CryptoKitties: The Ethereum Blockchain P2E Game

What is CryptoKitties?

CryptoKitties is a game in which you can buy, sell, and breed virtual cats for real money. Each and every cat in the game is one-of-a-kind and difficult to duplicate. Because they are owned by a single individual, no one can take them away, and the virtual kittens cannot be destroyed.

Within the site, all of the kittens in the game may be traded, and some of them can even be sold for real money. The game is a dApp, which stands for Decentralized Application and is an important component of the DeFi industry. This signifies that the application is not owned by a single business or individual.

The game has recently risen in popularity, with stories of people gaining large sums of money by selling the virtual cats. The sales of these cats have skyrocketed, with sources claiming that over $12 million has been spent on virtual cat purchases.

How it Works

CryptoKitties are non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that were created utilizing the ERC721 token standard on the Ethereum network. Prior to the introduction of ERC721, blockchain tokens were fungible, or interchangeable; every Bitcoin or Ethereum token is identical to any other. ERC721 enabled the development of non-fungible, one-of-a-kind tokens.

Using smart contracts and ERC721 tokens, CryptoKitties was created to investigate the notion of digital scarcity. Each CryptoKitty has its own digital genome, which is kept in a smart contract. Any two CryptoKitties can be mated, and an offspring with its own distinct features is developed via a genetic algorithm (or “cattributes”). The immutable genotype contained in the smart contract determines its outward appearance, or phenotype.

Understanding CryptoKitties

The CryptoKitties game by Dapper Labs is largely responsible for the NFT mania. On March 11, 2021, digital artist Mike Winkelmann — popularly known as Beeple – sold a collage of 5,000 of his works on a non-fungible token at Christie’s for more than $69 million million.

CryptoKitties are unique and lucrative because they are based on non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Non-fungible simply implies that, unlike Ether or other ERC-20 tokens, one token is not identical to another. NFTs are based on a separate standard called ERC-721, which ensures that each token is distinct.

The first NFT collectibles to become popular were CryptoKitties. They were so popular when they were first released that they practically destroyed Ethereum, accounting for 95 percent of all transactions on the blockchain at one time, drowning out nearly all other DApps and spiking the price of Ethereum’s gas transaction fees. That turned out to be a foreshadowing of the No. 2 blockchain’s present difficulties in meeting the needs of the expanding DeFi and NFT businesses.

In a broader sense, the game CryptoKitties was the first Ethereum-based DApp aimed at a broad audience. CryptoKitties was founded by venture studio Axiom Labs during a hackathon at the ETH Waterloo conference in October 2017 and was quickly spun out into a new business, Dapper Labs.

“We launched CryptoKitties as an innovative and play-driven introduction to what blockchain can do and mean for consumers,” Dapper Labs’ CTO and ERC-721 standard creator Dieter Shirley told VentureBeat in 2018. “By engaging the community with fun and games, we reached much broader audiences.” 

Getting Started

You’ll need a PC or mobile device, a cryptocurrency wallet like MetaMask, and some Ethereum to get your hands on your own CryptoKitty.

All you have to do now is go to the CryptoKitties marketplace, create an account, choose a cat you like, and click “buy now.” You’ll be met with a Dapper transaction window where you may complete your purchase if you have enough ETH in your wallet. You may also bid on a CryptoKitty that isn’t for sale, but the owner has the final say on whether or not to accept your offer.

Bottomline

You have now heard about CryptoKitties and how popular it has grown if you haven’t already. The game uses blockchain technology and allows you to buy and sell CryptoKitties to other players. It will cost you money to play, but if you’re skilled at breeding and want to make money, it is achievable with a little work.

CryptoKitties is the first step toward the creation of crypto-collectibles, a new type of digital goods that can be exchanged over the internet. CryptoKitties initially struggled with scalability, but the switch to a new blockchain has aided the growth of an entire new sector.

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