A 22 year old bought two houses with video game money and accidentally broke the Philippine economy.
> The game was Axie Infinity.
> Players battled cartoon monsters to earn a token called SLP.
> At peak, SLP was worth $0.34.
> Regular players were earning $155–$195 a month
> More than half a full-time salary.
> The best managers running teams of players were clearing $20,000 a month from a phone.
> 2.7 million people were playing daily.
> Half of them in the Philippines.
> People quit their jobs and pulled their kids out of school.
> Families were living entirely off SLP.
> The 22 year old posted a selfie outside his two new houses on Facebook and the government saw it.
> They immediately declared in-game earnings taxable income.
> Players were ordered to register as taxpayers and report their winnings.
> Then SLP crashed 99% in six months.
> The government was drafting tax legislation for an economy that had already ceased to exist.
> Families had nothing to go back to.
A video game built a taxable economy of millions, triggered a national tax crisis, and collapsed before the government collected a single peso.