It's a kitten attack on the blockchain!
A simple blockchain-based game called CryptoKitties, by Vancouver developer Axiom Zen, is bogging down the Ethereum network.
The key selling point of the game is that the kittens "birthed" in-game are uniquely stored on the blockchain instead of on a central server, able to live on through the smart contract system of Ethereum, even if the developers disappeared.
The problem is that this simple game is causing a massive spike in Ethereum traffic. As of today, CryptoKitties was consuming 12% of Ethereum's total traffic. Some of the cats being bought and sold are going for ridiculous prices in the tens of thousands. The highest selling feline has sold for more than $100 000 USD! The developers are increasing "birthing" fees in order to speed transactions as miners will be more incentivized to process higher-paying transactions.
What is most concerning about this situation is that the game only currently has around 6 600 players. This is a microscopic quantity in the grand scheme of things. Could kittens cause a doomsday scenario in the Ethereum blockchain?
source:
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com
https://www.usine-digitale.fr
https://qz.com/1145833/cryptokitties-is-causing-ethereum-network-congestion/