CryptoKitties | The Killer Ethereum Dapp or Waste of Resources
CryptoKitties is an online game on the Ethereum blockchain that allows players to collect and breed special virtual cats which are one of a kind. CryptoKitties was launched on 23rd November and within 2 weeks of its launch, it is now responsible for around 4% of the total transactions on Ethereum blockchain. Despite being successful in such a short period of time, it has sent Ethereum blockchain under severe congestion which has led several people considering it as a waste of resources.
What is CryptoKitties?
CryptoKitties is a gaming dapp on the Ethereum blockchain where anyone can collect and breed virtual cats. Every breeding depends upon the 256 bit genome of the participating cats which can result in 4 billion different variations of the new kitten. Each kitten has different traits, appearance and biography depending on the cats that were used to breed it. Due to being decentralized, it is impossible for the development team to import new cats in the ecosystem which makes all the existing cats valuable.
CryptoKitties was launched on 23rd November with a closed beta of 200 members which were all awarded a free cat. Since then over $1 Million have been spent on trading these virtual cats and it is now one of most active smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain accounting for over 4% of the total transaction volume of Ethereum.
Real World Use Case or Waste Of Resources
Despite being successful in such a short period of time, CryptoKittes has been regarded as waste of resources by several people as Ethereum has once again started to become congested. Ethereum faced similar issues in the past during the Bancor ICO and Status ICO sales. Ethereum is currently serving over 650k transactions per day which is almost twice the transaction volume of bitcoin and is also at the peak of its scaling capability.
Others has defended CryptoKitties by terming it as a big time success and regarding it as the killer Ethereum Dapp that everyone was waiting for. With over $1 Million spent in just 2 weeks, it can also be regarded as the beginning of the crypto collectible industry.
Future of Crypto Collectible Industry
Something like Pokemon Go on the Ethereum blockchain can serve as a better version of the existing Pokemon Go with rules of Pokemon spawing and the rarity of the Pokemon defined in a smart contract which makes every pokemon valuable. This can really be something Nintendo should look forward to. Several other existing popular games such as Dota 2, LOL etc. can make use of the Ethereum blockchain to control the issuance of new items and drift away from the existing markets which charges them high amount of fees.
Conclusion
CryptoKitties might seem a waste of resources for now but it definitely has a future once better scalability alternatives arrives in the industry. It might also be possible that it is just the hype that is driving so much attention to CryptoKitties. We will have to wait for a few months before we can come to any conclusion on the reality of the crypto collectible industry.
Let us know what you feel about the future of the CryptoKitties and the Crypto Collectible industry in the comments below.
