For those of you in the cryptocurrency space, you have heard of a certain type of cryptocurrency token known as Cryptokitties. For the uninititiated, Cryptokitties are a cryptographically generated picture of a cat, that ultimately can be bought and sold as a digital collectible. While this might seem like a ridiculous premise, Cryptokitties is actually ingenious.

Let me explain my logic as follows. Cryptokitties themselves, are of little to no inherent value. They are simply a digital picture of a cartoon cat. The cartoon cats themselves do not represent anything other than their attributes (fluffy tail, eye colour etc), but the underlying technology is game-changing.

Cryptokitties are built on the ERC-721 token standard. This standard is revolutionary in the world of cryptocurrency, due to the problem of fungibility. Fungibility is the ability for a particular item to be able to express its unique values. For tokens, ERC-721 is revolutionary technology because it gives them the ability to be unique at an individual level, instead of being just another token.

By minting a token that is individual in nature, tokens can be valued according to the digital asset they represent.

If you follow ICOs, you’ll know that the ICO market has gone through a massive bubble. The bubble was caused by the token standard ERC-20, which didn’t have a clear definition of any attributable value.

The way around it? ERC-721. And who made ERC-721 happen? Cryptokitties!