Launched a few days ago, CryptoKitties is essentially like a digital version of Pokemon cards but based on the ethereum blockchain. And like most viral sensations that catch on in the tech world, it's blowing up fast.
Built by Vancouver and San Francisco-based design studio AxiomZen, the game is the latest fad in the world of cryptocurrency and probably soon tech in general.
People are spending a crazy amount of real money on the game. So far about $1.3 million has been transacted, with multiple kittens selling for about 50 ethereum (around $23,000) and the "genesis" kitten being sold for a record 246 ethereum, around $113,000.
This third-party site tracks the largest purchases made to date on the game. And like any good viral sensation prices are rising and fluctuating fast. Right now it will cost you about .03 ethereum, or $12, to buy the least expensive kitten in the game.
So now we have people using ethereum, an asset with arguably little tangible utility, to purchase an asset with unarguably zero tangible utility.
Welcome to the internet in 2017. ...
... For the remainder of the report:
https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/03/people-have...buying-virtu...
