New Blockchain Game Lets You Buy And Sell \"Celebs Smart Contracts\"

The mechanic is straightforward: the game assigns each celebrity one smart contract on the blockchain. Each purchase doubles the contract's price. Prices start at 0.0001 ETH, roughly 10 cents. After one sale, the price hits 0.0002 ETH. From there, values climb fast. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's creator, has the highest price tag at over 20 ETH, equivalent to about $20,000. His contract has traded hands 31 times. Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's anonymous founder, ranks second at more than 16 ETH or around $16,000.

The game still operates in beta. In an email, its creators said they were "actually trying to keep things on the down low" before the January 25th official launch. The website notes that celebrities can participate directly and claim a percentage of sales if they endorse their own contracts.

This launch capitalizes on momentum started by CryptoKitties, which debuted in December. That game showed the appetite for blockchain-based collectibles. Collectors paid well over $100,000 for rare digital kittens. CryptoKitties became the network's largest decentralized app at one point, accounting for more than 13% of transaction volume. The congestion got severe enough to block ICO launches—teams found their transactions stuck behind the constant flow of kitten trades.