People Have Spent Over $1M Buying Virtual Cats on the Ethereum Blockchain (techcrunch.com)

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People Have Spent Over $1M Buying Virtual Cats on the Ethereum Blockchain (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on Monday December 4, 2017 @04:40AM from the another-fad dept.

Launched a few days ago, CryptoKitties is essentially like an 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. From a report, shared by an anonymous reader: 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 $1.3M has been transacted, with multiple kittens selling for ~50 ETH (around $23,000) and the "genesis" kitten being sold for a record ~246 ETH (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 ETH, or $12 to buy the least expensive kitten in the game. So now we have people using Ether, an asset with arguably little tangible utility -- to purchase an asset with unarguably zero tangible utility. Welcome to the internet in 2017.

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As the sayings go... by CodeHog · 2017-12-04 04:44 · Score: 5, Insightful

"A fool and their money" "One born every minute"

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Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
1. Re:As the sayings go... by cayenne8 · 2017-12-04 04:47 · Score: 2
  
  So...."Digital Beanie Babies"??
  
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  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
2. Re:As the sayings go... by coastwalker · 2017-12-04 04:55 · Score: 2
  
  In Europe, formal futures markets appeared in the Dutch Republic during the 17th century. Among the most notable centered on the tulip market, at the height of Tulipmania. At the peak of tulip mania, in February 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsworker. Enjoy your tulips tÃte de merde!
  
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  Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
3. Re:As the sayings go... by Dorianny · 2017-12-04 05:49 · Score: 2
  
  "A fool and their money" "One born every minute"
  Actually we are the fools for allowing 1% of the world’s population own 50% of its total wealth. These people literally can't throw money away fast enough to make a dent in their wealth
4. Re:As the sayings go... by sjames · 2017-12-04 07:18 · Score: 2
  
  But they have well over those percentages of the disposable income and accumulated wealth.
  Crooks
digital pokemon? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-12-04 04:45 · Score: 2, Funny

how has nobody else thought of this
1. Re:digital pokemon? by Comboman · 2017-12-04 04:53 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Perhaps we could call them Digi-mon?
  
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  Support Right To Repair Legislation.
pets.com version 2 by Nidi62 · 2017-12-04 04:48 · Score: 2

Quick! Someone go out and register etherpets.com and we can have a poster child for the cryptocurrency bubble!

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The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Re:Next Up by cayenne8 · 2017-12-04 04:51 · Score: 2, Interesting

Puppies
I kinda doubt that....dog owners usually have a bit more on the ball than cat lovers.
If nothing else, with a dog, you get an animal you can actually bond with, that interacts with you, becomes an integral part of your home and family.
Cats?
Not so much..they're aloof and don't care much if you are around or not....so, a digital cat gives you about the same as a real cat does, which is not much aside from being there.

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Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I can't wait for the first virtual petnapping! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-12-04 04:52 · Score: 5, Funny

"Wire 10 bitcoin to this Russian account or we delete Fluffy forever!"
Sounds like money laundering by Anonymous Coward · 2017-12-04 04:56 · Score: 5, Interesting

Nobody in their right mind spends $23,000 on a picture of a cat. The average joe who sells cat jpegs might get the price up to $20 if they're really lucky. The sellers and developers are being paid for something else.
Re:Hoarding based wealth by Anonymous Coward · 2017-12-04 05:04 · Score: 2, Interesting

Says the person who is backed up by a whole society of laws to protect the weak, otherwise what stops me blowing your brains out and taking all your money and getting to keep it as it's now mine?
Money the buying of laws by parasites for the protection of parasites.
The Idle Rich by PopeRatzo · 2017-12-04 05:11 · Score: 3, Informative

Wealthy people are buying digital blockchain cat pictures. A sitting US senator, Chuck Grassley (R-Bumfuck, Iowa) said this yesterday on television:

"“I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing — as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies,”
Get that? He thinks people who aren't millionaires just spend all their money on booze or women or movies.
I'm pretty sure we have ample evidence to start setting up the guillotines. We don't have to kill all the rich people and the government officials who service them, I'm thinking the rest might get the message.

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You are welcome on my lawn.
1. Re:The Idle Rich by squiggleslash · 2017-12-04 06:55 · Score: 2
  
  I think the Senator's point was that - those who would normally be hit with an estate tax (those in the top 10%) tend to actually invest their funds.
  
  I think he's making it up as he goes along.
  
  How many multi-millionaires that actually earned their money by typically building small businesses or investing in tangible assets (real estate) will, as they are contemplating the passing of their assets to their heirs, go "ooh, shiny Ethereum kittehs!"?
  
  No idea, but it's not the multimillionaires who build small businesses or invest in tangible assets that the estate tax hits, it's their heirs. There's absolutely no reason to believe that their heirs are going to be super responsible with their windfall.
  If what you're arguing is seriously the logic, then I suspect it demonstrates the confusion by many conservatives who argue the tax is a "Death Tax". It isn't. It's a windfall tax on people who suddenly gain extremely valuable assets without earning them in any way.
  
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  You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
2. Re:The Idle Rich by Cederic · 2017-12-04 11:17 · Score: 2
  
  My village and the one next to it have around 14k residents, no movie theatre, no hospital, no traffic lights and no fast food outlets.
  We also have two hospitals within 7 miles, four cinemas within 8 miles, far too fucking many fast food outlets and a very annoying number of traffic lights between us and all of them.
  What you're describing as 'Bumfuck' I'm thinking sounds like a fucking great place to live. But hey, go pick up a cheap nasty burger to eat while you're stuck at a traffic light, if that's how you enjoy life.
Re:Next Up by Anonymous Coward · 2017-12-04 05:25 · Score: 2, Insightful

Please. Cats can be perfectly affectionate (and dogs can be unaffectionate). Cats commonly bond with their owners. If you want to talk about integral part of the family, you should see my cats interact with my kids (age 4 and 7).
Yes, there are some crazy cat people (the term crazy-cat-lady exists for a reason), but I think crazy dog people are a lot more common. For every 1 crazy cat lady, there's 10 people who can't go to the store without taking there dog in the car every time (including morons who let their dog climb on their lap while they're trying to drive), take their dog to the groomers to get stupid looking haircuts, bows, and painted nails, and can't take them outside in the cold without putting their stupid looking dog in equally stupid looking clothing.
Nope...cat people certainly do not have exclusive domain over the moronic-pet-lover market.
Not a bubble by Moof123 · 2017-12-04 05:30 · Score: 3, Funny

Clearly crypto coins, and now crypto cats are the wave of the future and will displace real money/cats in the future. Animal control is run by the government and can be used to STEAL your hard earned real cat. A crypto cat is clearly better in every way*.
*The ability to pet your crypto cat will come some day in the future.
Re:I was wrong...THIS might be Dotcom Bubble 2.0 by Gilgaron · 2017-12-04 05:56 · Score: 2

Yeah but when mortgages crash it has consequences, when the cryptocurrencies crash some nerds have more video cards then they really need and have a harder time gaining from ransomware. Its the tulip crash if instead of money people were offering to buy the tulip bulbs with beanie babies.
Common marketing strategy by Solandri · 2017-12-04 06:22 · Score: 4, Interesting
Disassociate the purchase transaction from real money by using a fake currency, and people will spend it more freely. Even if there's a 1:1 association between the fake currency and real money.
- Casinos do it by using chips.
- Amusement parks do it by using Disney Dollars or something similar.
- Online games do it by using virtual in-game currency like gold or PLEX.
- Tourist areas take advantage of it by charging prices in their native currency, and tourists unfamiliar with the exchange rate can easily overpay for stuff.
- Credit card companies do it by removing physical cash from the transaction. You just swipe a card to buy something, never feeling the pain of the cash leaving your wallet.