- CryptoKitties is a colorful, feline-centric blockchain game.
- Blockchain-based computing platform Ethereum, which provides the cryptocurrency ether, introduced the virtual game in late November.
- Since then, the new digital felines have become enormously popular, attracting 180,000 users, according to The New York Times.
Cats probably aren't the first thing you'd associate with blockchain. But that's exactly what the hottest new game in the digital world is all about. CryptoKitties is a colorful, cutesy blockchain game where players can purchase, sell, and breed their own unique "CryptoKitties." When you mate your digital pet with another CryptoKitty — which can be both dames and sires, the website's Q&A section advises users to "ease up on the labels" — you'll get a kitten with a mix of their "genes."
You can either breed your own CryptoKitties together, or pay another player in order to use their cat as a sire. The game's currency is ether, the currency of blockchain-based computing platform Ethereum.
So far, these virtual cats have proved to be a hot commodity. Since the game launched on November 28, The New York Times reported 180,000 players have already signed up, and spent a total of $20 million in ether. CNBC reported the digital cats have fetched as much as $114,481.59. One anonymous entrepreneur told The Verge that his performance on CryptoKitties has allowed him to accrue a "a hypothetical net gain of $42,321.15."