Philippine Government Requires A Cut In Profits From Popular Games Like Axie Infinity

The government of the Philippines is not yet certain on whether to classify Axie infinity-game NFTs as currency or securities.

The Axie Infinity is one of the Philippine games powered by cryptocurrency that has recorded enormous success since its creation. However, amid this, the local Finance Department revealed their intention to short-cut profits emanating from playing Axie and other similar games.

The undersecretary of the Philippine Finance department Antonette Tionko made a statement concerning the issue in an Inquirer report on August 23. She clarified that all profits generated via play-to-earn games should pay income tax.

Antonette Tionko’s Take on Axie Infinity Issue
Antonette further referred to Cryptocurrency as an already taxable asset in the Philippines. She added that whoever earns from it should report it as an income.

Tionko admits that lawmakers are deliberating on classifying Axie’s in-game NTFs and Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) as currencies or securities. However, the official agreed that all play-to-earn gains should pay income tax.

They also refer to the Axie in-game NTFs as the native tokens Smooth Love Portion (SLP). She suggests that the Securities and Exchange Commission and the local central bank should decide on the matter.

“ What will define the models on how to tax the game-generated income is whether it’s a security or a currency. But irrespective of the classification, it’s taxable and as an income tax.”

Players earn the AXS and SLP tokens by playing Axie Infinity. The AXS token is the Axie network’s governance token, while the SLP token is the in-game currency.

The popularity of Play-to-earn gaming experienced an explosion during the Philippines Pandemic with the increasing value of crypto assets. This implies that residents can now earn a fair income by playing the Axie game compared to the local wages.

Tionko On Vietnamese Game Studio – Sky Mavis
Tionko highlights that the Vietnamese game studio Sky Mavis is yet to register with the Philippine Bureau of Revenue.

They maintain this act irrespective of the fact that their income originates from Philippine-based sources. However, the Vietnamese game studio Sky Mavis is the developer of the Axie Infinity.

“We hope to capture these non-Philippine companies once a system is set up for registration of non-residents.”

The news stimulated SLP sales in the market. As a result, the token depreciates on August 24th by 15% and close to 7% again before that closure.

However, SLP had a rollercoaster performance in recent months. On April 26, it suddenly rockets by over 900% from $0.035. According to CoinGecko, it then topped out at a value of over $0.36 on May 2.

The token has oscillated between approximately $0.13 and $0.35 since then; the market is presently down by 60%.

SLP token is down by 10% following a bearish path | Source: SLPUSD on TradingView