At an art auction in
May 2018 in New York City, a man paid $140,000 for a digital kitty cat. While
this sounds like an excellent reason to finally give up on humanity, it's
actually a fascinating glimpse into our technological future.
The six-figure cat is
what's known as a CryptoKitty. Like Beanie Babies of yore, CryptoKitties are
collectibles. But unlike Beanie Babies, there is no fluffy object to hold in
your hands. CryptoKitties are entirely digital.
The creators of
CryptoKitties are big believers in the potential of cryptocurrencies and the
blockchain, the unhackable ledger that records cryptocurrency transactions. But
they also understand that people's eyes tend to glaze over when you try to
explain how the blockchain works, how cryptocurrencies are mined, what smart
contracts are, etc. See, you almost fell asleep!
Instead, they decided
to create the world's first blockchain-based game inspired by the internet's
obsession with cute cat pics. Essentially, they are tricking us into using
cryptocurrencies and smart contracts by blinding us with big-eyed kittens.
Here's how
CryptoKitties works. You start by buying a cat on the CryptoKitties
marketplace. Each cat is "genetically" unique, meaning that its
unique DNA code is stored on the blockchain and cannot be copied or changed.
Because each kitty has unique DNA, it also looks different than all other
digital cats. Heavier eyelids, thicker fur, perhaps wearing a wizard's robe.
Here the creators of
CryptoKitties are playing with the idea of digital scarcity. In technical
terms, they created a special digital token associated with each cat that is
"non-fungible," meaning that it can't be replicated or lumped
together with some other assets. No matter how the CryptoKitty is sold or
traded, it preserves its unique pedigree on the blockchain.
Scarcity, as we learned
with Beanie Babies, gives collectibles their value. The more desirable the
"cattributes" (that's a real word now) of each CryptoKitty, the
higher the purchase price. But to buy a CryptoKitty, you first need an online
cryptocurrency wallet. The CryptoKitties marketplace runs on the Ethereum
platform, so you'll need to buy some ether (that's the cryptocurrency) and
stick it in your wallet.
If, like me, this is
your first time buying cryptocurrency, it's a low-stakes introduction to the
technology. Instead of betting your life's savings on the fluctuating price of
bitcoin, you're throwing away five bucks on a digital cat that looks slightly
drunk (the cheap ones ain't so cute).
Once you have a
CryptoKitty, the next step is to mate it with another cat and produce more genetically
unique digital offspring. (An algorithm determines how it looks or its
"cattributes.") CryptoKitty owners auction off their most desirable
cats as "sires" to the highest bidder. The resulting coupling is
registered as a smart contract executed on the blockchain, where the
offspring's genealogy is recorded for posterity.
Several of those
auctions have reached six figures with more than $24 million spent on the
CryptoKitties marketplace since it launched in November 2017. CryptoKitties
pockets 3.75 percent of each transaction.
The creators of
CryptoKitties didn't expect their digital collectibles to get this hot this
fast, but their nefarious plan to get us all playing on the blockchain seems to
have worked.
NOW THAT'S COOL
source:
https://money.howstuffworks.com/cryptokitties-future-is-meow.htm
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