CryptoKitties Set to Take Off with Steph Curry-Created CurryKitties
Art imitates life, right? So does that mean crypto-art imitates…sports?
The odd arc of the digital currency game CryptoKitties continues with a brand new partnership featuring one of the most recognizable athletes in the world: Steph Curry, point guard for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Curry is a two-time champion and league MVP.
The partnership entails the creation of three “CurryKitties,” exclusive in-game kitties with unique artwork (see header image) that can only be obtained through the in-game auction house. One of the kitties will also be a limited edition CryptoKittie that can only be discovered by players.
The first kitty, aptly named “Steph Fur Three,” is on the auction block right now and will stay up for a total of 30 days. The pricing structure is a bit odd though, as it begins at 100 ethereum (just below $97,500 CAD at time of publishing) and slowly drops down to five ethereum over the span of the 30 days. At some point, a CryptoKitties player will purchase the exclusive feline, though it’s anyone’s guess as to how long it will take.
“We started CryptoKitties to bring decentralization to the mainstream,” tweeted Roham Gharegozlou, the founder of CryptoKitties. “Today the world’s greatest ballplayer joins our movement. Meet #CurryKitties, the first ever sports collectibles with ownership and authenticity secured by the blockchain.”
Gharegozlou went on to tweet about the current state of sports collectibles and how something like a CUrryKitty could revolutionize what it means to own memorabilia. He alluded to the most valuable baseball card ever, a T206 Honus Wagner card worth over $3 million USD in prime condition. No one knows how many are left in the world, and forgeries always pop up.
“Blockchain assets come out of the box with guarantees of ownership, authenticity, scarcity, and chain of custody,” tweeted Gharegozlou. “Also out of box: access to an unprecedented global marketplace and payment infrastructure. You can send your #CurryKitty anywhere as easily as a bitcoin.”
The idea of teaming up with a professional athlete to created authentic and unreproducible memorabilia is hugely interesting to collectors who want to own a piece of history and have an easily provable certificate of authenticity. Because CryptoKitties are created on the blockchain through smart contracts and the ethereum network, they will always be original and owners can track who has bought them and who currently owns it.
Previous CryptoKitties have sold for over $100,000 so these new CurryKitties may not set records just yet, but there is a huge secondary market for this kind of digital art.
When CryptoKitties first launched, it actually crashed the ethereum network due to how many people were logging on looking to buy, sell and breed kitties of their own. The company raised a $12 million Series A back in March 2018 and expanded into China, Taiwan and Hong Kong in the same month.
