CryptoKitties: The final clap?

Last year we wrote an article wondering what the future of CryptoKitties is going to be.

Our conclusions were:

1. The hype around a collectible is not an end in itself. It is typically only temporary, and only utility retains the value of a project and its assets.
2. CryptoKitties was back in the game thanks to the implementation of Kittyverse (full universe of projects based on the use and staging of CrypoKitties) to expand its value proposition.
3. Interoperability is one of the key issues of crypto-gaming today, and we are convinced that it is through this possibility that collectible projects will be able to continue by allowing the use of their assets in other universes, thus giving not one, but an infinity of uses to their assets.

Today, the Dapper Labs teams have decided to create the Flow blockchain and focus on it to be able to accommodate new games and new universes. The creation of this new blockchain is the opportunity for us to take stock of CryptoKitties: How have these cats evolved over time?

While CryptoKitties and CheezeWizards will continue to exist on Ethereum, does this mark their final clap? Or on the contrary, a renewal?

Evolution of USD through time

As the last two months of 2017 are a bit special, they have been separated from the rest of the charts. In total, this represents $29,691,011 traded during this short period.

In two months this represents a record for the project, because from 2018 to today the cumulative total of exchanges represents $25,037,153.

During 2018, the project was able to ride the wave by regularly posting new “cattribute” traits to keep its community active. We had carefully analyzed the impact each of these updates had on the evolution of prices in our annual report on NFTs 2018.

But despite many attempts, it was from November 2018 when the value of CryptoKitties began to gradually decline over time without returning to the levels of its beginnings.

Evolution of Transactions through time

For the last two months of 2017, there were 1,916,125 transactions made for CryptoKitties.

Despite very expensive transaction fees during this period and the very low price of Ethereum, the number of transactions for CryptoKitties managed to hold up overall in 2018. Transactions managed to pick up again during the year thanks to the updates of the project but the year 2019 marked a gradual decline over time.

The announcement of the creation of Flow in early 2020 nearly killed the project but a clarification in March reassured users. This increase is also visible on the chart of USD volumes traded.

Evolution of CryptoKitties’ Active Users through time

The number of active users (at least one transaction per week) is essential to understand the evolution of a project. Without community, the project does not exist.

During the bloodbath in early 2018, many users fled the crypto world and almost abandoned their cats. But until the private key is thrown away, NFTs remain in their owner’s wallet. It is therefore a strong community that has rebuilt itself from March 2018 and has remained faithful to the project.

However, despite being maintained in 2019, the number of active users gradually decreased until 2020. The explanation for this decline may be due to the increasing number of blockchain games that have been released over the year.

Like the other metrics, Flow’s announcement nearly knocked out the remaining CryptoKitties users.

Flow: A new departure?

This time around, with numbers to back it up, it’s not CryptoKitties who are pointing fingers for the increased transaction fees! Since June 2020, DeFI has cannibalized the Ethereum blocks and the price of gas has once again peaked.

This transaction fee problem Dapper Lab encountered quite early on and that is why they have been working on Flow for two years. Rather than using a second layer or waiting for ETH2, they are betting on creating a new medium that will still be able to interact with Ethereum.

It is therefore a whole new tailor-made universe that is being created for these cats and magicians, but which will also be able to accommodate more institutional projects like Libra.

The question that remains unanswered is whether drastically decreasing transaction fees will entice users to get back on board!

Sources:

• Illustration: Inspiration from CryptoKitties by Hackatao
• Article: Introducing Flow