Ebay for CryptoKitties Raises $2 Million from All-Star VCs

The ethereum-based decentralized application for buying, selling and breeding digital cats was a quick hit within the community, launching in November last year and peaking in December, when the game nearly brought the ethereum blockchain to a halt as it tried to deal with a significant increase in transactions.

While those serious applications have yet to be realized, a spate of similar games were created after CryptoKitties success, including the more general CryptoPets, CryptoCelebrities and Crypto All-Stars.

One of the keys to OpenSea's success, according to Finzer, is the team's relationship with crypto game developers.

As to be expected, OpenSea has done best in offering a "Store" for games that don't already have built-in marketplaces.

"We've kind of developed a synergistic relationship with game developers," Finzer said, adding that OpenSea offers a revenue share model depending on what marketplace duties are handled by what party.

OpenSea is available for more than just games, although that's the company's main stream of business.

Plus, Finzer wants to facilitate the trade of items that aren't even part of the same game.

This kind of cross-collaboration has already happened - a new game called KittyRace allows users to race their CryptoKitties.

The market for gold within the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft is so lucrative that prisoners in China are made to mine the stuff for sale to gamers in the developed world.

"Our thesis is that the most interesting use cases for blockchain-based games will come from new games rather than existing games."