Anything can be placed on the blockchain with a little ingenuity – even Hollywood celebrities. Cryptocelebrities is this week's Cryptokitties, a smart contract-based trading game which profits from digital scarcity. Only one copy of each celebrity is released, compelling traders to spend thousands of dollars to snap up 'celebs' like Satoshi Nakamoto and Emma Watson.

Also read: Coinbase is Making $2.7 Million a Day

Celebrities on the Blockchain Because 2018

On paper, a game like Cryptocelebrities sounds as dumb as last month's big crypto game, Cryptokitties. Like its feline forebear, Cryptocelebrities rewards early adopters who get to snap up the best digital real estate and then sell it on for a profit. Blockchain-based collectors' games such as these create a level of FOMO that can cause assets to change hands for thousands of dollars. At 4pm EST on Tuesday 23rd January, the Cryptocelebrities site was knocked offline temporarily, believed to be due to high demand.

While the Cryptocelebrities project looks like a shameless cash-in, both on the current craze for blockchain games and on the celebs themselves, it does have some interesting features. One of these is for verified celebrities to control the royalties from the trading of their image and earn a share of the profits. It's hard to imagine the likes of Clint Eastwood or Donald Trump using ether to verify their blockchain counterparts, but it's a bold concept. Vitalik Buterin and Satoshi Nakamoto (depicted here as simply a question mark) also feature.

Don't Get Too Attached

Anyone contemplating snapping up Hollywood's – or Crypto's – A-listers would do well not to get too attached. Anyone who wants to buy a celeb off its current owner can do so, and there's nothing its owner can do to halt the sale. As the Cryptocelebrities website explains: "When someone else matches the current price, they'll automatically snatch your Smart Contract. You'll lose the card but you will receive up to double the amount you originally invested in ETH."