Fans spent over 1,3 mln$ in ETH on virtual kittens
CryptoKitties, a kind of digital version of Pokemons, based on the Ethereum blockchain, was launched a few days ago. The game has become a latest fad in the world of cryptocurrency and users have already spent over 1,3 mln dollars to buy virtual kitties for their virtual money.
Built by Vancouver and San Francisco design studio AxiomZen, a game with multiple kittens selling for ~50 ETH (around $23,000) and the “genesis” kitten being sold for a record ~246 ETH (around $113,000) is rapidly becoming a viral sensation. At the current moment, it will cost you about .03 ETH, or $12 to buy the least expensive kitten in a row.
Taking into the account all the absurdity of the situation, in a way, this is a fun option to interact with the Ethereum blockchain for the newcomers: there’s no central entity managing the game, which means users literally own their kittens. CryptoKitties is decentralized game and all data will be stored forever on the Ethereum blockchain.
The game is based on 5 Ethereum smart contracts written by AxiomZen, and users interact with it via their own Ethereum address.
Right now about 15% of all Ethereum network traffic is dedicated to the game, making it the most popular smart contract on the network. This traffic is congesting the net, making it challenging to play CryptoKitties, and many transactions are waiting to be processed.
This brings to the conclusion, that if one viral game can slow down the network, what happens when the blockchain will be integrated with real world applications?