CryptoKitties Charity Auction Raises $15K for Children's Hospital

CryptoKitties just helped raise $15,000 for a children's hospital.

Bella's Kitty Den, a marketplace for CryptoKitties, launched a charitable initiative - Kitties for a Cause - in April 2018 to raise funds for the Seattle Children's Hospital, according to a medium post. The effort raised 21.6 ether tokens, or more than $15,000 at the time, in under three weeks, CryptoKitties told CoinDesk. At present prices, the 21.6 ethers would be worth closer to $13,000.

Users were able to bid on 370 different CryptoKitties donated to Bella's Kitty Den, said Axiom Zen spokesperson Yasmine Nadery. Axiom Zen is CryptoKitties' parent company, and helped the charity raise awareness with posts on its official Medium page.

Nadery told CoinDesk that the event ended on April 15, though it was originally scheduled to run through the entire month. In addition to the ethereum raised, $180 were donated to the hospital directly through the campaign.

She noted that Bella, the 10-year-old who, along with her father, runs BKD, originally began the campaign as a way "to do good" with the kitties she owned. She added:

"This event was created by a CryptoKitties community member, and we were in awe of the initiative this young girl took. When she and her father told us about it, we jumped at the opportunity to partner with them partner with them and our community creators to spread the word about Bella's cause."

The team behind CryptoKitties "absolutely hopes" that these donations will inspire future charitable events, she said.

"Seeing something like this be inspired by our game is all the more reason for us to keep moving forward with our vision of bringing a billion people to the blockchain," Nadery told CoinDesk.

Donation jar image via Shutterstock