CryptoKitties is one of the most viral Ethereum-based virtual games. It has raised US$12 million in a round of funding from some prominent investors. It is being spun out as a new company, away from the Canadian venture- Axiom Zen.
The funding was led by a number of top-notch investors including:
- Andreessen Horowitz
- Union Square Ventures
- Bill Tai
- Naval Ravikant
- Mark Pincus
among others.
Launched in November 2017, CryptoKitties allows users to buy, sell, collect, breed and exchange unique virtual cats. There was also a point when CryptoKitties became the largest decentralized application on the Ethereum protocol, accounting for over 13% of the network’s transactions. The craze continued to peak to such a point that initial coin offerings (ICOs) could not launch due to network congestion due to the volume of sale and trading of digital kittens on CryptoKitties.
CryptoKitties made its debut in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in February this year.
According to a third-party estimate, users have made over 3,00,000 CryptoKitties transactions, selling more than US$23.2 million worth of virtual cats since the platform’s inception. For each transaction, the company charges a 3.75% commission of the total value.
As they say, “The future is meow”.
Goldman Sachs to get a “Bitcoin trading desk” soon