Looking for a pet that lives on the blockchain? Search no more. Search and AI giant Baidu just announced their response to CryptoKitties after quietly breeding a blockchain dog project called Laici Gou (莱茨狗).
For those of you not familiar with the CryptoKitties, it is a game similar to Pokemon and Tamagotchi in which players can collect, buy and sell virtual breedable cats instead of playing cards. It is the first and one of the biggest blockchain-based games. Benny Giang, one of the co-founders of CryptoKitties, told TechNode in an interview that the team plans to first roll out the mobile version of the game for iOS in the Greater China region, then the rest of Asia.
According to TechNode’s Chinese sister site, Baidu’s cryptodoggies project is still in the beta phase. Each of the cryptodoggies has a unique set of “genes” and their purchase is recorded on the blockchain. The cryptodoggies have eight special attributes, a combination of which will make each virtual doggy unique. These include ordinary, unusual, remarkable, epic, mythological, and legendary (our translation).
The cryptodoggies can be purchased with special credit points received from Baidu and not through money transfers, according to media reports. Users can receive points by using Baidu’s products and spend them through their Baidu wallet. These points will serve no other function, the report states.
The project belongs to Baidu’s blockchain lab which has also launched a blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform in January. In October 2017, Baidu has also joined Hyperledger’s global alliance for developing blockchain.