{"id":122503,"date":"2017-12-06T10:52:05","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T08:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=122503"},"modified":"2017-12-06T10:52:42","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T08:52:42","slug":"how-cryptokitties-works-on-ethereum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/122503-how-cryptokitties-works-on-ethereum","title":{"rendered":"How CryptoKitties works on Ethereum"},"content":{"rendered":"

CryptoKitties is a breakout application built on the Ethereum blockchain, and it\u2019s taking over the crypto world.<\/p>\n

Crypto users are going crazy for the virtual cat game, which features collectible kittens with a real-world value.<\/p>\n

The application bridges the gap between the Ethereum \u201cworld computer\u201d and a mainstream audience, thanks to its wide appeal and simple user interface.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in the kitty craze, or in Ethereum, the game and its blockchain mechanics are detailed below.<\/p>\n

Game mechanics<\/h3>\n

CryptoKitties lets users purchase collectible kitties with Ethereum, and then breed them to create more kitties.<\/p>\n

Each cat has its own genetics which are inherited from its parents and stored in a 256-bit hexadecimal number.<\/p>\n

These genes exhibit themselves as \u201cCattributes\u201d, which define how a cat looks.<\/p>\n

Cattributes define colour, expression, body type, and furriness of a CryptoKitty \u2013 and players breed kitties to develop rare Cattributes.<\/p>\n

Kitties are genderless and can act as either the dad or mom in a breeding pair.<\/p>\n

Players can also breed their cats with those of other players, selling the \u201csiring services\u201d of their digital cat for Ethereum.<\/p>\n

\"Litter<\/a><\/p>\n

MetaMask<\/h3>\n

Cats are bought, sold, and bred using Ethereum, and CryptoKitties interacts with the Ethereum blockchain to function.<\/p>\n

The kitties are unique tokens which are encoded on the blockchain as 256-bit numbers and can be sent to any Ethereum address.<\/p>\n

The CryptoKitties game runs on the blockchain and comprises five\u00a0smart contracts<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0running on the Ethereum network.<\/p>\n

This means your CryptoKitties do not rely on a central server or authority for their value and issuance, and may exist on the blockchain forever.<\/p>\n

To get started with CryptoKitties, you will need to install the\u00a0MetaMask extension<\/a><\/strong>, which acts as an Ethereum wallet in your web browser.<\/p>\n

You will then need to purchase or access Ethereum from a cryptocurrency exchange and send it to your MetaMask wallet to get started.<\/p>\n

Success<\/h3>\n

CryptoKitties has become wildly popular since its launch at the start of December and during peak times it accounts for\u00a0over 15%<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0of all transactions on the Ethereum blockchain.<\/p>\n

Players have spent almost $5 million buying kitties on the platform, with rare cats traded for over $10,000 and the smart contracts that make up the game\u2019s codes flooded with transactions.<\/p>\n

This has caused a dramatic slowdown on the Ethereum blockchain, with\u00a0transactions taking up to 20 minutes<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to be processed \u2013 and minimum transaction fees increasing to around $0.25.<\/p>\n

While the success of CryptoKitties is great for consumer Ethereum adoption, the stress it has placed on the blockchain means developers face more pressure to implement a scaling solution.<\/p>\n

Raising the miner gas limit can alleviate transaction bottlenecks in the short-term, but long-term scaling for Ethereum will only come from solutions like proof-of-stake or sharding.<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on MyBroadband<\/a><\/strong> and is republished with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now read:\u00a0CryptoKitties is the most widely-used Ethereum app<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CryptoKitties is a breakout application built on the Ethereum blockchain, and it\u2019s taking over the crypto world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":122505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[24367,25481,24389,2664],"class_list":["post-122503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-blockchain","tag-cryptokitties","tag-ethereum","tag-gaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}