchains.

Decentraland has introduced Decentraland 2.0 beta for desktop clients.

Two popular tokens, Axie Infinity (AXS) and Sandbox (SAND), have seen significant price increases recently. This uptick comes as the entire crypto market experiences a rally, with Bitcoin testing the crucial price level of $69,000.

SAND's breakout could be a sign of a potential bullish reversal, one backed by greater activity.

New interest in crypto gaming has play-to-earn game Axie Infinity (AXS) up as bulls celebrate upside momentum. It's an outlook that's also catalysed interest in Dogizen (DOGIZ). This tap-to-earn game has captured investor attention with the first-ever Telegram ICO.

The crypto market has recorded a jump of ~2% in the past day, resulting in the Bitcoin price retesting its $69,000. Following this, the Metaverse and the gaming industry have regained momentum with many projects retesting their important resistance levels.

The DTCC aims to invite market participants to address pain points and let clients try DTCC products on their own use cases.

In a recent conversation with KMSmithDC, U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds stressed the importance of developing a regulatory sandbox for the crypto industry. Donalds described the industry as a “toddler” that is still young but has a possibility of growing.

Mysten Labs chief information security officer Christian Thompson told Cointelegraph that gaming is a playground for technologists to explore Web3.

AXS Unlock date - Oct 14th 2024 Number of tokens unlocked- 12.58 million AXS (4.66% of its circulating supply) Current Circulating Supply - 152.23 million million AXS Token distribution Staking rewards - 2.45M tokens (3.13%) Teams - 5.74M tokens (10.1%) P2E - 2.70M tokens (5%) Ecosystem - 1.69M tokens (7.81%) Source - cryptorank.

Significant token unlock events will take place this week - Arbitrum alone will unlock $51 million worth of tokens.

The Web 3 game Axie Infinity saw an increase of 11.34% of its staked AXS in one year. From October 1st 2023 till October 2024, the amount of staked AXS has gained 5,956,719 AXS.

Sandbox Alpha season 4, Day 5 included the experience through the labyrinth of Club XYZ with the music of DJ Galantis. The event is based on players exploring different stages and uncovering secrets.

SAND could soar by 15% to reach the $0.305 level if it closes a daily candle above the $0.264 level.

The Ethereum (ETH)-based virtual reality platform Decentraland (MANA) clocked more notable development activity than any other non-fungible token (NFT) project in the past month, according to the crypto analytics firm Santiment. Santiment notes on the social media platform X that Decentraland registered 168.17 notable GitHub events in the past 30 days.

The cryptocurrency universe prepares for another bearish market wave for certain altcoins, raising investor concerns globally. Recent data from the Token Unlocks app indicated that nearly $300M worth of tokens are set to be released into the market over the coming week.

Bitcoin failed to hold above $62,000 as the crypto prices continued to battle sell-off pressure in a month that has historically been bullish. Several altcoins are however likely to mirror BTC's holding of support near $60k, including Tron (TRX), Worldcoin (WLD) and Decentraland (MANA).

Sandbox shared the full guide for Alpha season 4. This season's battle pass will have a 30-level system.

Contrary to the anticipated “Uptober” rally, the cryptocurrency market has experienced a significant downturn, largely driven by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Major assets have seen their values decline, with some retesting multi-week lows.

Digital Assets Week 2024 (DAW24) kicks off today in London, focusing on the integration of digital assets within the global financial system.

The regulatory sandbox aims to strengthen the United Kingdom's position as a global financial hub.

The European Blockchain Sandbox Initiative expands with 41 regulators and authorities from 22 countries, boosting blockchain innovation and regulatory collaboration.

On September 28th, 2024 Sandbox announced 10,000 $SAND total rewards for its new experiences of the week. These new experiences include Multiverse Yard, Planet Survival, Tower of Myths, and Math Op.

IOTA could ride the real-world assets surge and decentralized finance traction to gain. Meanwhile, as cryptocurrency prices rise amid Bitcoin's surge to $66k, altcoins such as Kava (KAVA) and Enjin (ENJ) could follow suit. Bitcoin spot ETFs record $366m in net inflows US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $365.

A wallet linked to The Sandbox had dumped 25 million tokens worth $7.08 million to Binance and OKX.

Animoca Brands, The Sandbox, and Smobler unveil the Universal Peace Sanctuary, a virtual space promoting global harmony, within The Sandbox metaverse.

Animoca Brands, a company specializing in digital property rights and gaming, alongside The Sandbox, a decentralized virtual world, and Smobler, a metaverse architecture firm, have launched the virtual Universal Peace Sanctuary. The project, hosted in The Sandbox metaverse, aims to foster global peace and cultural understanding.

Sandbox offers over $2.5 M worth of reward pool in its upcoming season. The web3 gaming platform is offering a free limited-time Gold Space Helmet NFT as well to those who will get their spots reserved before the time runs out.

SAND has recently confirmed a breakout from a falling wedge pattern, which is often seen as a bullish signal in technical analysis. This breakout raises expectations for significant upward price movement.

SAND is primed for a breakout, with key metrics signaling a potential long-term rally.

Crypto gaming project Decentraland (MANA) has suffered a security breach, according to blockchain security firm PeckShield. PeckShield says hackers took control of Decentraland's social media account on X and promoted a fake MANA airdrop. The aim of the scheme was to get people to visit a phishing site that collects details of their digital wallets.