This Generation Zero CryptoKitty was born on December 18, 2017 and remains in mint condition—a virgin kitty never used for breeding. This kitty also possess 2 mewtation gems (genes) that are rare and highly collectible.
In the early days of CryptoKitties (first mainstream NFT project), the creators auctioned off Generation Zero, or “Gen-0” kitties, which are the ancestors of every kitty in the game.
There can only ever be 50,000 Gen-0 kitties as specified in the Ethereum smart contract, making Gen-0’s more valuable than of kitties because of their rarity.
Gen-0 kitty production stopped in November 2018 with only 34,928 kitties in existence according to the smart contract's gen0CreatedCount function on etherscan.
Value & Utility
Breeding Utility
- Possess fastest cooldown as a virgin (mint) kitty
- Genetics are precursors to unlocking the entire CryptoKitties trait tree
Speculative Value
- Guaranteed scarcity enforced by the smart contract
- Immediate exposure to the first and oldest NFT project in the world
What are CryptoKitties?
Background
Launched back in 2017 by Dapper Labs, now known for their development of NBA Top Shot, CryptoKitties was the first NFT project to gain mainstream recognition.
Only 50,000 Gen-0 kitties were initially created during its launch, but the game incorporated breeding mechanics: two kitties are capable of breeding, increasing the supply of new kitties. Furthermore, traits from both parents such as fur type and color can be passed down to each new generation, and some traits were only unlocked through the randomized breeding.
The amount of time required for kitties to breed a new generation is called the “cooldown”, which increases for each successive offspring, a mechanic designed to preserve the value of more lower generation denominated breeds. Now, there are over 2M kitties in existence, all with a unique combination of traits and attributes.