Additionally, the surging NFT volume indirectly led to the launch of OpenSea, an NFT marketplace that has since become the most widely-used NFT exchange in the world. The overall network congestion, which manifested itself through processing delays and lag time, exposed the vulnerability of the Ethereum network and blockchain technology in general to overcrowding.Īs a response to the crisis, the gas fee for site transactions skyrocketed, and CryptoKitties was forced to raise its breeding fees from 0.002 to 0.015 ETH to compensate for the rising Ethereum gas prices. Network Congestionĭespite the immediate success of CryptoKitties, the rapid rise in the game’s player base led to a surge in traffic both on the CryptoKitties site and the Ethereum network as a whole. On March 20, 2018, Axiom Zen announced that CryptoKitties would be spun off into its own company called Dapper Labs, which soon raised $12 million from several top venture capital firms and angel investors.

By December 5, 2017, the game had processed over $5 million in transactions, and it was clear that CryptoKitties had become a cultural phenomenon.Īlthough the median price for virtual cats fell at the start of 2018, the game’s widespread appeal was too lucrative for investors to pass up. The game officially launched on November 28, 2017, and by December 2, 2017, a cat under the name of Genesis sold for a whopping 246 ETH, equal to $117,712 at the time. The game’s concept was so unique that just a day after its smart contract deployment on November 22, 2017, CryptoKitties was one of the top three most active contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.

Created by the Canadien startup Axiom Zen in 2017, CryptoKitties had the rare distinction among blockchain games of becoming immediately popular upon its release.

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