Share this article
ICO Delayed by Ethereum's CryptoKitties Congestion
At least one ICO organizer is hitting pause as ethereum's CryptoKitties app goes viral.
By Stan Higgins
Updated Dec 12, 2022, 1:53 p.m. Published Dec 5, 2017, 6:00 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
Transactions supporting the popular CryptoKitties app are continuing to congest the ethereum blockchain, a state of affairs that has spurred at least one startup to briefly postpone its planned initial coin offering (ICO).
The token sale for SophiaTX, originally planned to start on Dec. 5, has been pushed back to ensure an orderly sale, the team behind the project announced today. SophiaTX, which is developing a blockchain platform for business-to-business use cases, said it will hold its ICO on Thursday, Dec. 7.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The problem, the team said, is that the activity around CryptoKitties – an ethereum-based app that uses tokens to represent digital cats that can be traded, exchanged or bred to create more e-pets – has effectively clogged up the blockchain.
As a result, users – including those trying to participate in token sales via the ethereum network – are stuck with longer wait times given the plethora of transactions associated with the CryptoKitties app.
"We have decided to delay the [token generation event] start by 48 hours because a very large number of participants will use ETH during and it would be a major disappointment if their attempted contributions wouldn't be processed timely and that would result in a significant backlog of transactions with very long waiting times," they said in a statement.
It remains to be seen whether the interest around CryptoKitties will lead to similar decisions. Statistics from ETHGasStation.infohttps://ethgasstation.info/index.php, a network data provider, suggests that the network congestion has eased somewhat compared to yesterday,
Cats waiting in line image via Shutterstock
More For You
Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale.
What to know:
Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.
The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.
More For You
Bitcoin trader warns of downside as gold rally continues to pull focus from BTC
Crypto prices stabilized after an early-week dip, but bitcoin continued to trail gold and silver as macro trades dominated after the Fed’s policy hold.
What to know:
- Bitcoin hovered around $88,000 after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, with trading subdued despite modest gains in ether, solana, BNB and dogecoin.
- A sharp rebound in the U.S. dollar and continued strength in commodities, especially record-high gold and elevated silver and copper, have overshadowed crypto markets.
- Analysts say bitcoin is trading more like a high-beta risk asset than a macro hedge, stuck in a bearish consolidation about 30 percent below its October peak and struggling to break above key resistance near $89,000.
Top Stories
