Say Hello to my little friends. They're furry, they're colorful, they're... purely digital. Oh, and they can breed unique offspring, all via smart contract on the Ethereum Network.
Welcome to the age of decentralized, smart contract enabled digital collectibles.
But CryptoKitties isn't just trying to sell you a digital kitty. Instead, their goal seems to be a public-friendly approach towards broader understanding of blockchain technology. Because you have to use meta-mask, a browser plug-in that allows you to utilize decentralized applications and communicate with the Ethereum network, there is a line that a non-crypto "normies" have to cross into cryptocurrency in order to participate.
And that, they argue, is exactly the point. In their "Whitepapurr" they say:
- CryptoKitties’ key game mechanics are tied to actions associated with cryptocurrencies and smart contracts. In doing so, previously esoteric concepts are normalized and users are empowered with a basic fluency in the technology.
That doesn't mean people aren't crazy for these kitties. As of this writing one of these #cryptokitties has sold for over $100k USD! And I have to say hat's off to the proud owner of Kitty #1 Gen 0!
This is the 246 Eth Kitty #1 - First of its Kind
So What's Going On?
While a popular if unfair analogy, think of this as Beanie Babies 2.0. Except these "Beanie Babies" are unique, persistent digital assets operating via smart contract in a trustless way. Further, these smart contracts can spawn new smart contracts (New Cryptokitties) that are unique digital assets unto themselves, though associated through lineage to parents and children.
In plain english, this group has created a free-market system where they cannot artificially manipulate the supply of these CryptoKitties. That's an important distinction because it means that eventually there will be no more "Gen 0" CryptoKitties (Kitties born from the contract, not from other kitties) issued.
Currently they are issued from the smart contract at 1 per 15 minutes until 50,000 Gen 0 "Clock Cats" have been issued and sold. After that only breeding will produce more CryptoKitties.
What are they really worth?
In order to understand what these are worth the "Whitepapurr" uses the following formula:
Each CryptoKitty is not only a unique digital asset but each has its own phenotype and genotype stored as information in the Kitty Smart Contract.
So each kitty is a 256-bit genome that can breed with another 256-genome kitty, and I officially live in the future.
When you agree to put your Kitty out on the market for breeding or siring, the resultant offspring will be a unique mixture of the parents "DNA," and becomes its own living CryptoKitty that can be put out for breeding immediately (presumably).
I foresee a market for Gen 0 Kitties with no children and for the rare offspring. Given that there are approximately 4 billion possible outcomes for breeding, you can bet that some super rare births will burn through major news organizations (#cryptotwitter) with the same ferocity a beyoncé pregnancy does today.
What Can I do now?
At the moment there isn't much for me to do, as I'm not a collectibles trader by nature.
As far as I can tell, what I can currently do is:
- Pimp my kitty out for breeding by following the eggplant icon
- Sell my kitty
- Gift my kitty to someone
While that may not seem like much, behind the scenes there's a lot happening to make this all possible.
For example, they had to employ an auction mechanism into their platform to account for the need for gas to allow a transaction to be placed. Otherwise it would have cost to just have people place their CryptoKittie up for sale or breeding which is quite a negative user experience.
Eventually they could employ this same method to enable our CryptoKitties to do other activities besides the base human desires for sex and trade, like battle!
If you like that idea you should check out and follow @Steven_Mckie who outlined in tweets how a CryptoKitty Battle Arena could be born:
Probably won't happen for a while, but with development it is entirely possible
If you're a collectibles trader looking to also learn about Cryptocurrencies and the technologies associated with them, you may find a great entry point in this market.
If you aren't a collectibles trader but you want to learn more about cryptocurrencies, this may be the most user-friendly way to engage as it focuses on the technology in a more entertaining way, bypassing the usual air of finance and economics that inevitably permeates any blockchain talk.
I mean, who doesn't love cats and dogs? I bet CryptoPuppies is incoming.
Why did I Buy CryptoKitties?
I plan to #hodl my kitties, mostly because my landlady issued an emphatic "NO!" to the idea of me having a meatspace kitty.
I'm also participating because this is an interesting and innovative use of non-fungible tokens on the Ethereum Network that I will be able to shadow as it develops, learning alongside as the inevitable additional features are released.
Finally, there's no question that we have miles to go as far as crypto adoption is concerned and the learning curve is still considered too steep for some. Projects like CryptoKitty offer an entertaining way to learn about smart contracts and transacting in cryptocurrency while wearing your favorite pimp costume and breeding that one Kitty with the "good genes".
Should you buy a CryptoKitty?
Look, I'm no digital casset advisor, but I like this idea. It creates a fun way to learn about blockchain, genetics, and the realities of the pimp life.
With the highest bid paid for a CryptoKitty now established at 100k who knows, maybe you're kit could be the next rare k"it"ty.
Just gotta figure out how to explain to your kids in the future that their trust was funded with CryptoKitty earnings.
I've spent too much time considering whether or not to breed mine. What if one day they're the last Gen 0 CryptoKitties with no Kittens? Is virginity even a value proposition in this market?
I reached out to @CryptoKitties for comment but they were sun-bathing or otherwise uninterested in speaking with me. Just. like. a. cat. ;)
They're probably busy with the deluge of well-deserved attention coming at them, but a big congratulations on CryptoKitties. Click that link to learn more about how to get your own CryptoKitty.
I think Ted and Gen0 Virgin are going to like it here on Steemit. I just hope they don't pee on anything
As of now, it looks like #33492 "Clock Cats" are being released. Once 50,000 is reached, no more Gen 0 CryptoKitties will ever exist. Pretty cool. At this rate we should hit that final Gen 0 CryptoKitty in under two weeks, or about 11 days.
Are you going to get a CryptoKitty?
Here's the newest Kitty, though he doesn't seem to be for sale:
Have a great weekend, it's back to Javascript for me!
Pruf
This seems like a very interesting project! It seems little a cute, little game that I would probably love to be part of. I found a video where those who work for this project explain very well how everything works and what they are planning to do:
Your post was very simple and easy to understand. However, I don't understand how selling my cat would work. Do people bid on my cat, or is there a specific price for each cat? And can you just breed whenever and with whoever you want?
Thanks for the introduction to this new project, might actually buy a cryptokitty :D
They have an auction mechanism in place where you can set your ceiling and floor price, and yeah you can just breed em with any other cats.
Thanks for attaching the video, I didn't catch that!
You can find more information here: https://hackernoon.com/building-a-bridge-between-blockchain-and-consumers-with-cats-104ac6655563
Beep! Beep! This humvee will be patrolling by and assisting new veterans, retirees, and military members here on Steem. @shadow3scalpel will help by upvoting posts from a list of members maintained by @chairborne and responding to any questions replied to this comment.
How many Lowes could Rob Lowe rob if Rob Lowe could rob Lowes?
I....
I have no words. lol
That's crypto - Keeping people speechless since 2008
Haha Very true!
I've been really enjoying this to an unhealthy degree.
This is everything the internet was made to be.
Cryptotwitter is melting down over it, but to be fair that's always cryptotwitter.
Beyond the obvious allure of internet+blockchain protocol+cats, I really do love this project. It's like a tutorial for me and my coding education.
I think I may let my virgin Gen 0's hang out for a year or two until there are no more Gen 0's left to breed for the KittyLand, but I know that breeding them can unlock rares. What's your opinion on the matter? And I wanna see your Kitty
I'm sure your Gen 0 would still be worth a ton even after you had babies. That's kind of the point anyway. I'm just getting into this but the transaction delay is incredibly long. Maybe a Steemit (Or Eos) version of cryptokitty would work out better...
Agreed, I have spent waaaaay too much time with the CryptoKitties (just today). I have like 8 of these little pets and several buns are in the oven as we speak. That said, using roughly $100.00 USD of ETH for the project sure is a lot more fun than keeping in laying around in a wallet!
Someone just donated a cryptokitty to me and I CANNOT wait to meet him/her!
<3
I like the overall idea, discovered it when someone over at beta.cent.co tried to pay people 50$ worth of Eth to "answer" his question by donating a Crypto-kittie to him XD
Way to game a "question-answer" Quora-like system like Cent.co !
I've bought 2 pretty cheaply and set them to breed, a new one should be ready in 3 hours.
when I'll immediately set them to work procreating again...
... Is it me or have we just created a system where digital cats are farmed and breed for cash ?
...
OH GOD WE'RE MONSTERS XO
omg hahahhaa
Sounds like a great add-on project "CryptoKitty Mill" I'm sure at some point the ASPCA will be called in to put an end to it all!
This is one of the best projects for crypto. They’re so cute and relatable 😍. This will definetly boost crypto adoption.
Ohh... Lord.. I sure hope no one tells my mom or my son about these. lol! Cute though.
Hi@prufarchy! Do you have any idea if I can use an iPad Pro ?
Thanks
As long as you can use metamask you can use whatever device. I don't believe mobile phones work but ipads do? Not entirely positive however
Thank you so much for your answer, yesterday I installed Chrome app and metamask plugin but when I try to sign up in Crytokitties keeps asking me for metamask...not sure what else to do! Thanks anyway.
This looks like a good investment, thank you for the information
what a creativity!!!
This is why I love everything Crypto. The most stupid thing can make EVERYONE and ANYONE a lot of cash. Its not just the APP, Website owners that now scoop all the cash, we all do I've not bought any kitties yet but I will be soon
What a great way to get people engaged in learning about cryptocurrencies!
Congrats on your kitties! I am so excited to get my first one :)
LOVE LOVE LOVE the Imagery you have in this post, MEOW!!
Oh my lord! Wish I had some pennies to spend now and buy 1! Have fun to those that did! What a great way to ease people into crypto!
does anyone know the addresses of the smart contracts behind cryptokitties? do they have a github?
How did I miss this early on? HOW?!
Gen 2, 3 and 4 for sale with GOLD and GOOGLY or to sire or you can have the whole account for 2 ETH
https://www.cryptokitties.co/profile/0x91b39a06488da85169bb449fdf5160cef686569c
I think it is great to experiment with things like this for its educational purposes. CryptoKitties showed why scarce digital assets are the future https://steemit.com/ico/@icoindex.com/cryptokitties-showed-why-scarce-digital-assets-are-the-future
I'll wait for SteemKitty's...
I'm a DOG lover but I just bought my first crypto kitty.
congrats on your fantastic Valuable purchase
The moment I made some money with @steemit I'm going to treat myself so tome cryptokitties.... going to buy two cheaper kitties to start breeding. I don't even know if this is how it works, hehe.
Ah! I just subscribed but I have no ethereum. Is there any chance/way to get a cryptokitty for free as a start?
lol this is great, anyway youd want to throw me a gen 1 kitty? lol thatd be awesome
I'm on board. I bought a few 1 gen Cryptokitties. Making money would be cool [...I did sell a couple so far], but it's just fun. It's a really good exercise/stress test for the ETH blockchain as well. I've been reading how effective the game is at bringing not crypto folks in to the space.
Hi @prufarchy ! I thought they dont have any goal for that game but you are right that it is a good way to approach to people who is not familiar with crypto! l don't have etherium, but now I am considering to start cryptokitty, do you think it is easy to use it?
I got all set to buy 1 till I see zero gens are 2+ ETH. Think I'll take a pass LOL
Cheers
Nice write up. I have been trying to decide if crypto kitties is for me or not. Your article has helped me make the decision - I think its time for a digital kitty litter.
I got into this a few days ago, I did not get back my initial investment of 2 ETH, but so far I sold for 0.75 ETH in 3 days, it is all about what is on demand and how to breed cats that carry fancy Genes. If this goes on, I am going to feed my steemit account, become a whale and spread justice, hahaha, thank you for the article.
Here we go ,i made one account on Metamask after 2 days of research and now i think how to buy one or two may be for make baby kitties : https://www.cryptokitties.co/profile/0xd72c51391d3d449d6d580570d7c9a07ede2e3b41