Ethereum punished by insanity over Cryptokitties, Blockchain-based virtual cats collapsing ETH transactions

The volume of transactions of the new digital game Cryptokitties has managed to cope 15% of the whole Ethereum network traffic, according to TechCrunch. Volume has reached such a level that Ethereum has reached its transaction capacity limit, triggering a surge in the costs of every transaction in the network.

Ethereum registered on Wednesday December 6th a new all-time high of close to 800k transactions. This generated a stoppage of new Ethereum-based ICOs that were expected to launch this week, just to avoid having more performance problems in the Ethereum network.

ETH/USD initiated yesterday a bearish run, just confirmed by the MACD turning down low. First support is close to $404.32, the current daily lows. If this first support is broken, next supports are located at $340 and $300.

What are Cryptokitties?

The Twitter bio of CryptoKitties.co official profile describes these virtual cats as “Collectable. Breedable. Adorable. Cats on the Blockchain”. This is the first digital game based on Blockchain technology that is gathering attention both from cat-lovers and users trying to make money using these digital pets.

The new phenomenon was launched last November 28th by AxiomZem, a tech start-up from Vancouver, Canada. CryptoKitties are cat-shaped virtual avatars. Their unique genome consists of 256 bits and they can be developed into four billion of possible of genetic variations.

CryptoKitties.co’s marketplace, the game’s official site, allows users to buy digital cats and also nursing them. Every CryptoKitty profile shows an image of the virtual pet, its price, reproductive capacity, siblings and a description. You can buy CryptoKitties by using a Chrome extension named MetaMask that functions as a digital wallet and allows transactions between Ether and CryptoKitties.

According to CryptoKitties Sales website, the total amount of sales has already reached $7.9 million, which makes a total of 48254 virtual cats sold. That makes $165 the average price of these pets. Cheapest crypto-cats at the time this article is written are around 0.028ETH ($11.5). The most expensive cat, according to TechCrunch, was sold on December 2nd for $117,712.

CryptoKitties creators have described them as “breedable Beanie Babies”, cuddly toys created during the 1990s by Ty Warner which attracted the interest of collectors and investors due to the high price the most-desired units reached.