I love the Internet:
I feel almost choked up (with laughter and joy) over the CryptoKitties rage. I thought it was going to be SteemIt and social media to bring Crypto to the mainstream, but with all the spirit of DOGE, CryptoKitties have my 75-year-old father, and my nine-year-old niece, AND that guy that shills tokens on Twitter all talking about CryptoKitties.
https://www.cryptokitties.co/faq
What are digital kitties?
It is an ETH based App that is creating expensive and bandwidth intensive use of ETH blockchain to create unique and cute digital cats that can be bred to create, well, new digital cats. These kitties are out of control and are creating traffic and raising fees on ETH. Each digital kitty is unique and has it's own cattributes. (I can't type that without smiling.) When the cats reproduce there is a chance they will pass on cattributes to their "Off Spring".
They have become a bit of a problem for some though:
"Due to network congestion, we are increasing the birthing fee from 0.001 ETH to 0.002 ETH. This will ensure your kittens are born on time!" the CryptoKitties team stated in a tweet surrounded by siren emojis to express the direness of the situation.
However, this isn't really about digital cats. People aren't necessarily excited about the actual cats themselves, they're excited by the endless possibilities this demonstrates. Imagine, WOW gear or gold, or basically anything else you could conceive. Look at the online marketplace they've created. Look at the user interface. Fire up your imagination and envision a world where 'digital drawings of cats' are just one of the many things being traded in the Crytpo eco-system.
Also consider the possibilities this brings to SMTs and Steem's future.
The following article covers the trend with a pretty smart angle.
Can a crypto app be too easy and fun?
That might be the case on ethereum, where one project is proving so popular it's putting pressure on the network's technology. Best thought of as a decentralized Tamagotchi, CryptoKitties appears to be striking a nerve with new users, making ethereum fun and accessible to those who aren't in the tech nerd domain. Already, the app, which uses ethereum's blockchain to create a public, shared history of cryptographically unique (not to mention cute and cuddly) fluffballs, is ethereum's most popular, with users having spent at least $3 million total on breeding, buying and selling the in-game items, up from $1 million just yesterday. And currently, the average cat is trading for $100 in ether.But the application is clogging the ethereum network, putting transactions in a long-time limbo."Due to network congestion, we are increasing the birthing fee from 0.001 ETH to 0.002 ETH. This will ensure your kittens are born on time!" the CryptoKitties team stated in a tweet surrounded by siren emojis to express the direness of the situation.In its short lifespan, CryptoKitties has grown to make up 20 percent of all ethereum computations, a number that seems to still be growing.While it's certainly not the sole culprit behind ethereum's lagging transactions, as ethereum developer Nick Johnson pointed out, it is one, and at the very least, it's where people are placing the blame for exposing ethereum's limits.Johnson continued, telling CoinDesk:
"CryptoKitties is definitely a significant contributor to network congestion, and it may have been what pushed us over the edge from mostly-full blocks to full blocks in the last day or so."
Messy underbelly
The issue is a bit ironic, seeing how ethereum is touted as a world "world computer" that hosts unstoppable decentralized applications, replacing the internet.With aspirations like that, it might seem strange that one app for trading otherworldly kittens could clog the network, but because of the way blockchains work – with every transaction needing all network nodes to process it – there are limits on the number of computations that can be done all at one time.Not only does that mean that an insane amount of kitty trading can slow down the network, but it can also add to the expense of using ethereum as well.And whether people are right to point fingers at the CryptoKitties app or not, it is laughable that kittens are bringing new awareness to the messy underbelly of public blockchains, including ethereum, bitcoin and many others – scalability.As a tweet from coder Boris Kozak displays, the issue is well-established and there are many proposed fixes, including state channels, Raiden, sharding and Casper – ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin's and other developer's interest in moving ethereum to proof-of-stake – but all these solutions require major engineering work and are still unfinished."It may also hasten the ethereum scaling crisis," tweeted BlockTower chief information officer Ari Paul.Others made parallels to bitcoin's fierce scaling debates – which this year saw several groups split from the main bitcoin blockchain to create new versions of the protocol, in bitcoin cash's case raising the block size limit to allow for more transactions.Johnson Lau, Bitcoin Core contributor, quipped on Twitter:
"We need Ethereum Cash or many kittens would be killed."
Blessing in disguise?
In short, ethereum has its work cut out for it. And as usual, whether or not you think CryptoKitties is a positive movement for the ethereum community is colored by whether you support the protocol in the first place.Ethereum supporters have a reason to be excited that an app is finally showing what the platform is capable of, as outlined in a reddit thread, which lauds the game as a successful proof-of-concept."I'm glad smart contracts are productizing a variety of use cases beyond speculation," said The Initiative for Cryptocurrencies & Contracts (IC3) researcher Phil Daian, pointing to the bout of speculation generated by the thousands of initial coin offerings (ICOs) that have launched on the blockchain.And Buterin even chimed in, tweeting: "I actually like the digital cat games. They illustrate very well that the value of a blockchain extends far beyond applications that would literally get shut down by banks or governments if they did not use one."And, as far as scaling ethereum goes, many are glad it's bringing awareness to the issue – one ethereum user even called it a "blessing in disguise."Martin Köppelmann, founder of ethereum app Gnosis, echoed that sentiment, telling CoinDesk:
"If it is that successful – and even if it increases fees, even better – it will reveal weaknesses of the current tech but ultimately make it better. I'm all for experiments."
https://www.coindesk.com/loveable-digital-kittens-clogging-ethereums-blockchain/
I remember when the Internet was a bubble and a fad that didn't really have any daily usefulness, besides perhaps communication.
(lol)
It is a beautiful day to be in Crypto.. I am sure it is just flash fad, going to be gone before you know it.
@whatsup
I just read an article on these earlier today, WTF!
Nothing surprises me anymore dude, and the prices are ridiculous.
Whatever makes people happy that doesn't hurt others I guess.
I can't help but read ScriptKiddes everytime i see CryptoKitties (totally unrelatedI know, but still)
Seeing as we all believe in blockchain tech, it's not a bad thing that something so mundane as a fad brings it to the forefront.
Agreed. I bet companies like "King" that makes Facebook games, will take notice.
Judging by BTC and all the other coins, it feels as if the entire world is taking notice at the moment ...
lol, true! :) Pretty interesting times.
Now this is tulips.
Most people seem to know that tulips were a speculative bubble in Amsterdam in the early 17th century, the first known speculative asset bubble. What's less well known was that it was not simply that tulips became more expensive in general (they did, but it was not the driving force of the bubble). Farmers discovered that their tulips were taking on unique patterns. Those patterns could be recognized while the tulip was still just a bulb, but it was difficult to actually selectively breed for, it was not simply passed genetically as normal traits are. We know today that they were caused by a virus, but it was a mystery at the time.
Because the tulip patterns were extremely rare and unique, they became symbols of status for Dutch aristocrats, who paid a lot of money for the most rare/impressive speciments. The one below was worth the equivalent of $300,000 today.
The Amsterdam stock market began to sell Tulip futures for certain breeds, so that you could be guaranteed a specific price for a certain speciment at a point in the future when it became available. Prices rose quickly on speculation that French aristocrats would join in on the craze. They did, a little, but not enough to prevent the whole thing from completely collapsing in February 1637.
This Crypto-Kitties thing has a lot of parallels. I wonder how what the ratio of craze to speculation is...
Interesting. I knew the overall story of the tulips, but didn't realize what started the craze.
Excellent article and I think that the possibility of the appearance of kittens will give us one more opportunity to move forward, at least it will not be superfluous. Thank you @whatsup and keep us informed!
Excellent article. The world of technology does not stand still, it's even frightening to think about what might be in the future. What's new awaits us.
@whatsup,
It seems interesting concept! Thanks for you, today I heard about it! Hope to see cryptodogs soon :D
Cheers~
@whatsup - No more kitties, now we got the at block chain.... World is wonderful than we thought <3
+W+ [UpVoted & ReSteemed]
Just a matter of time hahah
haha, how cute i like the concept behind creation of cryptokitties.
so at last we see a game build on top of eth blockchain, i should do more research on it soon, thanks for sharing this nice information with us, Stay awesome.
brilliant article and i assume that the opportunity of the advent of kittens will deliver us one greater opportunity to move forward, at the least it will no longer be superfluous. thanks @whatsup and keep us informed!
Crypto kitties are selling at a very high price
great post,nice informational post sharing
Really informational post. upvote & resteem.
This post has received a 8.71 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @whatsup.
great post .thanks for searing.
it feels as if the entire world is taking notice at the moment ...
And it is in a way...
It only shows how unprepared and unable the Ethereum blockchain really is. Cryptokitties though? Lol.
wow ima check this out cause i fucking LOVE CATS
Nice
After years of work... we lose the social media game to a bunch of cartoon cats...
Its not too late we can still launch a SteemFeline protocol
This is insane but this game is consuming like 15% of the ETH network making gas go up like crazy!!
kitties ruling all over the world
seems to an awesome concept, this is first time I have seen this and thank you @whatsup for the info.
I think It will be the next revolution after Steemit. Early adopters will have a better chance to make more profits.
Cheers!
i love kitties more than ethereum cash lol
I can't help but read ScriptKiddes everytime i see CryptoKitties (totally unrelatedI know, but still)
Seeing as we all believe in blockchain tech, it's not a bad thing that something so mundane as a fad brings it to the forefront.
eth blockchain would be used for this use i have never imagined that
i just checked it and my mind is freaking out
boom what am i seeing right now is truly unbelievable
now new hype in the market
This app looks fun though
ethereum could fly like insane after kitty cats
eth got exposed i dont trust that system
CryptoKitties are maybe crazy but also great example of scarce digital assets https://steemit.com/ico/@icoindex.com/cryptokitties-showed-why-scarce-digital-assets-are-the-future
Sometimes I think the best way to get rich is to think dumb. Really, really, simple and dumb. You can get a real kitty (that needs a home) for free! I know that's not the point of this article, and maybe I'm becoming a grumpy old woman, but there's something wrong with the world when someone's buying FAKE cats for $140K.
Carry on...just had to rant ;-)